Tag: SciFi (military)

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The Weight of Command by Michael Mammay

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Lieutenant Kiera Markov is a scout platoon leader for a peacekeeping force on the remote planet of Tanara, where little has happened for decades, and the only mission is to keep the lithium flowing up the space elevator to feed the galaxy’s incessant demand. But when an unprecedented attack kills the entirety of the brigade’s leadership, the untested lieutenant suddenly finds herself in command.

Isolated and alone, Markov must contend with rival politicians on both sides of the border, all of whom have suspect motives and reason to take advantage of an untested leader, while an unseen enemy seeks to drive the two sides toward a war that Markov has a mission to prevent. It’s enough to test even a seasoned leader.

Markov isn’t that.

With challenges from all sides, and even from her own troops, Markov will have to learn quickly and establish her authority. Because what hangs in the balance is not only the future of the peacekeeping force, but of the planet itself.

 

MY REVIEW

What happens when a lowly lieutenant finds herself the highest ranking officer on planet? And unlike some “any-man” armies, in this science-fiction world, officers come wired for bear. They are the only ones who are completely wired to connect to the command network. A master sergeant can’t step up to the plate without several surgeries and nearly a year of specialized training.

After the chain of command is snipped to its last link, the lieutenant has to figure out how to operate a division instead of a platoon, deal with escalating tensions between two powers on the planet while obeying the peace-keeping directive, and connect back to her command-structure after all space-communication goes down. She is fortunate to have amazing non-coms at her side.

The constant escalation of tension, changing of stakes, and juggling of external political & internal military command balls brings the full Weight of Command to Kiera’s shoulders in this pulse-pounding can’t-put-it-down book.

(Originally created as an audio-book exclusive – now available in kindle and print formats.)

The Deep Man Trilogy by Michael Mersault

Book 1: The Deep Man
Book 2: The Silent Hand
Book 3: The Presence Malign

Military science fiction space opera

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BOOK BLURB ON BAEN for THE DEEP MAN

A relic of humanity’s violent past, this old weapon stands ready for the Emperor to wield.

The Galactic Imperium of the Myriad Worlds slumps into centuries of decadent peace enabled by a flood of advanced technology from the mysterious nonhuman “Shapers.” Among the great Families, only the once-mighty clan of Sinclair-Maru remembers the maxims of the warrior Emperor, Yung I, ready to defend the Imperium from any threat.

Stubbornly clinging to the Honor Code, Family prodigy Saef Sinclair-Maru finds himself in command of an outmoded, under-equipped frigate of the Imperial Fleet. With spies and assassins on every side, trusting only in his considerable skill and the bizarre competence of his companion, Inga, Saef must complete his mission, restore the greatness of his Family, and uncover the chilling plot meant to extinguish humanity’s light from the galaxy.

MY REVIEW for THE DEEP MAN

Full disclosure: Received at the 2024 ConGregate Baen Book Roadshow for free. No review required.

Vibes: Libertarian-style military sci-fi with swordfights, gunfights, spaceship battles, ground action, mechs, aliens, intelligent ships, Dune-like quotes – wonderful goodness. Some of Baen at its best.

The Reality: I know I said “Libertarian” and initially it does seem to be that superman-styled story which assumes everyone and anyone is capable of reaching the pinnacle of society and if they don’t, it is their own fault. Our hero, Saef, won the genetic lottery and is a child prodigy for what his Family values. And here is where that goes off the political embrace of perfection from individuals create a perfect society. The world-building is for military action with specialization; Saef does not and cannot act alone. He is not capable of everything. He depends on Inga, and a long list of shipmates, specialists from Ops to Micro-Engineering. He depends on his Family for financial and emotional support, and supports them as well. So while the vibe of Libertarian is strong, the end result, when you peel back the presentation falls short of the extreme. The world-building is about everyone is necessarily, whatever their specialty – cook to corporate, for society to survive.

Overall, I would give the book a 4.5 stars. The manuscript seems to fall just shy of the best of science fiction. I could use a bit more humor; one character was inserted for humor purposes but, at the moment, seems to have no other reason for being. Claude isn’t integral to the first story of the trilogy.

But even beyond that, something just doesn’t sit right. A vibe humming just a breath off tune. It took some time to figure out. Science Fiction, the ones I like the best, are about hope, a study of potential. The Deep Man skirts the edge. An amazing society allowing people to push themselves to nearly unimaginable levels through leveraging alien tech; but at the same time has devastating poverty. Every single success at the same time also has a painful cost.

With great power comes great responsibility.

That dancing on the edge between hope and despair, between power and payment, is extremely well-done. Maybe the best hugging of that razor-honed edge I’ve ever seen. I’m going to round up to a full five stars.

 

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BOOK BLURB ON BAEN for THE SILENT HAND

HARD-HITTING MILITARY ACTION AND POLITICAL DRAMA FOR READERS OF DUNE AND DORSAI!

They said ten-year-old street urchin Inga was perfect for their purpose, taken from the squalor of Port City to the asteroid enclave, Hawksgaard, where she underwent the training and augmentation that transformed her. Maturing to full lethality even as war erupts among the Myriad Worlds, Inga is assigned to protect Family scion, Captain Saef Sinclair-Maru as he leads the fight against humanity’s merciless enemy.

The vessel: IMS Hightower

The mission: Rescue a trapped Legion force from the surface of Delta Three.

The crisis: Nothing is as it appears.

With Marines plummeting into surface combat, an orbital space battle raging, and assassins swarming within Hightower, the stakes could scarcely be greater, but in the midst of this tumult, treacherous revelations continue to unfold. A mysterious enemy emplacement, a vanished civilian population, the inexplicable powers suddenly unleashed: Each new facet of discovery creates a deadly path leading from Delta Three to the heart of the Imperium and the emperor himself. To seize any chance for victory—or even survival—Inga must accept the irrevocable course leading from the remnants of her own humanity to the fullness of the Silent Hand.

MY REVIEW for THE SILENT HAND

The Silent Hand, as book 2 in the Deep Man Trilogy, holds what is usually the “saggy middle” slot. It is anything but; stronger than the first, it resulted in a night of reading ignoring all the duties I had the next (week)day which needed a full sleep, after a day of ignoring the weekend tasks and chores, and finally arriving at the next day’s wake-up alarm with a book-hangover.

Worth it.

The worldbuilding, which was good in the first book, DELIVERS in the second. The interpersonal relationships established in the first book, amaze. The technology created for this military science fiction, makes this book.

If you love military science fiction, especially of the naval variety with some political intrigue to have some spice for the ship-to-ship battles and the ground-pounding marine action, this delivers.

I personally would love some slice-of-life humor, but that doesn’t seem to be in Mr. Mersault’s writing toolkit. But the stuff he does have in that box of tools, he has mastered.

Now off to sleep.

 

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BOOK BLURB ON BAEN for THE PRESENCE MALIGN

In a desperate fight for humanity’s survival, Captain Saef Sinclair-Maru must lead the powerful private warship Salahdiin and an unlikely alliance against genocidal forces, balancing the demands of shareholders with the heart of a rebellion.

Piracy, War, and Humanity’s Last Stand

The heavy cruiser Salahdiin is the most powerful private warship in the history of the Myriad Worlds, and bears a Letter of Marque, the Imperial charter for legalized piracy. As the most successful fighting captain of the Imperial Fleet, Saef Sinclair-Maru is the ideal choice to command the privateer, but exchanging egotistical admirals for demanding shareholders carries its own unique challenges, particularly when the fate of humanity lies in the balance.

While war rages within the Imperium, few comprehend the inhuman instigators at the heart of the conflict or their genocidal ambitions, but Saef and his counterpart, Inga, draw a surprising coterie of allies to their campaign of desperate resistance, including spy master Winter Yung, former Molo Ranger Kyle Whiteside, and even Erik Sturmsohn, a Thorsworld war chieftain sworn to overthrow the emperor.

Together, in the face of approaching annihilation, they each must choose: Obedience to the edicts of their leaders, or loyalty to a deeper motivation that defines the very heart of humanity.

MY REVIEW for THE PRESENCE MALIGN

The Presence Malign finishes the Deep Man Trilogy with a satisfying bang. While the society of this series is very libertarian leaning, a favorite political-structure choice for military science fiction writers, the flows of this type of society are exploited by invading aliens – the cracks opening up a lethal weakness for the aliens to insert the killing blade. Can the “supermen” from previous books – the “Deep Man” Saef Sinclair-Maru, a paladin of a military leader; the “Silent Hand” Inga, a waif turned into a nanobot-enhanced killing tool; and the Imperial spy master Winter Yung survive with their lives, loves, and honor intact?

Loki, the crazed ship intelligence, is a favorite character for me, may he always get his fish.

The book has great pacing with multiple points-of-view, switching between space battles and the political maneuvers on the capital planet. Mr. Mersault has created an immersive world with layers of weight; from the Shaper technology and the horrors of the enemy, everything connects for a solid, believable world-base.

Other reviewers (quoted on the book cover) compare this series to Dune and Honor Harrington and they are not wrong, other than woeful fact this series is ONLY a trilogy. The ending didn’t pull together enough loose ends to satisfy me. I want more of this universe, and I hope Mr. Mersault revisits the Myriad Worlds of the Deep Man Trilogy.

Read the book in two days.

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The Hands We’re Given (Aces High, Jokers Wild Book 1) by O.E. Tearmann

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Aidan Headly never wanted to be the man giving orders.

That’s fine with the Democratic State Force base he’s been assigned to command: they don’t like to take orders. Nicknamed the Wildcards, they used to be the most effective base against the seven Corporations owning the former United States in a war that has lasted over half a century. Now the Wildcards are known for creative insubordination, chaos, and commanders begging to be reassigned.

Aidan is their last chance. If he can pull off his assignment as Commander and yank his ragtag crew of dreamers and fighters together, maybe they can get back to doing what they came to do: fighting for a country worth living in.

Life’s a bitch. She deals off the bottom of the deck. But you play the hands you’re given.

 

MY REVIEW

An excellent first book for a dystopian series. Lots of characters introduced, and they are easy to keep track of. Everyone is broken and hurting (Dystopian leaves its mark).

This book explores secrets, why people hold their hands close to the vest, the danger of showing the cards if you want to survive the game, but part of the game of life is knowing when to show your hand to others. It is the only way to win – friends, family.

For the first novel of a series by the new (team) author of O.E. Tearmann, Hands We’re Given is well crafted. Dialog and characters are real.

If you like themes of diversity and found family (the military elements are more about building a family than a unit), you will enjoy this book.

Special note: I bought this book directly from the author team at Ret-Con 2023.

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Vision Rising is a great military science fiction series which never forgets (1) it is military and (2) it is science fiction. The author finishes each book with real-science tidbits which inspired the science fiction aspects, similar to my Geeking Science. In fact, I may be using some of the shares from Vision Rising for upcoming Geeking Science. I just love science fiction rooted deeply in science – and the fact that you don’t need to care about hard-science at all to enjoy this series makes it all the better.

Action AND relation-packed science fiction, and by relation-packed, look for military buddies, political intrigue, and enemies-to-allies.

The Vision Rising Series (note: the series is available as a book set for a VERY reduced price at the time of writing this review – link here: https://www.amazon.com/Vision-Rising-Complete-Military-Sci-Fi-ebook/dp/B0CNV7BLS2/)

by L.L. Richman

1. Vision Rising
2. Vision’s Gambit
3. Vision’s Pawn

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for VISION RISING

A lone soldier is gifted the power to save humanity.

When a training exercise at a classified research facility goes awry, Joe Kovacs loses much more than his eyesight. He loses his career. He can’t lead one of the military’s top spec-ops teams if he can’t see.

A decision with consequences.

Joe’s only shot at getting his life back lies in the hands of an anonymous ‘shadow’ scientist. The offer is risky, an experimental implant that may or may not work. He jumps at the chance, but quickly learns the device does more than restore his sight. Much more.

There’s no going back.

Joe begins seeing strange flashes. Ghosts of images, overlaid atop his own vision. Actions he could have taken but didn’t. Worse, the visions are increasing in scope and frequency. Believing he’s going mad, he confronts the scientist, only to discover the implant’s shocking origin.

Nothing is as it seems, and all the possible futures Joe can now see point to a system-wide conspiracy that will shift the balance of power for hundreds of years. Joe’s visions hold the key to stopping it… if he can learn to control them in time.

Don’t miss this exciting new Military Science Fiction Series that will make you not only question just what it means to be human, but also if there is ever a “right” side. It’s perfect for fans of Halo, Rick Partlow (Drop Trooper), Jeffery H. Haskell (Grimm’s War), and Joshua Dalzelle (Black Fleet Saga).

MY REVIEW for VISION RISING

A nice solid military sci-fi, though women characters are a little lacking. Most of the women are adjuncts – none have been shown to be in high leadership positions in the military outside of the doctor and tech lines. Is it sad to like the fact at least they aren’t there just as decoration and military man rewards? These women at least have jobs and are admired for their competence and brains, instead of bra size. A pleasant change from the normal in military science fiction.

Lots of cool tech ideas, but not presented just as tech, weapon, or ship “porn”. The author, L.L. Richman, never lingers over anything – no page on page description – but everything is helpful and makes sense within the story. EVEN BETTER – the end of the book has an appendix of what technologies are real, what is being developed, and what are theories still being tested – raising this book from general science fiction with hand-wave-ium of “it’s science and it works” to full out Hard Science Fiction – only it is the softest hard science fiction I ever read. Accessible, action-packed, and wonderous. Not “fun” as in funny, and, as solders, these are not snuggle bunnys round in military romances.

I know, I did a lot of what this book is not. Let me close with what the book is – a good military science fiction that never forgets it is (1) MILITARY fiction and (2) SCIENCE fiction.

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for VISION’S GAMBIT

Sometimes great power requires greater sacrifice

Joe Kovacs isn’t your average special forces warrior. There’s an alien artifact embedded in his skull that allows him to predict the future. It’s served him well so far, uncovering a conspiracy that would have shifted the balance of power in the Sol system for years to come.

Now the artifact is warning of a greater peril. Devastation on a galactic scale.

One man holds the key to stopping it.

Of all the possible futures Joe can see, there is only one path to victory… and it’s the vision least likely to come true.

Joe will have to pull off the impossible — divert the path of time itself — if humanity is to survive.

MY REVIEW for VISION’S GAMBIT

Vision’s Gambit is the second of a military science fiction story with multiple point of views, which works as a stand-alone. The first of the series is great, so you don’t want to miss it, but if you wind up with the second of the trilogy in your hands, you can start there.  Whether you want team tactics, political maneuvers, pew-pew space battle, deep embedded spies, or a very, very light touch of sweet romance, this book has you covered.

To recover from blindness, an alien artifact got embedded in Joe’s head during the first book, but physical vision is the least of its gifts. It provides him visions of the future, from the most-likely blue-shifts to the least-likely red-shifts. His most recent vision shows an ongoing future for humanity … in the deepest red he had ever seen. All other futures from vivid blue to light pink, humanity ends, never to breathe oxygen again. How will he switch the impossible red to a real blue before the future catches up with them all?

At least he isn’t in it alone. He has his team – from the special forces he is a part of, to high level political leadership, from coast guard to space navy to research & development, from allies to enemies. Shifting the river of time to a different bed won’t be easy, but the tip of a spear has the entire weapon flying behind it. All he had to do is get the tip aimed right, midflight. Hoo-ah!

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for VISION’S PAWN

Unintended Consequences

Humanity has just dodged an extinction level event, but at great cost. The battle that defeated the Starkillers took the lives of far too many, and the experimental tech enabling interstellar travel carries a death sentence all its own.

Worse, the alien implant inside Joe Kovacs’s skull isn’t playing nice. Joe no longer sees possible futures. Instead, he’s plagued with hallucinations — visions of dead people.

Dealing with this will have to wait, though, as he has a bigger problem.

Intelligence has translated the string of alien characters transmitted by the implant. The coordinates lead to a dead star rumored to hold an ancient repository.

What Joe finds inside will change the course of humanity forever.

MY REVIEW for VISION’S PAWN

Third and final book of the Vision Rising series. You should read book 2 before reading book 3 for best results.

The aliens weren’t completely eliminated and they are rebuilding. Joe has to tap his visions again to find out more about the species who left behind the artifact providing Joe his abilities. The problem is, the more they discover about their benefactors, the more questions get raised on why they really left the legacy which saved humanity.

As with the other books, the mix of science fiction and special forces military and R&D division work well. Richman works in interesting hard-science tools to create toys for the special ops guys and gals to play with.

I was more annoyed in this book with Joe’s and Ana’s interactions. He verbally goes off several times and never apologizes and is just grateful she understands and lets him do his own thing. I would have liked to see interaction to resolve the issues beyond silent acceptance. The author did take a moment to deal with other trauma aspects; it would have been nice to have the trauma aspects which spouses of soldiers had to address tackled head on instead of the typical female martyr acceptance. Well, everything can’t be perfect.

Great story and great action and great science fiction toys.