Lines of Departure
Ratings68
Average rating3.9
Fun jaunt into space with deeper than expected characters, interesting situations, and a cliffhanger ending.
This second book of the Frontlines series is very well written. The characters are nicely developed and developing. The situations they find themselves in are interesting and make it hard to put this book down. The main character is very much identifiable, I really find myself enthralled with what happens next and what's going to happen to him. The supporting cast is likewise interesting and keeps you coming back for more. Conflict between the various groups is interesting and seems to just be heating up.
Overall very good book & series. If you enjoy the Bobiverse books by Dennis Taylor, you'll find a lot to like here, too.
What a great 2nd episode!
Really liking the story Marko Kloos is laying out here. Well thought-out and interesting, with a unique alien race we have much to learn about. Good pacing, interesting characters, great story!
Unfortunately for me, this military scifi was, for more than 50%, on-leave scifi, vacation scifi, visiting mum scifi, getting engaged scifi and so on. Then, from what was actually milscifi, most is still not about the interesting enemy, but other humans. Then (2), there's a huge, mutinous lack of discipline that I, as a real officer, did not find believable and also really not enjoyable (maybe civilians enjoy rebels, but soldiers not really). Then (3), worst offender for me: POSSIBLE SPOILER all of humanity couldn't find a solution for yearsfor a specific problem and then bang! a small team finds it immediately AND it is the simplest one, that even a Neanderthal would have thought first (I am not kidding, the idea is at that tehnological stage and a natural, reflex reaction for any humanoid).
On the other hand, I still greatly enjoyed the writing and the narrative flow. Kloos is an excellent writer, but with a big deficit on original ideas and, here, a propensity for bang! lucky save again! And again! And again!
I will read the rest of the series, though, as it still is very good escapist literature.
Review d'origine : Ce fut un plaisir de lire ce tome 2 d'une saga que j'apprécie vraiment. On retrouve des personnages connus mais une toute autre ambiance que dans le premier livre. Ca reste de la SF militaire mais les situations ne sont plus les mêmes et permettent de renouveler l'intérêt du lecteur après le premier livre. J'ai hâte de lire la suite. :)
Relecture : Toujours autant de plaisir à lire ce tome. On se concentre plus sur Andrew cette fois-ci mais on retrouve aussi avec plaisir des personnages du premier tomes. Le récit est riche en rebondissement et on a pas vraiment le temps de s'ennuyer... :D
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Original review: It was a pleasure to read this volume 2 of a saga that I really enjoy. We find familiar characters but a completely different atmosphere than in the first book. It's still military SF but the situations are no longer the same and allow the reader's interest to be renewed after the first book. I can't wait to read more. :)
Rereading: Still as much pleasure reading this volume. We focus more on Andrew this time but we also happily find characters from the first volume. The story is full of twists and turns and we don't really have time to get bored... :D
Not as good as book 1 but it was still solid. I'm chewing this series up as though it's the first traditional sci-fi experience I've ever enjoyed...which is almost 100% accurate.
Executive Summary: A big improvement over the first novel. There are still some issues, but far fewer of them. Mr. Kloos has definitely improved as a writer with this one.Audiobook: Luke Daniels is a fantastic narrator, and while not my first choice for a military sci-fi novel, he definitely adds to the story with his delivery. He's grown on me as the series has gone on and I find it easier to separate his performance here from other more humorous works I've listened to him narrate in the past. I'll definitely be continuing on with this series in audio.Full Review[b:Terms of Enlistment 18800655 Terms of Enlistment (Frontlines #1) Marko Kloos https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391472650s/18800655.jpg 24585130] was a decent book, but I had issues with the focus of the story, and the pacing. I had different expectations coming into this book but I still found this book taking different turns than I expected it to. This time that was mostly a good thing.The time spent on Earth helped to fix problems with plot and characters I had in the first book. I still find myself wanting some more details about what's going on Earth than we're given though. That runs contrary to my desire for a space-based military sci-fi novel, but since so much time was spent focused on Earth in the first book, I was hoping more answers would be forthcoming.The writing is solid, and the character development is improved over the last book as well. I'm a lot more fond of the characters in this book than the last. Not only the protagonist Andrew Grayson, but pretty much all of the returning supporting characters as well. I think we get more depth to their personalities making them far more likable. I still found myself scratching my head at times over character actions in the book though.That said, this is a pretty fast-paced and fun military story, so I'm not really expecting some sprawling complex world building. Mostly some light story with heavy action. The story is a bit deeper and the action a bit less than I might have expected, but that's actually a good thing in my opinion.This is definitely book two in a series however. Many of main plot points of this book are resolved, but the final few chapters really set the stage for what's to come next. I hope some of the unresolved plot points will simply go ignored in the next book. It stops in a reasonable place, but I definitely want to listen to the third book sooner rather than later.Overall I enjoyed this one more than the first book, and I look forward to seeing where Mr. Kloos goes next. Will he continue to subvert my expectations with different subplots, or will we focus largely on the Humans vs. Aliens conflict I've been looking for since the beginning? Time will tell.
Pretty good space opera. Fairly predictable, but enjoyable and fast paced nonetheless. I especially like Fallon. She's exactly how I expect hardened soldiers to be!
