Keith

Sorry there isn't a rating lower than one star. If you are, have ever been, or are ever considering serving in the military, this story will make you cringe. I guess if I had no idea what the military was about, I might have enjoyed this a bit more, but nothing over two stars. the protagonist is supposedly a decorated officer who is resisting the stupid orders of the persons above him, and relies on his superior intellect and moral judgement to justify all of his mutinous actions in the end. He also is supposed to be a natural leader who inspires the loyalty of his enlisted crew by always being a stickler for the rules. Alright, I can buy the premise, and can think of some good characters who have had similar situations (Honor Harrington leaps to mind). But, and here is the problem, the total incompetance of the officers above him is so over the top that you would never buy their getting to positions of power. Also, his total disregard for the rules personally, while enforcing the rules in a draconian manner with subordinates is unbelievable at best. Believe me, that sort of behavior does the exact opposite of inspire loyalty in the real world. Listen, I like military fantasy a lot, and I enjoy difficult, even untenable situations, but this is just too unbelievable! Combined with the poor character development, the one-track narrative, the reader's performance (he sounds so bored and supercilious I have the feeling he liked the story about as much as I did, and did everything in his power to make it unappealing), the ridiculous aliens and the pointless romantic and sexual innuendo (one character was blackballed for an alien liason, and spends the time hinting about her kink) this novel is just too awful to recommend to anyone.