“The Last Marine in the Galaxy”

Man, this book is intense! The reader gets you thinking about your everyday life and the routines that we go through on a daily basis. As long as we’re not soldiers in a battle somewhere on Earth, we’re probably doing the same thing day after day. We get comfortable in doing that; knowing that the things we take for granted today, will be there tomorrow, because that’s the way it’s always been. Then things change.

An alien spacecraft shows up in the flight pattern over Heathrow International Airport in London. The spacecraft is huge and appeared seemingly out of no where. The control tower at Heathrow is asked for landing instructions just as if this huge spacecraft has always landed at Heathrow. Unfortunately, this spacecraft, although friendly, has brought something with it that will change the way the entire world does things forever.

The writer is a employee at Heathrow Airport and apparently likes the place very much. He’s modeled several of his characters after the people he works with. Most of the main characters are Airport Security personnel. These are not highly trained military types. Yes, some have been in the reserves or even on active duty, but they are definitely not prepare for what comes at them in the next few days. While the story is very intense and exciting, I don’t think it’s very plausible.

The spacecraft carries Trevakians. These are human aliens from the Trevakian Empire. They are arriving on Earth to help us help them defend their empire. Why would we do this? Because the Trevakians have for decades fought a evil called the Morgons. The Morgons are bent on destroying the Trevakian Empire and anything beyond it. The Morgons are blood-thirsty, take no prisoners, evil incarnated creatures. They are also highly advanced. So much so that the Trevakians have come to Earth asking for our help in fighting this war. The Trevakians know that they are losing and that Earth will be the next planet conquered by the Morgons if they and Earth can’t stop them. The Trevakians have brought all their technology to give to Earth in hopes that it can be used to arm Earth. Unfortunately, the Trevakians also brought a Morgon spaceship on their tail.

The fighting scenes are pretty graphic, but not overly so. This is an intense book; I couldn’t put it down for very long, always wanting to get back to the story. Five Heathrow Airport Security Officers are swallowed up by the Trevakian Marine Corps as the first “observers” of the war. They find themselves on the front-lines in just a matter of hours. It’s a mistake that may cost them their lives.

I think the book cover could have been better; it’s not very enticing and the book title is a little misleading. There are at least two more books in the Galaxies Collide series. I’ve already latched on to the second one.