Lines of Departure by Marko Kloos
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'd been meaning to read this one for a while ever since Marko Kloos withdrew it from the Hugo nominations in '15 because of the Sad Puppy controversy. I respected his decision. It also turned me on to two great authors I probably never would have read, otherwise.

I never really considered myself a fan of Mil-SF. Not really. But then I keep reading great Mil-SF.

Marko Kloos has a style that's extremely readable. It's clear as hell with a charming and droll voice. It certainly helps, considering the topic.

Aliens with overwhelming and irresistible force, loss of almost every human planetary colony, in-fighting among the nations of earth, slow starvation and rebellion on earth, and mass rebellion within the military, itself.

Kinda sounds impossible and hopeless, doesn't it?

Yeah. And to make things worse, his higher-ranking woman just proposed to him and the military has thrown up a ton of red tape barring their union and is keeping them apart. Lousy sons of bitches.

:)

This series has got to be some of the most purely enjoyable popcorn-fiction Mil-SF's I've ever read, and this one in particular was like a deluge of all the shit hitting the fan at once rather than the previous novel which was more like one damn thing after another. The novel is simple in concept and simple in ideas. It's survival and endless war from all sides. Humanity can't get its shit together and the gallows humor is in full swing.

Now, is this a Hugo-worthy novel? I personally don't think so, but my choice would not be strictly based on how much fun I had while reading it. I'd also add the dimension of what it adds to the genre, too. It doesn't really add anything except as a fantastically good example of a very large sub-genre. I'm not saying it isn't great, because it is great, but its ideas have been done for decades and decades.

I'm absolutely going to continue it because I *am* having a damn lot of fun with it, though. :)

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