Lines of Departure (Frontlines Book 2)

I don't give out 5-stars to anything casually. The best you are going to get out of me if I like something is 4-stars. I reserve 5-star reviews for things which have something special about them. They don't have to knock my socks off, but they have to have something to offer that is more than just "good." That being said, as with the first entry in this series,  Terms of Enlistment , Lines of Departure is just as awesome!I am a huge fan of the military science fiction genre. I love books like  The Lost Fleet Series  by Jack Campbell, and  The Man of War Series  by H. Paul Honsinger. Kloos, like Honsinger and Campbell understands how to mix together elements of honor, excitement, duty, realistic military descriptions, and space-faring ships crewed by humans in a way that is just spell binding. These kinds of books are capable of keeping me up until 4 AM to read "just one more chapter" because I HAVE TO find out what happens next!Kloos, like Campbell and Honsinger, writes exciting military science fiction that depicts humanity realistically, but with some artistic license to keep things interesting. None of them go too dark with their stories (no rape, no torture, no crimes against women), and all of them tell interesting, page-turner tales.Note, Kloos has released two short stories to fill in some gaps left from Term of Enlistment. They are: Lucky Thirteen  -- which tells of the (very short) story of Halley's first command of a drop-shipand Measures of Absolution  -- which continues the tale of what happened in Detroit right after Grayson and Fallon were wounded. It is a longer story told from the point of view of one of the other soldiers in Grayson's unit (Corporeal Jackson), and it answers a lot of the questions of why things went so bad for their unit in Detroit, and how they went bad.The short stories aren't essential to understanding what is going on in Lines of Departure, they are more like bonus content. I picked them up and read them, and liked them. You may like them as well.Lines of Departure picks up 5 years after Terms of Enlistment, [spoiler alert] ................... after Grayson & Halley miraculously survive first contact with the Lankies and have made it back to the fleet...................[/end spoiler alert], and humanity is now in the business of sneaking in and nuking Lanky settlements attempting to hold the line against them. Grayson is now a Staff Sergent Combat Controller and Halley is now a First Lieutenant instructor on Luna in the Combat Flight School. Grayson now drops into the battles along with the Space-Marine Infantry (SI) and coordinates air and space power from the ground, and with the grunts. Earth is still over populated, and the welfare cities called Public Residential Centers (PRCs) have gotten far worse. Grayson is still a soldier in the North American Commonwealth (NAC), and they are still at war with the Sino-Russian Alliance (SRA) -- despite the Lanky threat.Things are rapidly spinning out of control for humanity in this book. The PRCs are threating to spill over into the middle class and upper class neighborhoods, and the Territorial Army can't control them any more. Humanity has had all of their colonies past the 30 light year line wiped out, or nearly wiped out, and while they can hurt individual Lankies on the ground, they cannot even dent their ships.The story keeps up at a brisk clip and we again are with Grayson every step of the way, even when some choices are made that without context would be objectionable to those with military backgrounds. The story is well told, with a lot of heart, and lots of details that make it seem very realistic, even for science fiction. The loyalty among the soldiers is very well depicted, as are the combat scenes and human behaviors. All of it rings true, and all of it is page-turning stuff. Additionally, I am happy to report that the second entry in the series continues forward with the format established by the first: the story contains no crimes against women, no torture, no horror, no graphic violence, and no sadism. It isn't a story for children, but is isn't a story geared for maximum shock value, either.Star Wars and Star Trek fans will feel mostly at home in this universe, although the tone of the series is much more Starship Troopers, but with less graphic violence. Read it, you will be glad you did.5 stars!---------------------------------Book Content Guide For Parents:---------------------------------Sex & Nudity: [2/5] the military is still integrated male and female, but no shower scenes are depicted. A sex scene is depicted, but isn't described in detail. It just says that they "couple" and then mentions that she clawed his back afterwards. Any child over 12 will know what is going on, but it isn't any more graphic than prime-time TV dramas (I would actually say it is quite tamer).Violence & Gore: [2/5] numerous military battles take place, and humans are killed. No torture, and no gore or graphic details. But descriptions of things like soldiers being "mowed down" by heavy machine gun fire, and soldiers disintegrating from explosions do occur. I would say the violence levels are at the PG to PG-13 level.Profanity: [4/5] it is a military novel, OF COURSE it has language in it. All of the "big 4" make it into the language of the soldiers, but not actually as often as you might expect. Nothing too terribly graphic or offensive, though (no bodily descriptions, crude sexual remarks, racial epithets, or hate-speech).Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: [2/5] I don't recall any smoking or drug abuse being mentioned at all, there is a bit of drinking in the story, nothing graphic or glamorized, though.Frightening/Intense Scenes: [3/5] standard PG/PG-13 action/war movie stuff. There are some intense military battles, soldiers die, and the protagonist is in mortal danger more than once. But it is never horrifying or sadistic stuff. Quite tame compared to some of the horror shows I have had to endure lately. None of it bothered me.

Hard to put this one down, never a dull moment. Of course, with all interstellar sci-fi one is prepared to suspend disbelief to enjoy a good story. There is enough real science and no magical plot twists, that you won’t feel cheated. Dark humor and human travails are a good read anytime. No Nobel prize for literature, but those are too boring for a day in the sun in my backyard. 🙌

I gave the first book a 4/5 and came to enjoy it. It's not my favorite book, but I enjoyed it enough to want to read the second book. The second one in some ways feels like a soft reset on a couple of the main characters. To be fair, it is a 5 year time skip so the characters have grown (they're now at an age with a fully developed brain) maybe that has to do with it. Things do start moving right away though and it's decent pacing.One of the highlights of the series I think is the portrayal of the military/political bureaucracy and the frustration that brings. You know you've done the "right" thing, but the bureaucrats don't see it that way. That's a great thing triggering your own emotions. As things shift to more fighting conflict and so on, I can't help but not feel worried for the main character because...he can't die obviously. In that sense, you don't get that sense of danger and it just becomes more of a "How will the author get Grayson out of a pickle this time." Overall though, it's fine. Getting a sort of front row seat and first person view of some crazy events - it's a good read. It just might be worth trying to really immerse yourself seeing things as the main character as they happen AKA disconnect from reality and the fact you have half an unread book in your hands while some crazy event is happening.In the ending acknowledgements, the author basically says this is not his best work and that the editor was crucial in finishing the story. It's a classic sophomore slump and feels like a means to get to the third book.

There are those moments when you get the email from Amazon about a £1 book sale, and you think "I can't be arsed buying that crap", probably because your day is long, you're tired, and the internet tells you that cheap stuff is normally crap. And then there are those days when you feel a bit more positive so you have a look at the list...That is what happened to me with these books.I took a chance on a £1 book by a writer I had never heard of, and now I am a true believer.This book is bloody good.Book one was bloody good.I have just purchased book 3 and I think that will also be bloody good.Thank you Marko Kloos for such an awesome series.

Having inhaled book 1 at lightning speed, I chewed my way through book 2 almost as fast. In the first book, the protagonists (a small group of newly passed-out junior officers and NCOs) in the space navy, with assorted friends in other services, run headlong into a new alien threat, barely escaping with their lives.Book two charts the gradual defeat and overrun of the human outer colonies, and document humanity's attempts to resist and fight back. The main protagonist, Andrew, having been bored of being a neural net tech decides to change tack and become a "combat controller" (basically a one-man walking situation-room and planning strategist). He gets special kit, special armour and deference from the others. Having taken that track, he finds himself in a very small group of people with his skillset, and therefore finds himself being dropped behind enemy lines to control and coordinate strike missions on the alien-held planets far more than anyone else. He finds himself tasked as a liaison to some of his former colleagues on a mission to move them to garisson a frigid world known as New Svalbard, but doesn't realise that it's going to become a one-way-trip.This book felt like the noose was tightening all the way through. Everyone is beginning to push their luck just a bit too far, and slowly but surely, the less lucky find themselves between hammer and anvil. As peoples luck begins to run out, the tensions starts to rise, and people start making silly decisions which leads to some very interesting situations. The whole book is a series of ever-worse situations. and the tenseness was excellent!I can't recommend this series enough. The characters, plot, situations, pacing, writing and tone are all pretty much spot-on. Book 2 is even stronger than book 1, and by the end I simply didn't want to wait, so instantly began reading book 3. There is the occasional clicheed moment, but this is military sci-fi, so it's hard to avoid some stereotypes, sayings, or situations. Happily, the author seems aware of those, and tries to sidestep the worst offences.If you haven't already been reading book 1, get it, and then read book 2.

After purchasing, I reserved this book for holiday reading – it's the only chance I get nowadays for intensive and, for the most part, uninterrupted reading. I am not sorry I did. I found it very entertaining and was swept along as the story unfolded.I started out with SF and moved over to Fantasy, only dipping into the former occasionally in recent years. I suppose this means I am more easily pleased and not so jaded with the SF genre, but even so this sequel seems every bit as satisfying as the first novel even though much of it is, I have to admit, quite predictable. The style and content, plus a few surprises here and there, compensate for the fact that you just know our hero will survive to book 3...somehow.Despite the main antagonists remaining as enigmatic and dauntingly formidable as ever, the whole adds up nicely with a good cross-section of the personal, the political, the tactical and the strategic – both good and bad. I have always been a fan of hard science and military stories, so this blend of the two is all grist to my mill and very satisfying. For me everything seems to hold together well...in spite of some lingering doubts about these 'Lankies' and their true nature. The human perspective and persistent ability to fight petty squabbles even in the face of obliteration seems to ring true. The tech and the tactics held up (for me) throughout, balancing the more personal and intimate aspects (though it's nice not to have to wade through chunks of 'obligatory' sex scenes). MarKo Kloos' ability to conjure up in the mind's eye landscapes far from what we are used to and tense military action is more than satisfactory.I certainly intend to buy the third book to see how it all pans out. I may even do say after submitting this review.

The book picks up several years after the first contact with the alien species in the first part of the series -  Terms of Enlistment (Frontlines Book 1) . And like that one it is an action filled and somewhat tech light take on science fiction, which is makes for a good, if not a particularly demanding read.Andrew Grayson continues to feature heavily, this time as a combat controller, dropping into action with special forces (or more conventional space infantry) and co-ordinating and calling up air support, where necessary. So far, so 20th century. The development from the firt book is that the enemies are no longer primarily the Sino-Russian Alliance but the aliens - the so called Lankies, 80 feet tall quadropeds with unmatched technology, which are slowly but surely eliminating human colonies in outer space and claiming them for themselves.Quite some of the characters from the first book, such as Master Sergeant Fallon and Andrew's girlfriend, continue to feature, and most of the new entries are sketched out relatively superficially - the action seems to continue to evolve around the core group.The intensity of the fighting and the downtime between missions mirrors the German retreat from Russia in WW2 and the chances of success appear equally bleak. Still, some hope remains, even if the book ends on another cliff hanger, just like the first one.To summarize, the book is a pretty straight forward military action adventure, with decent and fast paced action sequences, and a near future tinge to it. Much of it will be perfectly imaginable to today's reader without having to make mental adjustmnts for another world - in fact much of it is a slight variation on the military themes of today. While this may make it somewhat less exciting, it is consequently also very easy to digest. So a good book if you are looking for action, rather than cerebral stimulation, with the odd more serious question thrown in. And while it can be read independently, it is probably advisable to start with  Terms of Enlistment (Frontlines Book 1)  first, and I can imagine most readers will then progress to the third one in the series -  Angles of Attack (Frontlines Book 3) . Terms of Enlistment (Frontlines Book 1)Terms of Enlistment (Frontlines Book 1)Angles of Attack (Frontlines Book 3)

The adventures of Andrew Grayson, now a sergeant, continue in this second volume. The story starts almost five years after the end of the previous book. The bitter and loosing war against the Aliens on the one hand and against the Sino-Russian Alliance (SRAs) on the other for the space colonies continues, and Grayson has been involved in it up to the neck.The situation is getting steadily worse, both in space, as the colonies fall one after the other, and in the “North American Commonwealth” where the “welfare rats” living conditions worsen steadily as their weekly food allowance is steadily cut to save money for the war effort, leading to increasingly bloody riots.I’ll stop here to avoid spoilers. Suffice is to say that the book contains the same themes as volume one and that our “grunt” hero meets again Master Sergeant Fallon and two disciplinary battalions from the ex-Territorial Army who are sent on exile to a far-away colony as a punishment, and cut off from the rest of humanity.This book also has the same qualities as book one, and perhaps also the same limitations. It is entertaining, exciting and easy to read. You also need to suspend belief at times, for instance when senior officers (lieutenant colonels no less!) defer to Master Sergeant Fallon who, of course, will let no one “mess around” with her or “her grunts”. You also need to be aware that the story is a rather predictable one, but it’s nevertheless entertaining.For fans of military science fiction (and that includes myself, of course), the book has some interesting features of various types of drop ships, ground attack craft and an orbital combat ship (OCS, in the jargon) with exceptional stealth capabilities. Also included are some equipment specially designed to fight the near invulnerable dinosaurian aliens, including some short of shotgun. One episode which sees a bit of a civil war is a rather good occasion to see these various craft in action, with some interesting (but rather one-sided) ground fighting added to the mix.The third volume, which, like this one and the first one, seems to have been developed from e-books, should be available in April 2015. Four stars.