Full transparency: I’m the Director of Publicity for Aethon Books. However, this review is 100% honest, unbiased, and based solely on my reading experience.
TL;DR Review: Fast-paced story, great character work, and a perfect balance between easy reading and complex tech. Incredibly addictive military sci-fi evocative of Warhammer, but without the grimdark.
Synopsis:
The Choice:
Go to war or go to jail.
For small-time street hustler Cam Alvarez, the choice is simple. He has no family, no friends, no place in the world…nothing to lose. When his latest con results in the death of a cartel hitman, Cam opts to join the Marines and leave Earth to fight a vicious alien enemy.
Drafted into the Marine Drop-Troopers, Cam discovers there’s one thing he’s even better at than running street-con games, and that’s killing the enemy. Wrapped in an armored battlesuit, Cam finds purpose amidst the horror and destruction of the war, and the opportunity for a new sort of friends and family…if he can break the habits of a life spent alone, trusting no one.
And … if he can survive.
Full Review:
What a wild ride!
Contact Front delivered the space marines adventure I didn’t know I absolutely wanted. From a compelling character to beautifully utilized technology to epic stakes, it was military sci-fi action I enjoyed from start to finish.
The story is fairly straightforward: Cam Alvarez is given a choice—go to deep freeze or enlist in the marines. Not wanting to risk imprisonment in cryostasis, he makes the simple decision to join the military. There, he is kicked, punched, battered, shot, and yelled into shape, but by the end, he’s a true marine in every sense of the word.
This is exactly the kind of story you’d expect with a setup like that. Cam is a loner, an orphan and runaway foster kid turned to crime, with all the trust issues and lone wolf mentality that breeds. His biggest struggle isn’t to become a marine—he’s been around violence all his life—but to become part of a team, and eventually a leader. We get a lot of excellent character growth from Cam without ever bogging down the action and the fast pace.
As someone who’s never served, I absolutely loved the glimpses into the marines harsh training regimen, the way of life, the discipline, and the mindset that is necessary to become a true modern warrior. The action scenes were dialed up to the max every time, and we got to see Cam both succeeding and failing in interesting ways, all of which lead him inevitably closer to becoming the hero we need him to be by the end.
I particularly enjoyed the look into the massive war machine suits they get to wear. It felt a lot like the Warhammer Space Marines, only I got a (simple) primer on how everything worked, so I was able to understand the limitations, risks, dangers, and, ultimately, capabilities of every suit. All the tech details were delivered cleverly in the guise of character development and smart conversations, so it never felt dry or boring. It just enhanced my understanding of the world and made for greater enjoyment when it came time to push the suits to their limits.
The story was zippy and short, with a climax that left me definitely wanting more. Contact Front doesn’t waste time focusing on governmental politics or double-dealings—it’s just straightforward, action-packed military sci-fi that I burned through in a single sitting.
I can’t wait to come back to this series and find out whose ass Cam and his crew of armored space marines kick next!
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