TICKET PUNCHER

This came within a hair's breath of getting a 5th star from me. If I was a military sci-fi lover it would have, but I am not a fan of endless shoot-em ups, which is what chapters 10-13 are. Other then that it is a pretty good story, certainly entertaining. It has good character development and I have already bought the sequel. It does not really have anything new, but some old favorites done well.

It's a dystopian future, were most of the country is on welfare. There is the beloved boot camp chapters, a sort of love story, a reenactment of Black Hawk Down, and even Godzilla. It is worth your credit.

Narrator is good.

82 people found this helpful

Solid military sci-fi.

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed this book. It was a solid showing for a first book and a good lead into a series. The author has an interesting view point of humanity and the future. Kloos does a good job of balancing the tech. So many authors go over the top on tech to the point of drowning out the story. There is enough tech here to keep you interested. The characters were not over the top. I like books that make almost ordinary people into the center of the story. They were believable and I was able to relate to them easily. I enjoyed the boot camp part and it brought back a lot of memories for me. The narrator was easy to listen to and different characters were distinguishable. I would be interested in other books this narrator performed in.

80 people found this helpful

Sophomoric

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Teenage boys who think and converse at the level of a lunch room table.

Has Terms of Enlistment turned you off from other books in this genre?

This genre can be done well. Old Man's War is a good example of scifi action with intelligent characters who have moved beyond the limitations and experience of the teenage mind.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Do not scream. Even when the character is yelling do not scream the words into my ear.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment, waste of time, frustration that the writing could not move beyond a few stereotypical characters.

54 people found this helpful

Right On Target

What made the experience of listening to Terms of Enlistment the most enjoyable?

Good Story combined with excellent narration.

What other book might you compare Terms of Enlistment to and why?

Marko Kloos is as good or better than John Ringo or David Weber. I hope this is a start of a series.

Which scene was your favorite?

I was a Marine and a D.I. and the boot camp scenes were pretty good. There was a lot of difference between our ultra controlled boot camp and the one in Mr Kloos's book, but I can see how his would have been effective, plus his had the advantage of "washout" which meant going back to a life of extreme poverty and desperation. Those with nothing left to lose make the best recruits.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was disappointed that the book ended. Been a while since that happened.

52 people found this helpful

Enjoyed The Story

Terms of Enlistment is by no means a perfect book but it was one I enjoyed immensely: a non blustery military sci fi that isn't in love with its tech, its military, or right wing politics. Rather, we have an everyman navigating the military as a way out of a dead end life on welfare, who won't suddenly end up captaining a ship or becoming an insta-leader. As well, I appreciated that we didn't have a gender-specific army but instead had capable roles for male and female characters. I read the second book in the series, Lines of Departure, first and liked it enough to buy this first book.

Story: Andrew Grayson joins the military as a way out of an untenable life in the welfare system of the North American government. He will go through training school and then end up tackling the problematic situation of the deteriorating social structure on Earth. But what is happening on Earth is only one problem in a universe that is about to expand rapidly - and the military is suddenly going to become very needed.

What I liked about the books is that we have a very ordinary guy. Although he sounds far too educated to have come from a welfare system in which he didn't get higher education (there are no colloquialisms, slang, dialects, etc.) I actually preferred that simple talk for a simple man. Both this first book and the second book start slowly but really pick up steam by midway through. And then, when the action kicks in, Kloos really knows how to escalate it - his characters don't have bad days, they have *really* bad days.

This is the type of story that isn't about kick butt marines, balls out action, or being macho. It's about being lucky to survive, a feeling of futility but also hope, and living in a world on the brink of falling apart on many levels.

I listened to the audible version of this and enjoyed the narration.

50 people found this helpful

I soooo wanted to love this book...

Being a frequent visitor to the author's blog, having read a few of the chapters he released as short stories, and being a HUGE fan of dystopian future novels I really expected to love this book. Unfortunately I did not. Some of the story is very good, but some is flat and one dimensional. Some of the ideas are new and interesting, but some are retreads from Alien and Blackhawk Down. Some of the "future tech" is cool... but there is also quite a bit of anachronism and it feels inconsistent.
Worst of all, there is no resolution to any of the plot threads. The last chapter is literally "We did this, but it doesn't really matter because there is more... buy the sequel." I get it that a lot of books now are setups for a trilogy or whatever, but this was just ugly and blatant. At least some of the plotlines should be resolved... or hinted to... or something. So disappointed.

34 people found this helpful

Great Military Science Fiction

Terms of Enlistment is a highly entertaining, adrenaline pumping, action packed assault on your imagination. Set in the not to distant future, with smart choices made by Kloos. Mainly the lack of excessive technology, it is there but in not over the top ways. Sometimes military science fiction gets to be little more than a description of the vast technology and its uses. But also in the state of our Earth, much is as we know it yet much has changed or I should say is different as I think the universe Kloos created is unique to ours. As there are vast amounts of people that are on welfare, very little is mentioned of those that are not and left me wondering what the rest of the society was like. The NAC (North American Commonwealth) seems to be a military controlled country that is very busy in keeping the riots, rebels and enemy countries under control, while busily exploring the universe and terraforming new planets to inhabit. Our star of the story is Grayson, a nobody everyday kid, stuck in the welfare tenements that the government has setup for the vast amount of poor. He is a young man that wants to do more with his life than waiting to win the lottery, and joins the military. We get to follow him through basic training and watch him transform from a teenaged punk to a confident man living a purposeful life, with a love story mixed in, as basic training is coed. Much of the first half of the story is filled with Grayson thinking about or messaging the love he made in basic, and the only thing he wants more than anything is to follow her into the space Navy, even though he is stuck on Earth. Several battle scenes had me on the edge of my seat as Kloos delivers highly stressful actions sequences both on Earth and in space. I found Grayson to be very relatable and I love when everyday people are the stars living an extraordinary life, along with a full cast of other interesting characters, high impact action, stress inducing moments, love and loss and love again, alien worlds, a must listen for fans of military science fiction. Needless to say I have already purchased the next book in the series and expect to be blown away.

I purchased this audiobook for review.

Please find this complete review and many others at audiobookreviewer dot com

24 people found this helpful

Action packed without much of a plot

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

It looks like the book is set up for a series, but I wouldn't read the next one. I think there are more interesting books out there.

Has Terms of Enlistment turned you off from other books in this genre?

I really love science fiction and fantasy genres, but this was my first time listening to military science fiction book. It was missing a lot of what I love - feeling immersed in the world of the characters. The action scenes really came alive, but the plot was too cliched and the main character was too simplistic as well. After killing what seems like a thousand of people in one day, he doesn't try to find out what is happening on Earth? I wouldn't read another book from this genre - too much action not enough thought.

Which scene was your favorite?

Battle of Detroit

18 people found this helpful

Good, not great Military Sci-Fi

Kloos has a written an enjoyable book that is performed well by Luke Daniels. It is not in the same category as Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet series (at least the first ten books of that series), but the characters are likable, and the plot line believable. This strictly a setup for the ongoing series, there is no attempt to reconcile any of the threads. But the price was right, and it was good enough that I'll get the second book.

14 people found this helpful

passable, standard scifi tropes... blah

Not very compelling. but it was worth what i paid for it. on sale. if you commute a lot, it will do. But if you want the best, if you want feels, keep searching.

12 people found this helpful