Before reading the series launch, I read the short prequel Mission SRX: Before Space Recon, which happened roughly a decade earlier. At that time, humans and Aquillians were still new to one another and diplomacy was the standard practice. That is, until the first attack. The pace was good and plenty brutal. It ended well, positioned the beginning of war, and framed the Space Opera adventure.
So, here we are to the series launch: Confessions of the First War. Jefferson Grant was a civilian with a desk job and typical family. However, when the Aquillians attacked Earth, he lost everything. Driven by revenge, he enlists in the United Space Corps and plans to kill as many of the enemy as possible before his own destruction.
Let me first state that the lead, Jefferson Grant, is an arrogant soldier that somehow survives odd-defying, bloody battles while scores (sometimes all) of others fall. He isn't bullet-proof, but pretty damn close. He takes over ground command on an offensive and is then promoted to Captain and treats the entire chain-of-command like children.
As the story unfolds (not giving anything away), he is promoted to Commander Prime and leads a hard-charging elite force. His story has many turns of events and it is narrated as he is in a prison cell. There is a lot of action and brutal destruction. The body count, on both sides is high.
I found this book entertaining, but annoying as well. Grant is just a douche in pretty much all respects. He also can speed-read and remember everything. He has an uncanny ability to defy odds.
At the time of this review, there are three full novels and the prequel. I have started reading the second book, and it is better thus far.
This book needs an editor. Grant is a Captain in one bit, a Sergeant in another, and back and forth. Continuity is a reader's friend. There is a sentence repeated a handful of pages later, and the occasional wrong word used in a sentence. I will say the editing on the prequel and on book two is much better.
3 of 5 stars. ARC provided by author
From the Publisher:
In the near future, humanity has overcome the bonds of earth and begun to explore the galaxy. The alien first contact was everything the world’s greatest scholars could have hoped for; the Aquillians were advanced, intelligent and peaceful until ships and colonies turned up missing. Having previously no military capacity, the alien’s ability to reverse engineer humankind’s technologies of war proved to be a great equalizer.
The aliens grew increasingly brazen, culminating in a series of devastating attacks on the populations of earth. It quickly became clear that the military leaders had greatly underestimated their numbers, proficiency, and reach throughout the galaxy. Commander Prime Jefferson Grant has nothing left to lose. Left alone without a home or family, he enlists in the United Space Corps to give the only thing he has left: His life.
To avenge the lost he must carve a path of destruction beyond compare to secure humanity's future. From the Earth to the stars, across countless alien battlefields, the war must be fought. To succeed, Grant must take a descent into madness, give up all that he knew, and realize his destiny as a hero or a monster.
The enemy is coming. Is the will of one soldier enough to save it?
