Book Cover from Amazon
Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos
BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON
The year is 2108, and the North American Commonwealth is bursting at the seams. For welfare rats like Andrew Grayson, there are only two ways out of the crime-ridden and filthy welfare tenements, where you’re restricted to two thousand calories of badly flavored soy every day:
You can hope to win the lottery and draw a ticket on a colony ship settling off-world, or you can join the service.
With the colony lottery a pipe dream, Andrew chooses to enlist in the armed forces for a shot at real food, a retirement bonus, and maybe a ticket off Earth. But as he starts a career of supposed privilege, he soon learns that the good food and decent health care come at a steep price…and that the settled galaxy holds far greater dangers than military bureaucrats or the gangs that rule the slums.
MY REVIEW
A solid military sci-fi read with good worldbuilding. Didn’t quite hit the “best of the genre” – which I reserve 5 stars for. Better than most and, dang, when is he going to write the next so I can see where the story goes? – is my reaction.
Not a happy world. And for the grunt on the front lines that can make for some unhappy times. Andrew (the main character) entered the military for one of the two reasons most people do (1) it is more relaxing and less work than home (people coming from a farming or boondocks background) or (2) it is safer than remaining at home (Andrew’s reason). Andrew is moving up in the world to safety and better food – even with the being shot at and blown up thing happening.