Connections...

Alpha squad sneak through the crashed and severely damaged alien vessel. The only light coming from sparking machinery, fires burning out of control through decks of the doomed vessel and the occasional glimpse of moonlight through large rents in the outer hull.
Colonel Barker stops and raises an arm to bring the rest of his five man team to stop, having been given a command to begin overwatch by his commander, sat safely back at base.

After a few seconds of his team watching and listening for signs of enemy movement, Colonel Matthew 'Scarecrow' Barker picks up the pace and swiftly, but silently, moves his team through what appears to an empty section of the ship. Any alien forces previously in the section, he believed, having been taken out either in the crash from upper orbit, or from the Havok interceptor strike.

Barker and his team are veterans of many missions against this alien threat. These six members of the alpha team are only ever brought out together in force when the mission seems to have an increased level of importance and danger than the usual, and in which no ill experienced team mates can be risked.

After five minutes of scouting the enemy ship, and with no signs of contact the squad begin to get cocky and Scarecrow can tell by the mannerisms of his team that they are beginning to let their guard down. Smash and the way she has stopped brushing her golden hair from her face, Flame in the way he keeps flicking the safety on his plasma sniper rifle, Big Momma in how show tilts her head, a movement accentuated by her large power armour and finally Doomsday, in the way he has stopped trying to hide his large power suited body behind every piece of available cover. Scarecrow tries not to think of the names of his comrades in case the worst happens and he has to look at another name on the memorial wall. He does not dare think of their names until the mission is over. Until that time, he must see them only as their call signs. Names chosen to represent the way in which they run into combat, showing neither fear, nor mercy. Or in his own case, the way he tends to stand amongst the chaos erupting around him and doing his best to heal his comrades back when he was just a simple combat medic.

Flame, being lighter with his skeleton class armour had scouted ahead and called Scarecrows attention to something of interest. A small separate rectangular structure at the back of the ship. Scarecrow wasted no time in calling up the range of ship plans available to him on his heads up display. He could see two shielded doorways from his position and was pretty sure that this was the ships command and control center. If correct, there would be another door on each of the two non visible sides.

Alpha team had been moving around outer hull on the western side of the ship, trying to ensure that if the enemy did appear, then they could not be easily flanked and they would still have the option to full back and regroup to counter attack.

Still using hand signals to maintain radio security, Scarecrow ordered Doomsday to secure the western door, Smash to secure the southern door, Big Momma the northern door and finally he would secure the eastern door, taking the greatest time to get there and so presenting the greatest risk. Several feet in front of the southern door was the central corridor of the ship, which branched off into multiple cargo sections. Scarecrow quickly ordered Flame to position himself at the top of the corridor, in front of the small anti gravity lift, giving him perfect defilade and overwatch of most of the corridor. Tectonic was positioned to guard the western corridor that ran parallel to central access corridor. Scarecrow regretted not being able to lend another of his troops to the western corridor, but he could not spare any more troops from the assault, he knew it had to be fast as the enemy would be alerted to their presence all over the ship once the CIC was taken. It had to be quick and brutal.

Scarecrow heard four clicks on his radio, signalling that his men were in position. Had his newly commissioned Titan armour not had perfect climate control he knew he would be drenched in sweat. He checked his plasma rifle and knew that his men would be doing the same waiting to get the order from their commander. Once he was confident that all of his men would be ready Scarecrow lowered the forcefield and his men did the same.

The entirety of the CIC was visible to the strike team in an instant. Having expected multiple command units, the commander was shocked to find four heavily armed and armoured shock troops in their place. He had no time to think of the possibility that this was a trap as the four enemy units darted for cover and were met with fire from at least two members of alpha team, the superheated and concentrated plasma from their rifles cutting down one of the aliens before he had a chance to reach cover. Before Scarecrow could even look at the mass of metal and alien flesh that was collapsing to the floor he stepped out from the doorway and fired at the exposed flank of an alien. A critical hit at that range and another alien had been downed. Within seconds all four enemy combatants had been eliminated and without any injuries to his team and all alien tech in the command center appeared intact. More or less.

Alarm klaxons started blaring and the strike team quickly moved to reinforce their rearguard before the enemy counter attack begun. Before they could make it, Flame had cut down two heavy assault troops, taking a quick second to run his hand over his mohawk as he felt helmets interfered with his aim. Tectonic was also pouring hot plasma fire down the eastern corridor, a pile of burned alien corpse' clogging the corridor and slowing the other aliens waiting to avenge their brothers.

Just as the team reunited, Scarecrow got a burst transmission from his commander informing him that alien commander units had been detected moving towards his position. Scarecrow told the rest of his team to make the enemy commanders priority targets. Just as Scarecrow applied a nanotech healing spray to the torso of Flame, having taken a small plasma blast to the left shoulder, he glimpsed Tectonic glance his way and nod slightly. A small gesture that after dozens of missions together, having seen friends and family killed, Scarecrow knew it to be Tectonic's way of saying "it'll be alright, you see". His father had the same mannerism when they had served together as corporals. And just like during the fateful Operation Burning Heart, things suddenly took a turn for the worst.

Doomsday had met up with Tectonic and the two heavy assault troops were holding back the main assault force, whilst Big Momma and Smash moved around the eastern corridor, ready to flank and snap the enemy assault. Just as this action was taking place, and mere seconds after the acknowledgement of the two men Tectonic was engulfed by a blue mist. Doomsday to his right, couldn't help but be stunned by what he was seeing happen to his battle brother. All Doomsday could do was fight on and spying the enemy commander responsible for what was happening to his friend took some shots at the enemy unit. His shots missed, slagging a bulkhead just behind the commander and taking a large plasma hit to his own chest in the process. Doomsday fought on, ignoring the pain surging through his chest from the injury, aware that he could hold out for medical attention if he maintained his defensible position until Scarecrow could get to him.

In what seemed like hours but was only seconds, Tectonics body, having slumped to the floor began to rise back up. Too focused on the enemy bearing down on his position and not willing to let his brothers down by falling back, Doomsday was unaware of his, believably deceased battle brother beside him, getting up. Slowly bringing his heavy plasma cannon into position, and not even aiming due to his proximity, Tectonic fired his weapon at point blank range at the defenceless Doomsday. He watched as blood exploded from his comrades chest and face and his plasma cannon fell from his hands. Flame from a new vantage point quickly sighted the enemy commander and put a plasma bolt through his head. The second the plasma bolt passed through the alien brain, the psychic control link was destroyed and Tectonic regained control of his body.

Giving one last glance at the lifeless eyes of his friend staring at him in horror and disbelief, Tectonic raised his own weapon and continued to rain fire down on the last of the enemy attackers.

Scarecrow witnessed the series of events as he was moving in position to reinforce and give medical assistance to his comrades. He could not believe he had just witnessed one of his greatest friends and best soldiers cutting down another of his men.

Nor could his commander believe it.

.
.
.
.

So he paused the game and turned to his flatmate and in a slightly raised tone of voice said "I cannot believe that you, Colonel Stuart "Tectonic" Wetherell Jnr, just cut down Major John-Paul "Doomsday" Uren. Do you not realise that when I go into work tomorrow I will have to tell JP that he got killed by you!"

What you have just read is all true. I was playing the game XCOM Enemy Unknown, and what you read is the accurate account (although fictionalised by me obviously) of the mission I played this evening in which one of my characters got killed.

I have recently found that I really enjoy games such as XCOM and FTL which allow you to name the people in your squads, or crew. In FTL my little starship has been manned by people such as Jean Luc Picard and Dr Crusher with Mr Wolf. Or with Lee Adama, Commander Adama and Kara Thrace. In the past I have played the Sims and entire neighbourhoods have been named after people I know.

The thing is that I get really connected to the characters that I name, and I generally want those people named after people I like to survive over those I'm not bothered about.
In XCOM this has become especially difficult as I have had problems thinking up names for my characters, which is why I fall back on work colleagues, so my entire department is in XCOM. Along with a load of my favourite authors such as Jonathan Green, David Tallermann, Karen Traviss etc.

But then again, comes the problem of how do I feel when some of those characters die.

Here is a pic of my memorial wall in XCOM:

As you can see, my own name is near the top of this list. The only person on the first page of my memorial wall that I did not change the name of was Francois Girard and that's because the computer nicknamed him Solo. I have never changed the nicknames because I like the random nature of them.

Since I took that pic, many, many more have joined their ranks. JP would now in fact be at the top of that list. In that list you can see one Babylon 5 character, two Star Wars characters, one author, one song name, and a character called Dr Medic, because I bet you can guess what character class they were assigned when I got them. You can even see the original character named after my flatmate.

Now, my team when I set off on the fateful mission that saw the death of my friend, and real life colleague of JP looks like this:

In my best squad (now sadly one member short, which I have replaced with a robot that's a cross between Jonny Five and Wall E) you can see my flatmates second incarnation, who I should probably change the nickname to Backstabber or Betrayer. You have Matt Barker and JP Uren who I am in the same team with at work. Major Roy Mustang (now ironically Colonel Mustang after that mission), named after my favourite Fullmetal Alchemist character Colonel Roy Mustang. Colonel Hayley "Smash" Sharpe, named after another colleague at work and Major Sarah "Big Momma" Marshall named after my sister in law. Sadly my brother is far down the memorial wall, Having died with the rang of Corporal and taking down five enemies, rescuing two civilians. I assume that in virtual heaven he is buried next to Dom Santiago and Marcus Fenix who also bought the farm on that mission (rescues are tough).

Here is a shot of the bar that I noticed was in my base in the game. I showed the real Matt Barker this picture and his reaction was to tell me that I am sat at the bar and he is there telling me that the deaths of the squad members is my fault.

The worst thing is that I couldn't help but think that he was right. It made me realise that although they are not real, because I have named them after real (mostly) people, I have begun to invest real emotions into them and I genuinely do not want to see these little virtual avatars die. The worst is that because of the save game I have set up on Iron Man setting, I cannot go back to an old save in order to do the mission again, so like in real life, once they are gone they are gone, and with them all of their experience and individual expertise' and quirks.

I realise that it is probably wrong for me to feel an emotion connection with these little virtual people like I have with the old Starship Troopers RTS, or the Sims or FTL and finally with XCOM, but I do. Even if I only do a mission a night, its like seeing old friends again and I get to go on amazing adventures with them that I just cannot go on in the real world. (If there really is an XCOM organisation out there then I am very scared).

This whole post started because I was thinking how hard it is to think up character names for stories and how impressed I am that authors can do that. For instance Ulysses Quicksilver or Easie Damasco are brilliant and I would never think up names like that in a million years. It quickly got me thinking of how when I read a book I get emotionally attached to the characters like I have with Fall of Giants and Winter of the World by Ken Follett.

I love books, hence this blog. But when I play games, I know that unlike a book where I am being completely presented with a world prebuilt for me to picture, with a game I get the same thing but I get to shape that world to make it what I want, or would like to be. Just like a film, or book though, it might not always end how you want. After all, my first crack at XCOM resulted in my entire team getting wiped out and I could never recover.

You may think that I am a geek for writing this, and I am. But remember, next time that you look up in the sky and see the sun. Remember, its not just the sun, its a star. How amazing is that, that we are so close to a star, one of billions out there in the universe.

So I leave you with this quote:

Two possibilities exist:

 

Either we are alone in the universe or we are not.

 

Both are equally as terrifying.

-Arthur C. Clarke

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading.

 

End of line.

Decisions in an apocalyptic world.

To go left or right, to have chocolate or vanilla? Each day we make hundreds of different decisions, and whilst some are considered less important than others, all of them shape our lives in ways that we cannot always tell.

I have a book called Can You Survive The Zombie Apocalypse? which I like to pick up every couple of weeks and give a quick flick through.

Thanks to one of my favorite books, World War Z, I consider myself one of the three best people that I can think of who would survive a zombie attack. One of the others is my friend Stu, who has survived a zombie attack in Leeds, and the other is my friend Dom, who is in the World War Z movie, and he can run bloody fast (that's how he got the part).

Apart from my diabetes, I think I would be pretty good in a zombie situation. Many people that I know would probably consider that I could be a part of the outbreak so as long as I survived the first 24 hours, I think I could do it.

That is what made me want to get the book.

I have not survived once!

The book is very good and highly enjoyable. The only problem is that in performing the actions in the book, I always tend to do the options that I would do in that situation. For instance, the book gives you the choice to just try and get out of dodge, or go back to my apartment first. I would always go back as you should never rush escaping a city, especially as that is what most others would do.

The big problem with the book is that whatever decision you make, no matter how small the events that occur after that decision remove the importance of whatever decision you have made. I seem to have survived the longest when I have gotten on an underground train.
If zombies are rising up then there would be no way I would get inside a cramped underground metal tube. Thats just crazy. However, the train crashes and you seem to be way better off.

For this reason, this book annoys me a little because there seems to be no way that a logical thinker can survive, it really is just a scenario where you will survive by pure luck. I grant you that in many situations in life, that can be enough, but 9 times out of 10, the person who is prepared will survive.

Oh well, lets see how far I can get this time........

Getting a bit chilly....

I've recently been reading alot on several blogs about reading challenges. It seems like a good idea if you need some motivation to get through their massive piles of books. For me, I dont think that I could do it, simply because I have a great deal of trouble keeping track of my books. I have enough trouble updating this because I tend to blast through books so quickly at times that I move on to the next one and its only the really outstanding books that stick in my brain.

I have developed a very bad habit of clearing my memory warehouse of things that I dont think I need to remember anymore in order to fit more in. 

Well with the sudden shift to super cold weather it made me think of Ken Folletts new book Winter of the World that came out last week. A very good friend had lent me the first in the trilogy; Fall of Giants a week before. Its a book nearly a thousand pages long and the first chapter seems to be about mining in Wales. I'll be honest that I did not think that I would get through it.

I have never been happier to be wrong.

It was a great book and then I was in luck that only three days later Winter of the World was released and so I rushed out and purchased it.

 The book follows the children of the characters from Fall of Giants and the challenges that they face.

The book starts in 1933 and shows how fascism rooted itself in Germany through fear and intimidation. The book quickly jumps through the 30's and introduces the reader to the fight against fascism in Britain and the clash of communism and fascism in the Spanish Civil War, finally leading to WWII, from the Blitz, to Pearl Harbour, D-Day and the Pacific conflict and how all of these things affected the individuals in the books story.

This is not a book about war, it is a book about people. The brilliant thing about Winter of the World is that because the book takes place over so many years, the characters that you are introduced to at the beginning go through so many changes throughout. So people who you might take an instant dislike to, by the end have matured and become characters that you deeply care about. And of course, characters that you may have liked at first have been shaped by their situations into very dark people.

I read a review of this book that says that Winter of the World could be read on its own. I agree to that book to a point as you can read it on its own and it becomes more about the historical events and how they are viewed from the different individuals perspective. However, if you have read Fall of Giants then it becomes more about the people and how you will look at the children of the characters that you loved in the first tale and want their descendants to do well, or badly in some cases.

Sadly it will probably be two years until the last instalment and I am very interested to see at what point within the 20th century it will be set. This book is a brilliant read and whilst the historical events (particularly the spy ring in Spain) may not be perfect, it is a very good portrayal of events and you will get very emotionally invested in the lives of the people in the book, which is what a good book should do.

When we owe so much to so few, which few are they?

I was recently walking through Waterstones to see if there was anything that took my fancy as I wasn't sure what kind of mood I was in. I looked on a stand that was advertising their "book of the month" and it is a book called Double Cross by Ben Macintyre.

I looked at the book and the premise was that the book is about the secret agents that helped to fool the Axis forces in the second world war with a focus on their actions in the lead up to D-Day.

I'm sure that the book is good, but I couldn't help but feel a little shocked that it seems to be near identical to a book that I bought and read a couple of weeks before called Operation Fortitude by Joshua Levine, which is about the exact same topic and even the covers are similar.

Basically at the end of the day, it simply means that you are spoilt for choice when it comes to books concerning the Double Cross system in WWII.

Operation Fortitude by Joshua Levine is a really good read, and one of the best parts about it is that although it is a non fiction work, it reads like a story making it very easy to plough through it.

Winston Churchill suggested that the best truths must be protected by a bodyguard of lies. That is the best way to sum up the Double Cross system that was developed by a man named Dudley Clarke.

Dudley Clarke is the man that masterminded the system for creating double agents in the war. I wish that Ken Follett had read this book before writing his book Winter of the World, which whilst amazing, is so very wrong when it discusses spies during the Spanish Civil War.

Operation Fortitude is a fascinating read that shows you how it was that a few individuals took it on themselves to spin a web of lies that the Germans would believe. In many of these cases, these men were Germans who knew that whilst their actions were traitorous they knew that Germany had to be rid of the horrors that Hitler had brought. In reading this you get to find out how it was the Germans sent so few spies to Britain because the double agents that were working in the country had created so many fake agents that the Weirmacht believed that they did not need more agents in Britain.

There are brilliant little tales such as how one agent took his money from the Weirmacht, put it down at a card table just to scare his handler, a certain Lieutenant Flemming, which would become the inspiration for Casino Royale. Or how Sir David Sterling when creating his SAS force, asked Dudley Clarke what he should call his new special forces unit. Clarke replied that he should call it the SAS as he had created a fake SAS unit to confuse the Germans in Africa and that if there was a real unit fitting the description of his fictional one, it would back up all the fake reports he was feeding the Germans. Lastly how both the camp and the board of people that regulated its activities were called Camp Twenty, as twenty in Roman numerals is XX. Shocking that the Germans never worked that one out. And of course, the rest is history.

One chapter of this book that wound me up is the over whelming evidence that Britain warned the United States that Pearl Harbour would be attacked for months before the attack but due to bungling idiot J Edgar Hoover (head of the FBI, famous for hating homosexuals and Jewish people, although himself a cross dresser and its STRONGLY hinted that he and his male assistant were overly friendly) the attacks went ahead. How no one stepped us to shoot that idiot I do not understand.

It is sad that although the people of Britain owe so much to such a few men, they have never really gained any recognition for their heroic actions. Because many of these eccentric men had to live in worlds of their own creation, they did not transition well back into normal life after the war and they also feared revenge from Germany.

A great read, I would say that it is certainly a holiday book for many.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

As I was heading to the Olympics to watch some sport which is main main hobby besides reading, I needed something to read that I could easily pick up and wouldn't be too heavy such as Game of Thrones.

So I chose The Hunger Games, and all I can think is....

"May the odds be ever in your favour."

This book certainly deserves a 5/5.

I must admit that I read this on the devil box or Kindle for those of you who don't know my dislike of digital print and there was an interview at the end of the book with Suzanne Collins. I just want to note this point of annoyance on my part before I begin to talk about the actual story. Suzanne Collins in her interview is asked about what influences brought her to think of the Hunger Games and she mentioned seeing things on the news etc which is fair enough, but there is certainly one source of inspiration that is not mentioned and that is the film Battle Royale which is the first thing that came to my mind when I heard the concept of the story so I was rather shocked that this was not mentioned, but maybe she wanted to sound original.

Rant over. Feel free to ignore the previous paragraph.

The main character in the book is the young Katniss Everdeen, a girl who was born in District 12 of the state of Panem which has risen up out of the ruins of the contemporary United States which has been brought down by climate change and other nasty things like that. District 12, provides coal to the Capitol whilst other districts provide their own specific products.

Part of the reason this book appeals to me is that from the get go it is very obvious that there is a very Roman aspect to this tale in the way that the client kingdoms have to provide tribute to the capitol who controls everything.

Because of a previous rebellion by the districts each year the surviving districts must offer up one girl and one boy aged between 12 and 18 to take part in the Hunger Games. In the games the children will fight to the death (and of course be broadcast on national television) until there is only one survivor.

Through circumstances the two that head to the games for District 12 are one Katniss Everdeen and a young boy named Peeta Mellark.

The two characters are pretty brilliantly presented in my opinion. Katniss is a pure survivor who has shut out most emotions since a very early age to make sure that her family survives. Peeta however, whilst being from a very (and I cannot emphasize how very small) better family in terms of their circumstances, he wears his heart on his sleeve and is not afraid to show his emotions. For a man who has often been described as super stoic I wish I could be more like the character of Peeta Mellark.

I cannot really say more about the two of them without spoilling more of the story than I already feel I have. This is also the reason that whilst I have read the following two books within two days of The Hunger Games, I might wait to write them up.

When reading The Hunger Games, I couldn't help but feel that several of the characters represent very important aspects of a persons character. For instance, Primm, Katniss' younger sister represents pure innocence. Peeta I feel represents courage in a number of ways. Haymitch represents despair and having had an alcoholic close to me I can understand how he drinks to cover up the pain. Effie, who represents decadence and the arrogance that comes with it, and finally Cinna who represents kindness. I also have a feeling of what Katniss should represent but I want to keep that one to myself so I don't cloud your views.

The pace of the book is very good and at the end of every chapter I just wanted to read one more chapter and then next thing I knew the book was finished.

If you look at the surface of The Hunger Games you have a book about a girl who is thrown into a bad situation and kids are made to kill each other for mindless entertainment.
What I got was a book about sacrifice. Sacrifice for ideals that are bigger than the individual and that can give hope to not just the masses but those close around us. I must admit that to a lesser extent I really enjoyed the absolute devotion that Peeta shows Katniss throughout the story is very moving and was nice to think that occasionally people can meet "the one" even as hardship is thrust on them.

Battle Earth II, III and IV by Nick S Thomas

Well, its been a busy time of late. I have found myself reading series of books which is why I haven't been reviewing much. My last review was OK Battle Earth I by Nick S Thomas, which was a highly enjoyable read, and because I was reading it on the Kindle, it made it easy to just keep on reading without really noticing that I had started a new book.

Then of course came the games. For those of you that know me, I have a deep passion for sport that I do not express to anyone, except when there is a big tournament on that particular sport. Then came the Olympics, the time in which titans walk amongst us and the hopes of millions across the globe rest on the shoulders of very few. So what does one do when the sports that you love such as fencing, hockey, athletics, rowing and cycling come along what is a man to do....

Get your arse to London is what that man does.

My travel to the games meant that I needed something to read and so in the space of a week I got the chance to read through the Hunger Games books which I will review shortly.

But back to Battle Earth, which because I read them over the course of three days I will review as if they are one book.

Battle Earth II, III and IV by Nick S Thomas.

 Just as the first book I will give the three books a 4/5.

The three books are very similar to the first book, with the only variation really being book IV.
Things seem dire at the beginning of book II with the human forces holding their alien foes in the ruins of Paris but losing many for every enemy they take down.

They then get pushed back and France falls beneath the boots of a different type of oppressor and it falls to the united nations of earth to rally in Germany and continue the fight.

You get told that the alien forces are attacking other places on the earth, but refreshingly the action always remains fixed on the characters you know. Even to the point that you also get to follow a resistance movement on the moon.

As you could expect from humans, we quickly learn from our enemies and develop technology that levels the playing field and we are able to take the fight back to them.

The books continue with great pace and the characters never seem indestructible and do remain very human. You also begin to learn more about the aliens, without it becoming bogged down in anything too unbelievable. To be honest with reading this, I got the feeling that the TV series Falling Skies pinched the idea for the aliens from these books.

Books 1-3 are very similar as if they are one story, then book 4 comes along and it shifts a little. It is still a great read but its as if its a new chapter in the story and I would say that if there is not another book in the series then do not read four, but if there is another then wait so that you can go through them as it left me wanting more as its seems like there should be more on the way.

Battle Earth by Nick S Thomas

Well hello again universe. I know that in my last past, sadly well over a year ago, I still havent blogged much. As most of you out there will now know (please dont mention on Facebook), I am to be a father in a few months and I am still finding the prospect terrifying. I am however, now also a health nut and have been going to the gym every day so the somewhat chunky John most of you might know is now dead and is a new three stone slimmer model.

Over the past month I have read alot and heres a quick rundown of what I have read:

The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore (3/5)
I Am Number Four (4/5)
Robotech: The Macross Saga books 1-6 by Jack Mckinney (overall I would say 3.5/5)
Star Trek Destiny: Gods of Night by David Mack (4.5/5)
Star Trek Destiny: Mere Mortals (2.5/5)
Star Trek Destiny: Lost Souls (4/5)
Orphange by Robert Buettner (5/5) yes I should write a full blog about that as i've read it about 5 times in the past year.
Evolution Expects by Jonathan Green (5/5) another regular read so will defo have to write a review. Unlike the series of Buettner books where I only like the first in the quintology, I usually plough through Greens books in a day each, but will wait for the next book before I hit the entire series again.

So as you can see, I've read alot and I have been lazy when it comes writing. Thanks also to encouragement from my flatmate and a friend who seems to be able to make me want to always try harder at anything I do (in a good way) I have been working alot on writing myself. Whilst I dont consider anything that I do any good in my writing, I do enjoy doing it. Plus, said lady with severe powers over me says I should work harder to follow my dream of working some way in publishing. But hey, thats enough about what I am doing and my bad excuses, heres the review of Battle Earth by Nick S Thomas that I read yesterday and today.

I'm giving this a 4/5.

This is oddly enough the first time that I have seen the cover art for this as this is another that I downloaded on to the dreaded Kindle (see past blog post about Kindle to know I eat myself up every time I read from the devil machine).

It was easy for me to think that this book was written by an American as there are moments when it seems like only America can save the day. However, as the story progresses you get introduced to some brilliant Brit characters that from their descriptions sound like they are unstoppable titans.

This premise of this book is simple. Aliens show up and just invade. There is nothing in this from the alien point of view so you have no idea about their motivations and that also leads to many of the mistakes from the human nations in the beginning of this conflict. The main character is called Mitch Taylor a US Marine Major. He is thrown into the thick of it when the aliens, known simply as Mechs attack the moon colony, after already wiping out the Mars colony. The aliens remind me of elementals from the Battletech series of books, but are probably a lot taller and they use tank like vehicles and planes like humanity, only far more advanced.

This book is the first in a large series and I thoroughly enjoyed it and bought part two as soon as I finished this book with the first chapter already seeming to be as enjoyable as the first. My problem with the second book of Robert Buettners Jason Wander series is the first book is epic, and then the following books shift in style and the story just isn't as good. This however seems to keep going so I am rather looking forward to the next part.

There is nothing deep about this book, it is quite simply humans defending their home as best as they can against overwhelming, near invincible foes. The book does not get bogged down by politics and thankfully no religious beliefs, it is a simple war book and it could be because I felt like some really good escapism, but its well worth a read and I implore you to give it a try.