Less Deadly Than The Air

Please give my review a helpful vote - https://www.amazon.com/review/R3L3DD9FF674Q2/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

This story is very good on creating an atmosphere of trench warfare on a world of intense cold, but the character and story development came across as cold as the environment.

The story features the Commander inspecting his troops. Apparently, the characters are all known by their titles in this society. Hence, we have the Commander, and the Major, and the Doctor. The enemy that the Commander's forces are fighting is simply the Enemy. Although we get some information that the enemy are heretical, we don't get any information that might make them real. The McGuffin that moves the story is whether the Commander's forces have been abandoned.

This is featured as an introductory story to the “Praetorian Worlds.” It is not clear from this story what the “Praetorian Worlds” are, but they seem to be homeworlds of a militaristic empire. The Commander comes across as an unlikeable militarist, eager for a return of the brutal killing worlds

This story left me cold in terms of the situation and the characters. I wanted more of an introduction to the society and those features of the author's universe that might capture my attention.