A review of Points of Impact, book 6 of the Frontlines Series by Marko Kloos

I've been a big fan of Frontlines since about a month after Terms of Enlistment was published. The battle between rival Earth factions and the Lankies, and especially Andrew and Halley's struggle to be together reminds me a lot of the themes and tone of The Forever War, and has clear influences on aspects of my own work.

Unfortunately, while Points of Impact was entertaining and delves into the psychological strain long-term war is having on the main character, it doesn't measure up to the other entries in the series. Having read other reviews of the book I've seen that the major gripes people have echo my own. About 200 of the book's 300 pages can be summed up as 'Andrew talks about how tedious his current assignment is then transfers to a new command'. The book treads very little new ground, and no new locations are introduced to expand the scope of the storyline. After the Frontlines high point that was Fields of Fire, the latest iteration doesn't quite impress as much as I'd have liked.

I could only recommend Points of Impact to the fellow diehard Frontlines fans, but in all honesty this is the first entry that I feel could be skipped without missing any important details. I'm hoping the next entry will be a return to form.

The Frontlines series begins with Terms of Enlistment, and you should check it out if you enjoy hardcore, realistic military sci-fi with a classic sci-fi feel, well developed martial characters with complex motivations, and first-person perspective writing that takes its time describing the rich detail as seen by the main character.

You should avoid Frontlines if you dislike books written in present-tense prose and series which have no defined end.

A review of All Systems Red by Martha Wells

All Systems Red is a short, but sweet, story that perfectly executes the themes it sets out to explore.

A secretly rogue security robot explores its place in the universe as it comes to terms with it's complete absence of desire for human interaction, even as it sacrifices and struggles to protect a group of humans it would rather not speak to. Add in a dash of sarcasm in the first person narration and you have a great way to kill an evening or two. Absent any dense technobabble to keep things accessible, this feels like a classically written novella accessible even to those who don't ordinarily enjoy science fiction.

Simply put, Martha Wells nails it, and you're missing out by skipping this book.