Thursday, January 11, 2018

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Points of Impact (Frontlines #6) by Marko Kloos





  Despite not being much of a MilSci (Military Science Fiction) fan these days - I used to be when I was growing up but less so these days - Marko Kloos' Frontlines series has been one of my favorite series over the past few years.  The series tells the story of a future humanity where humanity has started to colonize planets in outer space - which is good because Earth has very much gone to shit, with Cities across the globe suffering from overcrowding, poverty, and the danger those conditions result in.  The series' main protagonist, Andrew Grayson, leaves the overcrowded and dangerous cities to join the military, only for the military to run into another Alien species, the Lankies, which proceed to force humanity to the brink of annihilation.

  What makes Frontlines one of my favorite MilSci series - in addition to having some pretty excellent characters - is that while the series deals with serious issues such as PTSD and military ethics, the story involves a main character who is always trying - even when it's difficult - to do the right thing.  This sounds kind of cheesy, but there are times in the series where other books would take the story in a more cynical direction (not that this world isn't cynical) - so your main character might cheat on his long distance girlfriend, or find out that she's cheating on him; or your main character might execute surrendered soldiers in vengeance, etc. etc- this series always plays fair.  I'm not describing this very well, but it's done extremely well throughout.

  And while I thought book 5 (Fields of Fire) was the weakest in the series, Points of Impact might just be the strongest book in the series so far.

More after the jump (Spoilers obviously for earlier books in the series, but while you can't start the series with this book, it's not like this is a series where spoilers will ruin your enjoyment)


-------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------------
Two years have passed since the events of Fields of Fire, when the combined military forces of Earth destroyed the alien Lanky bases on Mars, with the military suffering significant casualties.  While the Lankies have been removed from the Solar System, providing Earth with some relief, Lanky forces remain on Mars underground however, and Captain Andrew Grayson has spent much of the past two years dropping onto the irradiated planet to smoke them out, suffering great stress as a result.  The lives lost on Mars and on Arcadia constantly haunt Andrew as he finishes his second straight tour on Mars.

But when Andrew and his wife Halley are deployed on a brand new state of the art warship designed for fighting back against the Lankies, Andrew finds himself not only in command of a series of way-too-junior combat controllers, but forced to fight alongside some of the individuals who caused his nightmares on Arcadia.  And it won't be long until the new fleet unit is deployed to the front against the Lankies and is put to the test.

But even Andrew couldn't anticipate where the Lankies will attack next - a blast from his military past.  Will the fleet be able to perform as intended and actually take the fight back to the Lankies?  And will Andrew be able to stay mentally intact through it all - or is it finally time for him to hang up the uniform?
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While I wouldn't call the Frontlines series "character-driven," its recurring characters remain excellent.  Our series protagonist and narrator Andrew Grayson is an excellent hero - his narration remains very believable throughout and his actions/motivations remain compelling throughout.  This is a book in which 70% of the story involves Andrew adapting to his new mission command and not actually fighting, but the story remains excellent as a result of the focus on his story.

A major theme of the book is Andrew suffering from PTSD.  Points of Impact is basically the third straight book in the Frontlines series to deal with PTSD as a major issue to at least a certain degree.  The series is particularly excellent at describing Andrew suffering from it, and in this book, where it comes to the forefront to a far greater degree than before, it's done extremely well in particular.  Again, it's something that could be come across as cheesy or heavy-handed, but it's not at all here.

The other characters in the book remain interesting as well, even if they are not nearly as fully developed.  Halley, Andrew's wife and the secondary main character of the series, has never quite been as fully developed as Andrew, but again is a believable and interesting character in her interactions with Andrew (I think I've said this before, but I'd love to see a story with her as the central narrator).  Two other minor characters are of relevance but both are spoilers so I won't name them here, but both are well done in how they impact the narrative.  Again, the book is not character-driven in any way shape or form outside of being driven by Andrew, but these minor characters don't feel like cardboard cutouts.

It's funny - I thought Fields of Fire was a downpoint for the series in part due to the absence of the series' third major character, Sergeant Brianna Fallon, but she's absent from this book as well and it doesn't really feel like a big loss this time.  The action sequences of this book take up a smaller part of the story, and I think that fits a lot better (again this is where my lack of love for MilSci comes into play), as the action is more impactful than in Fields of Fire.  It's all done well as usual, if you're looking for that type of thing.

I mean the book (and the series) is far from perfect - again, it's not one of those books I'd ever declare a must-read, and while it does deal with some serious issues (as discussed above), it's not a book that is trying to go very big into ideas.  The book, like the rest of the series, is also not very long, although this book is in fact the shortest in the series, just barely crossing the 300 pages mark.  The pacing is excellent mind you, and the price point ($4.99 on kindle right now) is not exactly charging you for a longer book, but it's not a book that's going to take you long to finish.  And while I like the minor character cast, there really isn't another well developed character besides Andrew in this book (Sergeant Fallon is the closest other in the series, but she's off-screen for this book as she was in the last one).

Still, if you really like MilSci, I highly recommend the Frontlines series - and it's a cheap series to get into (books 1-5 are $1.99 this month, this book is only $4.99 right now).  If you don't mind MilSci, I'd still recommend trying out the series.  It's not going to change your mind if you dislike MilSci, but if you are neutral to positive on the subgenre, the series is worth a shot.  And Points of Impact serves as the best in the series so far.
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