A new author to me and what appears to be a new series. This book is a well written military science fiction book. It is jus the kind that I like. The story is from the first person of Sergeant C. Chhun, a Squad Leader in Victory Company, 131st Republic Legionnaires. They are paired up with a regular Republic Army unit on a joint “diplomatic” mission to Kublar village. Unfortunately, the Republic Army leadership is pretty bad, very bad. With the is one Captain Devers, Republic Army. He is an appointee who has minimal tactical training, but a lot of political clout. That’s the way it is with these Army types, at least the officers. They have to have some kind of seemingly important military career to later excel in the political arena. They usually get a lot of soldiers killed.
As it is on this mission, the OIC is Major “Pappy” Hilbert, a grizzled veteran Legionnaire with a lot of battles behind him. He is firmly in command of the overall operation and his second in command is Lieutenant Ford, a.k.a. Wraith, not Captain Devers! Of course that doesn’t sit well with Captain Devers, but it works real well with the Legionnaires since they all want to live and get back home.
As usual, HQ said this would be a simple “diplomatic” mission to talk to the local Kublaren Chief of the Moona Village. And as usual, HQ Intel sucks. The convoy is attacked on the way in a pre-positioned ambush. Someone knew they were coming and someone was set to wipe them all out. Except Legionnaires don’t die easily. This battle is described very well as are the rest of the battles. There’s a lot of killing, but nothing that is really graphic, just business as usual for the Legionnaires. You’ll find out that they survive this encounter, although not without significant casualties. You’ll also find out that it’s not just the “Koobs” they are fighting, but a mix of Kimbrin and human. The human is from the Mid-Core Rebels and wasn’t expected to be anywhere near Kublar.
Ok, so I don’t want to re-write the whole story. Things get even better as you get further into the book. Well, “better” isn’t the right word if you a Legionnaire, but you’ll find out what I meant. There is a lot of jargon in this book that you have initally get used to. In particular, the Legionnaires refer to themselves as leejs which I have never heard before. This might just be something make up by the author so as not to have to type “Legionnaires” everytime he wanted say something about them; makes sense to me.
As I mentioned, this appears to be the start of a new series, but it also appears the authors have written several books with the Galactic Outlaws title. I don’t know if I’m going to read that series. I believe it strays from this military science fiction genre so it’s probably not for me. I suggest you sign-up to the website and find out all the authors have to offer. They are good writers.