This one is kind of strange. Apparently, Earth has been invaded a long time ago. The alien conquerors were very powerful and Earth Humans didn’t have much of a defense. So, instead of wiping out humanity, the aliens set them up to be cultivated as slave warriors! Now Marines are trained from childhood until they reach late teens. Then they go out in space to fight wars for the Master Race, who are known as the White Knights. Most Marines wind up dying and that’s considered good.
It seems like Humans have lost the will to be free. These Marines don’t seem to understand that they could be free if they made the effort to do so. One Marine seems to have the guts to try and fight the system. Now if only he could convince his squad, platoon and company to fight with him. Instead, he and the entire Battalion might be culled at the end of the year. Culled means killed because the masters think you’re not good for anything and there are too many Marines anyway.
Cadet Arun McEwen is the only Marine that seems different from the rest. Even some of the other alien slaves seem to know that McEwen is different, and some treat him that way some times. Yet, Arun doesn’t really think or know why he would be different and doesn’t really want to be. He also has no idea of what it means to be free but he knows it would have to be better than being a slave.
This is a strange book. It’s mostly about kids rowing up in a military school with terrible overseers. Don’t expect to read about some exciting, rip-roaring Marine fighting because it really ain’t going to happen in this book. Oh, there is some fighting but remember this kids are only 17 and don’t really know what they are doing.
It is science fiction and the story is good enough that I’ve already bought the next book! You probably will enjoy this also.