Thursday, August 11, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Centers of Gravity by Marko Kloos

 




Full Disclosure:  This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on August 30, 2022 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.     


Centers of Gravity is the eighth and final book in Marko Kloos' Military Science Fiction series "Frontlines".  This is basically the only MilSF series I actually read, because Kloos' prose and characters are highly enjoyable, as are the situations they get into against mostly the seemingly unstoppable and highly alien Lanky forces (with occasional human-human conflict as well).  Kloos' ability to play the human v aliens thing somewhat straight, while also adding in real human on human conflicts and issues with our future along the way has made this series highly enjoyable to follow, even if it never really approaches anything must read, and after the seventh book ended on a major cliffhanger, I was excited two years later to get to this eighth and seemingly final book.  

And well, Centers of Gravity is a solid finale to the series, resolving the character arc of series protagonist Andrew Grayson as he finds himself hopelessly in deep space, well away from his wife, in an area that no human has been before...and where their battlegroup seemingly has no way to get back.  It still, like the last book, elides the issue of Andrew's PTSD somewhat, but it still tells a strong story of the battle-weary Andrew forced to make some tough choices, with some disastrous consequences, and features one more struggle between he and his human allies against the alien threat as they try to survive and make it home.  If you're this far into the series, you will enjoy this finale, as more of what you expect from it and a reasonable way to put it all to bed.  


----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
Major Andrew Grayson and the crew of the NACS Washington find themselves impossibly 900 light years away from Earth, far beyond the travel capabilities of any human ship, in a system clearly known to the alien enemy: the Lankies.  Even worse: the system they're in does not even contain any sun, and the only objects within it is a rogue planet and its several moons, making an attempt to settle down in this system practically impossible.  To survive long enough to find a way homme, Andrew and his Special Tactics Team will have to be deployed to the planet's various moons to discover if water and - somehow - food could possibly exist....because if they don't find any, they'll starve to death before they can even think of a way back home.  

But it was the Lankies who towed the Washington to this system, and it's not because this is an unknown system to them, that's for sure.  And the moon most likely to contain the supplies they need is the one whose climate seems almost ideal for the Lankies....and thus poses the most danger for anyone to investigate. 

So of course Andrew will find himself and the Special Tactics Team under his command tasked with investigating it.  This time however, the mission might be so dangerous that Andrew won't come back unscathed....and lives will be lost....if the humans can even find a way back home at all.....
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Centers of Gravity is yet again more of what you expect from the Frontlines series at this point.  Circumstances - in this case crazy and disastrous ones - lead Andrew to once again set down on a Lanky infested planet, to try and sneak around without being detected and to coordinate his team so that there are minimal casualties if they are....except naturally things don't go that easy.  You have a few side characters - like a scientist who is a bit too risky for everyone's own good and the XO who remains bitter about her father (Andrew's first commander)'s sacrifice - who are solid and enjoyable, but really again the main focus is on Andrew.  

And Andrew's story concludes here in very satisfying fashion, with him finally running out of luck in some ways and facing consequences he's long been lucky to avoid, and with him and his weariness reaching a maximum level.  Andrew has for a few books now been in this position of "almost too tired to keep fighting" but also "doesn't know what else he would do if he ever left the military."  Here that comes to a head, with him given no choice but to keep fighting - and to keep going into his most dangerous combat zone yet - if he wants to get back to Halley and yet being even wearier than before.  It doesn't help that his actions put others in danger now and can often be misinterpreted in wrong and bad for morale ways.  The end result, without spoiling, is the perfect end to his character arc, and if Kloos ever returns to this world, it seems certain that Andrew will no longer be the central character.  

And again there's a bunch of really fun MilSci scenes, as Andrew and his team has to invade a planet with unknown biologies and almost certain Lanky presence, has to find their way out, and then in space, their team has to figure out a way to outmaneuver and escape Lanky forces like never before.  If you like the MilSci stuff from prior books in the series, you'll enjoy this one, even if there's little here that you haven't seen before.  

Which isn't to say Centers of Gravity is among the best of the series - there's a bunch of plot elements here that are kind of disappointing and go nowhere (a rumor is brought up by someone that Andrew is having an affair which is impeding his judgment, which he dismisses and then it never comes up again for instance), and the secondary characters remain weaker than compared to earlier in the series.  But the ending works pretty perfectly to wrap up Andrew's story, in a way that is very fitting.  If you've enjoyed this series so far, this will be an excellent way to wrap things up.  

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