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Earthrise #2
Earth Lost
Earth burns. We call them the scum. They came from deep space. Creatures of claws and endless malice, they ravage the world. As the war flares, as cities crumble, Private Marco Emery and his platoon blast into space. They won one battle on Earth. Their next battle must be fought in the darkness. The scum will not rest until the last human is dead. Marco and his friends must defeat them. They must win. Or Earth will fall.
318 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 17, 2016
About the author
Daniel Arenson
153 books866 followersDaniel Arenson is a bookworm, proud geek, and USA Today bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction. His novels have sold over a million copies. The Huffington Post has called his writing "full of soul." He's written over forty novels, most of them in five series:
EARTHRISE — They came from deep space. They came to destroy us. Against the alien onslaught, Earth stands alone. But we will fight. We will rise. We will win. Start reading with Earth Alone, the first novel in this military science fiction series.
REQUIEM — Welcome to Requiem, an ancient kingdom whose people can grow wings and scales, breathe fire, and take flight as dragons. Requiem is explored in six trilogies, which can be read in any order. If you're new to Requiem, you can start reading with Requiem's Song (you can download it for free). For fans of dark, gritty fantasy like A Game of Thrones.
MOTH — Discover Moth, a world torn between day and night—its one half drenched in eternal daylight, the other cloaked in endless darkness. For fans of classic fantasy worlds such as Middle Earth and Narnia. Start reading with Moth, the first novel in this epic fantasy saga.
ALIEN HUNTERS — Got trouble with aliens? Call the Alien Hunters. A group of scruffy mercenaries, they'll remove the pest for you. Low rates. No questions asked. Start reading with Alien Hunters, the first book in this space opera series. For fans of Star Wars, Firefly, and Guardians of the Galaxy.
KINGDOMS OF SAND — Enter a world of sand and splendor, a world where gladiators battle in the arena, where legionaries and barbarians fight for glory, and where empires rise and fall.
EARTHRISE — They came from deep space. They came to destroy us. Against the alien onslaught, Earth stands alone. But we will fight. We will rise. We will win. Start reading with Earth Alone, the first novel in this military science fiction series.
REQUIEM — Welcome to Requiem, an ancient kingdom whose people can grow wings and scales, breathe fire, and take flight as dragons. Requiem is explored in six trilogies, which can be read in any order. If you're new to Requiem, you can start reading with Requiem's Song (you can download it for free). For fans of dark, gritty fantasy like A Game of Thrones.
MOTH — Discover Moth, a world torn between day and night—its one half drenched in eternal daylight, the other cloaked in endless darkness. For fans of classic fantasy worlds such as Middle Earth and Narnia. Start reading with Moth, the first novel in this epic fantasy saga.
ALIEN HUNTERS — Got trouble with aliens? Call the Alien Hunters. A group of scruffy mercenaries, they'll remove the pest for you. Low rates. No questions asked. Start reading with Alien Hunters, the first book in this space opera series. For fans of Star Wars, Firefly, and Guardians of the Galaxy.
KINGDOMS OF SAND — Enter a world of sand and splendor, a world where gladiators battle in the arena, where legionaries and barbarians fight for glory, and where empires rise and fall.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 130 reviews
January 6, 2020
Earth Lost
Earthrise, Book 2
By: Daniel Arenson
Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
The new recruits first mission is worse than they expected. The ships commander is super cruel. They get a distress call from a frontier planet. They also don't know they have someone trying to sabotage their mission. This is a very tense, suspenseful, horror filled novel! So exciting! Nerve wracking! Lots of action and emotional connection between characters. Thrilling yet witty and funny dialogue at times.
Great book!
The narration awesome of course with Kafer!
Earthrise, Book 2
By: Daniel Arenson
Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer
The new recruits first mission is worse than they expected. The ships commander is super cruel. They get a distress call from a frontier planet. They also don't know they have someone trying to sabotage their mission. This is a very tense, suspenseful, horror filled novel! So exciting! Nerve wracking! Lots of action and emotional connection between characters. Thrilling yet witty and funny dialogue at times.
Great book!
The narration awesome of course with Kafer!
September 8, 2016
This is a gruesome and horrifying book! It is also an impossible love story/triangle with young soldiers fighting a terrible, terrible enemy. It is very good science fiction. The author has a very vivid imagination, if not a sick one! We’re back with Marco Emery, the poet/librarian turned soldier. He’s now with his surviving basic training platoon led by, now Lieutenant Einav Ben-Ari, which include Addy, his quasi-sister, Sergeant Singh, Lailani, Beast, Elvis and a few other survivors of the battle/attack on Ft. Djemila. They have been tested in battle and for the most part, they passed the test since they are still alive. Now, they have been selected to take the fight into the depths of space. They and others are on-board the HDFS Miyari headed for NighWall Outpost.
This platoon will become part of an STC (Space Territorial Command) Brigade after they have been up-trained on NightWall. The difference between the ETC (Earth Territorial Command) and STC is like night and day. The ETC soldiers have worn out equipment and uniforms. They have been trained on outdated and unless junk. They make do with what they have and what they have isn’t much. Meanwhile, the STC has all the funding it needs. They have nicely pressed and starched uniforms, modern, highly dangerous weapons and the best care that money can buy. They are also trained to be the best of the best. On-board the HDFS Miyari, STC Company Commander Captain Coleen Petty is just the beginning of their troubles. You soon begin to hate her and her STC troops as much or nearly as much as you hate the scum. At least the scum don’t talk down to you and treat you like, well, scum!
The book moves along pretty well given that there’s a lot of conflict between the new ETC platoon and their arrogant hosts. Captain Petty runs the show as far as the soldiers are concerned although the ships Captain, a Major Sefu Marabou technically out ranks the Captain, but he only has command of his ship, not the soldiers. Captain Petty is out to make life miserable for Marco and his bunch. That is until they intercept a distress call from a moon, the Corpus Christi, orbiting the gas giant Indrani. While this distress call really annoys Captain Petty, they must answer it. It may be the last thing they ever do.
There is a lot of fighting in this book. Most of it seems to be in the dark which is the worst kind of fighting. it’s strange that none of these troops have night vision equipment. The author is very good at describing the environment on this moon and the tunnels which go down very, very deep and run all through the entire moon. Of course, these tunnels play a significant part in the story. One thing I like very much about this book and both books so far, there is always someone around with a warped since of humor. Little bits of it pop up at the most improper time (proper by my standards) and that ads to the realism of the story. Some people or soldiers just have to make a joke out of anything and any place. It happens, believe me.
I don’t necessarily agree with the way this book ends. It doesn’t sound logical or reasonable. The third book is out, “Earth Rising”, and I plan to start reading it immediately. I hope it fixes what should have happened at the end of this book, but I don’t think it will. Sometimes the author tries to be a little too human when he shouldn’t. I’ll let you figure that out.
This platoon will become part of an STC (Space Territorial Command) Brigade after they have been up-trained on NightWall. The difference between the ETC (Earth Territorial Command) and STC is like night and day. The ETC soldiers have worn out equipment and uniforms. They have been trained on outdated and unless junk. They make do with what they have and what they have isn’t much. Meanwhile, the STC has all the funding it needs. They have nicely pressed and starched uniforms, modern, highly dangerous weapons and the best care that money can buy. They are also trained to be the best of the best. On-board the HDFS Miyari, STC Company Commander Captain Coleen Petty is just the beginning of their troubles. You soon begin to hate her and her STC troops as much or nearly as much as you hate the scum. At least the scum don’t talk down to you and treat you like, well, scum!
The book moves along pretty well given that there’s a lot of conflict between the new ETC platoon and their arrogant hosts. Captain Petty runs the show as far as the soldiers are concerned although the ships Captain, a Major Sefu Marabou technically out ranks the Captain, but he only has command of his ship, not the soldiers. Captain Petty is out to make life miserable for Marco and his bunch. That is until they intercept a distress call from a moon, the Corpus Christi, orbiting the gas giant Indrani. While this distress call really annoys Captain Petty, they must answer it. It may be the last thing they ever do.
There is a lot of fighting in this book. Most of it seems to be in the dark which is the worst kind of fighting. it’s strange that none of these troops have night vision equipment. The author is very good at describing the environment on this moon and the tunnels which go down very, very deep and run all through the entire moon. Of course, these tunnels play a significant part in the story. One thing I like very much about this book and both books so far, there is always someone around with a warped since of humor. Little bits of it pop up at the most improper time (proper by my standards) and that ads to the realism of the story. Some people or soldiers just have to make a joke out of anything and any place. It happens, believe me.
I don’t necessarily agree with the way this book ends. It doesn’t sound logical or reasonable. The third book is out, “Earth Rising”, and I plan to start reading it immediately. I hope it fixes what should have happened at the end of this book, but I don’t think it will. Sometimes the author tries to be a little too human when he shouldn’t. I’ll let you figure that out.
January 26, 2018
This book is better than the first but it still needs work. There are a number of things that stick out in this work that make me shudder a little, and a lot of it is in the editing. The most glaring part of the novel is the repetitive use of key words in sections.
I have a few pieces of advise for the author:
Pick a technology for space travel and stick to it
Earth would be protected more than other sections of a populated galaxy
Strange experiments would probably not happen the way they were explained
A little note - though I usually don't give a lot of spoilers I'm not promising that now. It could happen for I'm flying this on the seat of the pants.
I'm a little surprised that the group of recruits were made to wear thread bear uniforms while the troops in space had new ones. Doesn't make much sense to me, so it caused a little issues. I really didn't like that part of the novel.
Our lovely commander, Lieutenant Einav Ben-Ari, is verbally assaulted by a superior officer and forced to make statements of a defamatory manner concerning her family and self. It would not happen. There are rules to the military and something like this would see the officer under arrest. Don't care what the rank of their father is, they would be thrown in the beige and awaiting trial.
When explaining space travel, warp and hyperspace are two different things. First the ship uses hyperspace to travel and then we get into how it warps space/time to travel. It would be better to just say warps space, and leave it at that. Even though warp makes people think of Star Trek, it will work if you use it correctly.
Here's the Spoiler
Lalonie, the love interest of our protagonist, turns out to be an engineered human who is actually an agent of the aliens they are fighting. Why was this not found out during the medical exams when she was inducted into the service? No idea. But with what seems to be a genetically altered human she really put one over a bunch of doctors and fooled everyone.
While finding a way off the planet, our heroes come across the scum performing experiments on humans by joining their bodies with them. Some became part scum and part human. I'm playing the bull crap card on that one until it gets explained better.
In the tunnels, they come across the hive queen. It is a genetically engineered human with a partial scum body. Think of Aliens and the queen there, just change out the top part with a woman and you have what the author is envisioning.
Things go down hill from there and the explanation of their "guns" (actually assault rifles) running low on ammo takes a long time to happen. Really? If they have sixty rounds in the clip (wow, look, the proper words used here) and they kill one hundred scum, then they must have shot through more than two in order to do it. Like magic, their rifles seem to use less ammo to kill the scum than they should.
Other little things take away from the enjoyment of this novel, like the need to have a good content edit before publishing, but it is still a good read.
I have a few pieces of advise for the author:
Pick a technology for space travel and stick to it
Earth would be protected more than other sections of a populated galaxy
Strange experiments would probably not happen the way they were explained
A little note - though I usually don't give a lot of spoilers I'm not promising that now. It could happen for I'm flying this on the seat of the pants.
I'm a little surprised that the group of recruits were made to wear thread bear uniforms while the troops in space had new ones. Doesn't make much sense to me, so it caused a little issues. I really didn't like that part of the novel.
Our lovely commander, Lieutenant Einav Ben-Ari, is verbally assaulted by a superior officer and forced to make statements of a defamatory manner concerning her family and self. It would not happen. There are rules to the military and something like this would see the officer under arrest. Don't care what the rank of their father is, they would be thrown in the beige and awaiting trial.
When explaining space travel, warp and hyperspace are two different things. First the ship uses hyperspace to travel and then we get into how it warps space/time to travel. It would be better to just say warps space, and leave it at that. Even though warp makes people think of Star Trek, it will work if you use it correctly.
Here's the Spoiler
Lalonie, the love interest of our protagonist, turns out to be an engineered human who is actually an agent of the aliens they are fighting. Why was this not found out during the medical exams when she was inducted into the service? No idea. But with what seems to be a genetically altered human she really put one over a bunch of doctors and fooled everyone.
While finding a way off the planet, our heroes come across the scum performing experiments on humans by joining their bodies with them. Some became part scum and part human. I'm playing the bull crap card on that one until it gets explained better.
In the tunnels, they come across the hive queen. It is a genetically engineered human with a partial scum body. Think of Aliens and the queen there, just change out the top part with a woman and you have what the author is envisioning.
Things go down hill from there and the explanation of their "guns" (actually assault rifles) running low on ammo takes a long time to happen. Really? If they have sixty rounds in the clip (wow, look, the proper words used here) and they kill one hundred scum, then they must have shot through more than two in order to do it. Like magic, their rifles seem to use less ammo to kill the scum than they should.
Other little things take away from the enjoyment of this novel, like the need to have a good content edit before publishing, but it is still a good read.
July 21, 2016
Good Read Until.....
Author was on a roll for a good part of the story, interesting -- a bit different than the usual Mil SciFi -- despicable enemy who got worse -- militarily credible (kind of) -- not very techy which is preferable with me and some engaging characters. There was some potential in some subplots, like the earth defense force vs the star 'elite' force. But author never really pursued it and it could have been very interesting with the characters we knew. Wished he had and having the under funded earth forces maintain their identity, equipment, etc. and the android who shows up at end.
And then... Wordy at times, interrupting the story tempo. Inconsistencies cropping up -- almost out of ammunition but still firing away for a few more pages. Other inconsistency also and normally doesn't bother me but this time it did as story progressed. Then the action got out of control the last third. Just felt like someone grabbed a shovel a mud threw it out there. Started feeling disconnected from characters as it happened often towards the end -- just kinda spitting it out there.
I guess SPOILER ALERT . A lot of characters don't make it and a little hard for me to continue series. Why? They're all gone. One male and the rest .... Can identify w male, handle 1,2 of fairer sex but a little ridiculous as it all turns out. Then the identity of saboteur and how the book ended. You see a good friend killed in front of you, I can see playing the killer for an advantage but ... Author lost my credibility quite a few times and end was the 'straw'.
Gave 3 stars for first book and half of this and a lot of potential that just not used. Was entertained and then I felt I was watching Aliens, which I've seen before on TV. Weapons, tactics, ??? Forgivable up to a point but got crossed with blood smear fest. Not sure if I read next, librarians n authors are interesting n all but not in Mil , especially if you kill everybody else off.
Author was on a roll for a good part of the story, interesting -- a bit different than the usual Mil SciFi -- despicable enemy who got worse -- militarily credible (kind of) -- not very techy which is preferable with me and some engaging characters. There was some potential in some subplots, like the earth defense force vs the star 'elite' force. But author never really pursued it and it could have been very interesting with the characters we knew. Wished he had and having the under funded earth forces maintain their identity, equipment, etc. and the android who shows up at end.
And then... Wordy at times, interrupting the story tempo. Inconsistencies cropping up -- almost out of ammunition but still firing away for a few more pages. Other inconsistency also and normally doesn't bother me but this time it did as story progressed. Then the action got out of control the last third. Just felt like someone grabbed a shovel a mud threw it out there. Started feeling disconnected from characters as it happened often towards the end -- just kinda spitting it out there.
I guess SPOILER ALERT . A lot of characters don't make it and a little hard for me to continue series. Why? They're all gone. One male and the rest .... Can identify w male, handle 1,2 of fairer sex but a little ridiculous as it all turns out. Then the identity of saboteur and how the book ended. You see a good friend killed in front of you, I can see playing the killer for an advantage but ... Author lost my credibility quite a few times and end was the 'straw'.
Gave 3 stars for first book and half of this and a lot of potential that just not used. Was entertained and then I felt I was watching Aliens, which I've seen before on TV. Weapons, tactics, ??? Forgivable up to a point but got crossed with blood smear fest. Not sure if I read next, librarians n authors are interesting n all but not in Mil , especially if you kill everybody else off.
November 19, 2016
The team is out of boot camp and fighting on alien worlds. Couldn't help but think of the movie Aliens.
October 12, 2018
Badly written
I am at a loss as to where to begin. The characters are more stereotypical than in the first novel. Some of the interactions are hilariously inaccurate. The dialogue suffers from the weakness of the characters, of course. The action is so videogame shooter that it's embarrassing. The science and tech are just so wrong (and I only get my science background from the occasional science channel program), that I have to rate it an E for lack of effort. The attempt to achieve an "All quiet on the Western Front", "Gunner Asch", or "Red badge of courage" vibe is an epic fail.
Training sergeants being deployed with the soldiers that they have trained, can create a host of problems. Those are why that hasn't been done since the Roman Legions. A captain of infantry giving orders to a ship commander with rank of major is wrong in so many ways. Having a General for a father only goes so far, unless the ship commander is unfit for command. There are other things as bad but that's all I can bother with.
A twenty thousand person mining colony is established at least a hundred light years from Earth. It produces the crystals that starships need for faster than light travel, yet it has no permanent garrison, no permanent naval presence, no planetary or orbital fortresses but it is vital to the war effort. How did it get terraformed? No crystals to get there, right!
The action is totally out of a first person shooter. A small naval transport is no match for five enemy warships of no particular size, with a full naval crew but at book's end can destroy twice as many enemy ships with no naval crew and only six untrained soldiers? These soldiers carry a close to unlimited amount of ammunition and an ungodly number of grenades. Of course, the ammunition doesn't work on the shell of the alien soldiers (repeated endlessly in the first book), except that it always does. That explains why no soldier has armor-piercing rounds? Why is an officer carrying a heavy weapon and why is there only one heavy weapon in a platoon outfitted to fight the otherwise impervious aliens? What kind of grenades wipe out dozens of aliens who are impervious to small arms fire. Grenades aren't magic items, so maybe give me different types of grenades, just like real life. Doesn't breathing and definitely heat become an issue at 14 kilometers underground? Why do the human infantry never have armor? Any kind?
Why do warship turrets have glass enclosures and are manually fired? Can't they afford armored turrets that are operated electronically from within the ship and are computer controlled with targeting, tracking and fire data provided by a sensor net. Just sayin'. Why does the hangar bay and every vertical external surface on a naval transport have huge windows? Why not armored surfaces with sensors providing external views? Naval, remember. Engine compartments can be unscrewed from the rest of the ship, really? A naval ship allows access to engineering spaces to passengers and has no engineering department or internal security. That seems dangerous (silly and downright ridiculous, if you think about it, Daniel). Sailors serve a purpose on a ship. Ships don't sail themselves. Sailors also can rebuild a spaceship that has broken up on the surface of a planet in three days, without a shipyard, and without having an engineer or Angel of the Lord on board, that's my kind of navy.
Is it reasonable to expect a small naval transport to dip into the cloud layer of a gas giant and dogfight a large evil alien? Just askin'. How does it work that humans suddenly grow claws and armor then retract them. I think the writer misunderstands a whole lot about biology and physiology. I'll just move on to the most epic fail.
The writer spends the whole of book one harping about the sensitivity of the main character. In this book he gets even stranger. The soldier thinks it's immoral to kill a creche full of alien monsters because they are babies? As soon as a half dozen tear apart one of his comrades, then it's OK. A woman is turned into an alien egg layer? but the hero wants to save her. How? An energy source that starships use, is for no reason implanted in this woman's deformed body by the aliens, it is extracted for use in their broken starship and its ready to go. Woman dies, only hero is sad. Very sensitive? Hero is torn between new girlfriend and old girlfriend? He worries that he will hurt their feelings. Sensitive! He resists becoming a soldier because his heart is in library science. Sensitive. He apologized to ship's Android for suspecting her of betraying the ship. Exposition, internal dialogue, etc. He must be sensitive to the horrors of war and other things.
I can almost overlook that last section of criticism because I know the work of developing a character is hard. Then again, if you've tried and realized that you failed, maybe you go a different route. I was curious about the second book. I won't finish the series.
I am at a loss as to where to begin. The characters are more stereotypical than in the first novel. Some of the interactions are hilariously inaccurate. The dialogue suffers from the weakness of the characters, of course. The action is so videogame shooter that it's embarrassing. The science and tech are just so wrong (and I only get my science background from the occasional science channel program), that I have to rate it an E for lack of effort. The attempt to achieve an "All quiet on the Western Front", "Gunner Asch", or "Red badge of courage" vibe is an epic fail.
Training sergeants being deployed with the soldiers that they have trained, can create a host of problems. Those are why that hasn't been done since the Roman Legions. A captain of infantry giving orders to a ship commander with rank of major is wrong in so many ways. Having a General for a father only goes so far, unless the ship commander is unfit for command. There are other things as bad but that's all I can bother with.
A twenty thousand person mining colony is established at least a hundred light years from Earth. It produces the crystals that starships need for faster than light travel, yet it has no permanent garrison, no permanent naval presence, no planetary or orbital fortresses but it is vital to the war effort. How did it get terraformed? No crystals to get there, right!
The action is totally out of a first person shooter. A small naval transport is no match for five enemy warships of no particular size, with a full naval crew but at book's end can destroy twice as many enemy ships with no naval crew and only six untrained soldiers? These soldiers carry a close to unlimited amount of ammunition and an ungodly number of grenades. Of course, the ammunition doesn't work on the shell of the alien soldiers (repeated endlessly in the first book), except that it always does. That explains why no soldier has armor-piercing rounds? Why is an officer carrying a heavy weapon and why is there only one heavy weapon in a platoon outfitted to fight the otherwise impervious aliens? What kind of grenades wipe out dozens of aliens who are impervious to small arms fire. Grenades aren't magic items, so maybe give me different types of grenades, just like real life. Doesn't breathing and definitely heat become an issue at 14 kilometers underground? Why do the human infantry never have armor? Any kind?
Why do warship turrets have glass enclosures and are manually fired? Can't they afford armored turrets that are operated electronically from within the ship and are computer controlled with targeting, tracking and fire data provided by a sensor net. Just sayin'. Why does the hangar bay and every vertical external surface on a naval transport have huge windows? Why not armored surfaces with sensors providing external views? Naval, remember. Engine compartments can be unscrewed from the rest of the ship, really? A naval ship allows access to engineering spaces to passengers and has no engineering department or internal security. That seems dangerous (silly and downright ridiculous, if you think about it, Daniel). Sailors serve a purpose on a ship. Ships don't sail themselves. Sailors also can rebuild a spaceship that has broken up on the surface of a planet in three days, without a shipyard, and without having an engineer or Angel of the Lord on board, that's my kind of navy.
Is it reasonable to expect a small naval transport to dip into the cloud layer of a gas giant and dogfight a large evil alien? Just askin'. How does it work that humans suddenly grow claws and armor then retract them. I think the writer misunderstands a whole lot about biology and physiology. I'll just move on to the most epic fail.
The writer spends the whole of book one harping about the sensitivity of the main character. In this book he gets even stranger. The soldier thinks it's immoral to kill a creche full of alien monsters because they are babies? As soon as a half dozen tear apart one of his comrades, then it's OK. A woman is turned into an alien egg layer? but the hero wants to save her. How? An energy source that starships use, is for no reason implanted in this woman's deformed body by the aliens, it is extracted for use in their broken starship and its ready to go. Woman dies, only hero is sad. Very sensitive? Hero is torn between new girlfriend and old girlfriend? He worries that he will hurt their feelings. Sensitive! He resists becoming a soldier because his heart is in library science. Sensitive. He apologized to ship's Android for suspecting her of betraying the ship. Exposition, internal dialogue, etc. He must be sensitive to the horrors of war and other things.
I can almost overlook that last section of criticism because I know the work of developing a character is hard. Then again, if you've tried and realized that you failed, maybe you go a different route. I was curious about the second book. I won't finish the series.
December 7, 2016
In the book, Earth Lost (book 2), by author Daniel Arenson, there is more of the same as in book 1--with no improvement in the writing. The author uses a very young adult style.
The story advances from book 1's year of unrealistic military training. There is an unrealistic space flight towards the battlefront at some unspecified location in space. On the way there, the ship receives a distress call from a human held mining colony, where it diverts. The rest of the book deals with more simplistic and unrealistic fight scenes where the humans again battle the aliens. All through this, the main character Marco is constantly thinking about his female friends/lovers, telling two of them that he loves and treasures each. Marco comes across as very undecided and wishy-washy.
There is something unrealistic about the plot lines involving the people around Marco: all the men in the company eventually are killed off, leaving Marco with only his female companions. There is something strange and unbalanced about this, because it's like the author has a fetish towards women.
The entire story is strange and not recommended. Nor is the story family friendly. This book is a disappointment, like the first. This reviewer is not even going to attempt the third book—Earth Rising. It's only going to be more of the same drivel.
Not recommended.
The story advances from book 1's year of unrealistic military training. There is an unrealistic space flight towards the battlefront at some unspecified location in space. On the way there, the ship receives a distress call from a human held mining colony, where it diverts. The rest of the book deals with more simplistic and unrealistic fight scenes where the humans again battle the aliens. All through this, the main character Marco is constantly thinking about his female friends/lovers, telling two of them that he loves and treasures each. Marco comes across as very undecided and wishy-washy.
There is something unrealistic about the plot lines involving the people around Marco: all the men in the company eventually are killed off, leaving Marco with only his female companions. There is something strange and unbalanced about this, because it's like the author has a fetish towards women.
The entire story is strange and not recommended. Nor is the story family friendly. This book is a disappointment, like the first. This reviewer is not even going to attempt the third book—Earth Rising. It's only going to be more of the same drivel.
Not recommended.
September 25, 2017
the ending is tripe. No one in his society would act the way he did at the end. as soon as he saw the little traitor he would shoot the bug and save his ship. but no he fucking did the sappy bullshit thing and "love and save her." maybe this shit might work if this was his wife or child but this a just a random bitch from basic he's know for a few weeks. save her for what? experiments and a long suffering or a trial and a quick death? wtf is wrong with this writer. he tried for so much emotion and angst that and a twist at the end and it total bombed in my opinion. the ending totally needed a rewrite.
December 10, 2016
Wow, getting worse with each book
Borderline annoying characters, extremely childish heroes, cliche and shallow villains, inconsistent world building, horrible dialogues and list goes on and on.
Spoiler alert
A soldier sewed a tiny uniform for a dog in couple of hours during a mission, after crash landing with limited supplies. This is an example for the level of stupidity of this book. There was scene of all the soldiers group hugging regardless of their ranks. Remove all the blood, gore, sex, you can read this book as a children's book.
Borderline annoying characters, extremely childish heroes, cliche and shallow villains, inconsistent world building, horrible dialogues and list goes on and on.
Spoiler alert
A soldier sewed a tiny uniform for a dog in couple of hours during a mission, after crash landing with limited supplies. This is an example for the level of stupidity of this book. There was scene of all the soldiers group hugging regardless of their ranks. Remove all the blood, gore, sex, you can read this book as a children's book.
September 9, 2016
The book is very dark. The same people from the first book in the series face an unspeakable evil lurking in the shadows. I just love that! I liked the first one, but this is far better. If you think you would appreciate "Doom 3 - the book", don't hesitate to get this one. You won't get disappointed.
August 11, 2016
Worth the read
A nice space opera , fairly solid read . The main character does a good reluctant soldier role . Would recommend
A nice space opera , fairly solid read . The main character does a good reluctant soldier role . Would recommend
August 7, 2020
The second installment of author Daniel Arenson’s Earthrise series opens with Kara walking the streets of Corpus City as the skies “bleed,” with an alien cornering her in the mechanical subterranean city. The action quickly returns to Marco and his fellow soldiers aboard a transport rocket in space, which they find more technologically-advanced than Earth. Marco is homesick for his father and his girlfriend Kemi, with whom he ultimately has a reunion. Marco finds time to work on his novel, distraught at learning that only half of soldiers sent to fight the scum return home.
The soldiers receive a distress call from the lunar colony Corpus, where their ship impacts and it loses its azoth heart, a second one compatible with the crashed ship’s engine deep within the moon. Corpus City is deserted, and as the crew delves into the colony, a saboteur proves to be among their ranks, with the android Osiris the initial suspect. As they progress deeper, several battles with the scum that had caused the colony to fall erupt, some twists and deaths towards the end of the book, which ends with the nightmares they experienced on Corpus behind them.
All in all, I definitely found the sequel to be a fairly straightforward and consequentially enjoyable science-fiction story, with plenty of action and twists, and room naturally left to continue the storyline. As with most literary series, interested parties would best begin with the first entry of the franchise, given the return of most characters, and the author could have definitely called the antagonistic aliens something other than “the scum.” Regardless of its flaws, I would definitely recommend Earth Lost to those that enjoyed its precursor, and look forward to reading its successors.
The soldiers receive a distress call from the lunar colony Corpus, where their ship impacts and it loses its azoth heart, a second one compatible with the crashed ship’s engine deep within the moon. Corpus City is deserted, and as the crew delves into the colony, a saboteur proves to be among their ranks, with the android Osiris the initial suspect. As they progress deeper, several battles with the scum that had caused the colony to fall erupt, some twists and deaths towards the end of the book, which ends with the nightmares they experienced on Corpus behind them.
All in all, I definitely found the sequel to be a fairly straightforward and consequentially enjoyable science-fiction story, with plenty of action and twists, and room naturally left to continue the storyline. As with most literary series, interested parties would best begin with the first entry of the franchise, given the return of most characters, and the author could have definitely called the antagonistic aliens something other than “the scum.” Regardless of its flaws, I would definitely recommend Earth Lost to those that enjoyed its precursor, and look forward to reading its successors.
January 20, 2021
This is the second book in the Earthrise series and to some it will bring back Starship Troopers. Yes, Johnny Rico is very similar to Marco Emery but thats it for similarities that are truly close. Earthrise deals with a more invasive and deplorable enemy. While Heinlein used Insects/Bugs as the enemy, Aronson goes a step further.
Also its mostly Humans doing the fighting in "Starship Troopers". Here you have a couple different races.
After the near lose on Earth, Marco's platoon goes out to space to join the front. The introduction into the Space Corp.does not go well and humans are seen as inferior. But thats just the tip of the iceberg.
They come out of travel to encounter an emergency beacon that they attend to and discover a massive invasion by the Scum. What ensues is worse then what they encountered on Earth.
Also its mostly Humans doing the fighting in "Starship Troopers". Here you have a couple different races.
After the near lose on Earth, Marco's platoon goes out to space to join the front. The introduction into the Space Corp.does not go well and humans are seen as inferior. But thats just the tip of the iceberg.
They come out of travel to encounter an emergency beacon that they attend to and discover a massive invasion by the Scum. What ensues is worse then what they encountered on Earth.
July 23, 2018
There are SPOILERS in these reviews. Read them anyway! This is NOT a series I would want any other science fiction fan to read. You do NOT want to read it if you are a SF fan.
READ THESE SPOILERS AND BE WARNED!
==========
EARTH ALONE - BOOK #1
This novel is almost all cliché. It is the basic fish-out-of-water who ends up being drafted into the military. It deals with his training and those he trains with.
This is also one of those novels where the science fiction in just a prop. The SF aspects adds little to it that could not have been done in a general fiction novels.
The main character -- a book-loving-don't-want-to-be-a-soldier young man -- is a cliché who ends up in a triangle relationship, with two women who follow him through this novel and, unbelievable, into the 2nd novel in the series. One is a lesbian who becomes "straight for you" with the main character.
There are, at least, two characters in this book who would NEVER have remained in military training and would -- SHOULD -- have been washed-out. One would have been for repeated insubordination; the 2nd is obliviously very intellectually-handicapped, in addition to which (again unbelievable!) because he could not fire a gun because it was "too loud" and hurt his ears.
The Bad Aliens attack the camp and this later characters ends up dead meat because his gun is too loud for him to fire. It's so, so stupid.
All main characters survive -- though 1000s upon 1000s of other soldier-characters end up extremely dead.
Yes, REALLY.
2 (barely) stars: **
UGH.
==============
EARTH LOST - Book #2
The young soldiers go into space onto a starship. They get mocked by those serving on the ship. The captain, whose name is "Petty", is incompetent and is frequently compared to a little dog by almost everyone. She also is extremely "petty". *yawn*
The starship gets attacked by the Bad Aliens. It is ripped open in space with huge amounts of air escaping; it is seriously damaged by other attacks. One-fourth of the crew dies in the attack. Some are eaten by the Bad Aliens.
The torn starship loses propulsion. It falls into the atmosphere of a terra-formed moon the size of Mars. It starts to burn up. It crashes on the surface.
All of the remain crew, the three-fourths who were not killed in space, *survive* ; there is absolutely no explanation of how they could have survived. DUH.
Of course, none of the cliché main character's friends die in space; the petty captain survives also.
The survivors plan to *repair* the starship. The main character and his cliché friends go into mines on the planet seeks to replace a jewel-like stone needed for the ship's "warp drive". At one point, some unnamed soldiers in an elevator fall several thousands feet and end-up looking like road kill. That hundreds of the rest of the crew survived falling (without any major harm!) tens if not hundred of miles in a battle-torn-apart spaceship from space to the planet's surface is ignored.
This was the story about halfway into this second novel. I then gave up reading this crap.
1 star: *
*GAG*
==============
EARTH RISING - Book Three
Do you think I would waste any more of my time reading garbage like this?!
1 star (for existing): *
*BIG BARF*
==============
NEVER READ THESE 3 BOOKS UNLESS YOU ENJOY STUPID CLICHE WRITING THAT IS *NOT* EVEN FUNNY-BAD. A much more valuable use of your time is clipping your toe nails.
. . .
READ THESE SPOILERS AND BE WARNED!
==========
EARTH ALONE - BOOK #1
This novel is almost all cliché. It is the basic fish-out-of-water who ends up being drafted into the military. It deals with his training and those he trains with.
This is also one of those novels where the science fiction in just a prop. The SF aspects adds little to it that could not have been done in a general fiction novels.
The main character -- a book-loving-don't-want-to-be-a-soldier young man -- is a cliché who ends up in a triangle relationship, with two women who follow him through this novel and, unbelievable, into the 2nd novel in the series. One is a lesbian who becomes "straight for you" with the main character.
There are, at least, two characters in this book who would NEVER have remained in military training and would -- SHOULD -- have been washed-out. One would have been for repeated insubordination; the 2nd is obliviously very intellectually-handicapped, in addition to which (again unbelievable!) because he could not fire a gun because it was "too loud" and hurt his ears.
The Bad Aliens attack the camp and this later characters ends up dead meat because his gun is too loud for him to fire. It's so, so stupid.
All main characters survive -- though 1000s upon 1000s of other soldier-characters end up extremely dead.
Yes, REALLY.
2 (barely) stars: **
UGH.
==============
EARTH LOST - Book #2
The young soldiers go into space onto a starship. They get mocked by those serving on the ship. The captain, whose name is "Petty", is incompetent and is frequently compared to a little dog by almost everyone. She also is extremely "petty". *yawn*
The starship gets attacked by the Bad Aliens. It is ripped open in space with huge amounts of air escaping; it is seriously damaged by other attacks. One-fourth of the crew dies in the attack. Some are eaten by the Bad Aliens.
The torn starship loses propulsion. It falls into the atmosphere of a terra-formed moon the size of Mars. It starts to burn up. It crashes on the surface.
All of the remain crew, the three-fourths who were not killed in space, *survive* ; there is absolutely no explanation of how they could have survived. DUH.
Of course, none of the cliché main character's friends die in space; the petty captain survives also.
The survivors plan to *repair* the starship. The main character and his cliché friends go into mines on the planet seeks to replace a jewel-like stone needed for the ship's "warp drive". At one point, some unnamed soldiers in an elevator fall several thousands feet and end-up looking like road kill. That hundreds of the rest of the crew survived falling (without any major harm!) tens if not hundred of miles in a battle-torn-apart spaceship from space to the planet's surface is ignored.
This was the story about halfway into this second novel. I then gave up reading this crap.
1 star: *
*GAG*
==============
EARTH RISING - Book Three
Do you think I would waste any more of my time reading garbage like this?!
1 star (for existing): *
*BIG BARF*
==============
NEVER READ THESE 3 BOOKS UNLESS YOU ENJOY STUPID CLICHE WRITING THAT IS *NOT* EVEN FUNNY-BAD. A much more valuable use of your time is clipping your toe nails.
. . .
March 1, 2019
I loved the first book in the series so much I fully expected to give this five stars. Instead, I think it is a 3.5.
First off, this is more horror story than science fiction. Yes, it's in space, but it is really an extremely scary haunted house story. The aliens are constantly referred to as demons, witches, and monsters. One individual who comes in too close "contact" with the Scum acts possessed and is treated as such.
Secondly, it's incredibly dark. Shockingly so. And extremely gross. I believe you, the Scum are terrible creatures with no compassion, I don't need the graphic details of what they are doing to humans. I also think it's a bit too simple to say the Scum act like this because they are Evil. Are they really evil, or are they just so alien to our human ideas of compassion? It's too easy to write them off as evil. Instead, they are creatures who have a different idea of every other species' role in the universe, and that makes them appear evil. I don't mean to get all philosophical about this, I'd just say, would you call wasps evil? If they became sentient and had the sole goal of protecting their hives by dominating earth, would they be evil, or would they just be behaving like wasps?
Lailani gets on my nerves. She constantly has to remind everybody about her back story. She repeats it several times. We all know it. The other soldiers all know it, the reader knows it. She repeats it even when there's nobody new in the scene who might not know it.
Finally, Marco has gotten into the habit of making long speeches at really inappropriate times. I know he's the conscience of the group, reminding them all that they're humans, and earth is awesome, and friends and family are the most important things, and on and on. Meanwhile, scum are around the corner about to attack. He needs to tone it down a bit.
I don't want to be all negative here. This is a really great series, and I am looking forward to reading the rest of it. I just hope it leaves the horror behind and goes back to sci-fi.
p.s. I really love Seargent Stumpy
First off, this is more horror story than science fiction. Yes, it's in space, but it is really an extremely scary haunted house story. The aliens are constantly referred to as demons, witches, and monsters. One individual who comes in too close "contact" with the Scum acts possessed and is treated as such.
Secondly, it's incredibly dark. Shockingly so. And extremely gross. I believe you, the Scum are terrible creatures with no compassion, I don't need the graphic details of what they are doing to humans. I also think it's a bit too simple to say the Scum act like this because they are Evil. Are they really evil, or are they just so alien to our human ideas of compassion? It's too easy to write them off as evil. Instead, they are creatures who have a different idea of every other species' role in the universe, and that makes them appear evil. I don't mean to get all philosophical about this, I'd just say, would you call wasps evil? If they became sentient and had the sole goal of protecting their hives by dominating earth, would they be evil, or would they just be behaving like wasps?
Lailani gets on my nerves. She constantly has to remind everybody about her back story. She repeats it several times. We all know it. The other soldiers all know it, the reader knows it. She repeats it even when there's nobody new in the scene who might not know it.
Finally, Marco has gotten into the habit of making long speeches at really inappropriate times. I know he's the conscience of the group, reminding them all that they're humans, and earth is awesome, and friends and family are the most important things, and on and on. Meanwhile, scum are around the corner about to attack. He needs to tone it down a bit.
I don't want to be all negative here. This is a really great series, and I am looking forward to reading the rest of it. I just hope it leaves the horror behind and goes back to sci-fi.
p.s. I really love Seargent Stumpy
July 24, 2020
5/10: Finished the book and it was about average for me.
"There are terrors in the shadows. There are monsters best left undisturbed. We flew too high. We dug too deep. We woke them."
OK, so the first book in this series was excellent. Horrific in places, but full of emotion and character-driven. Just my kind of book, really.
But this one took it up several notches and made it frigtening and dark and a little too much for me by the end of it.
I'm not sure if I'll read on, but I do know I need a break. War is horrific, but this book was brutal in its honesty, and I'll admit, I read to escape reality.
"I'm sorry, Marco. You are kind. You are decent. But you're wrong. We are exterminators. That's why we're here. Step back, Marco. Let us do our job."
I still love Marco's character; his kindness, and morality, and his ability to keep going in the face of such horror. But I had hoped to see the timeline progress a bit and for him to grow in both age and rank. I like reading books about characters who've started at the bottom and risen to a position of respect and responsibility.
Wars have always been fought by children—children torn away from their homes.
This book is still very much about the youths in the story being forced to fight a war that no person -- adult or child -- should ever see.
In the end, it was just too dark for me, too much a horror story complete with horror creatures and too much death of decent poeple.
I'll take a break and then I'll see if I can return to this world. Here's hoping.
Perhaps there is no victory in war, Marco thought. Perhaps even those who win battles lose their souls. Some return from war in body bags. Others return in victorious parades. But we all come home dead.
"There are terrors in the shadows. There are monsters best left undisturbed. We flew too high. We dug too deep. We woke them."
OK, so the first book in this series was excellent. Horrific in places, but full of emotion and character-driven. Just my kind of book, really.
But this one took it up several notches and made it frigtening and dark and a little too much for me by the end of it.
I'm not sure if I'll read on, but I do know I need a break. War is horrific, but this book was brutal in its honesty, and I'll admit, I read to escape reality.
"I'm sorry, Marco. You are kind. You are decent. But you're wrong. We are exterminators. That's why we're here. Step back, Marco. Let us do our job."
I still love Marco's character; his kindness, and morality, and his ability to keep going in the face of such horror. But I had hoped to see the timeline progress a bit and for him to grow in both age and rank. I like reading books about characters who've started at the bottom and risen to a position of respect and responsibility.
Wars have always been fought by children—children torn away from their homes.
This book is still very much about the youths in the story being forced to fight a war that no person -- adult or child -- should ever see.
In the end, it was just too dark for me, too much a horror story complete with horror creatures and too much death of decent poeple.
I'll take a break and then I'll see if I can return to this world. Here's hoping.
Perhaps there is no victory in war, Marco thought. Perhaps even those who win battles lose their souls. Some return from war in body bags. Others return in victorious parades. But we all come home dead.
January 7, 2017
The first book was decent with a few inconsistencies, but this book just kept spewing the same commentary over and over. I was about to stop reading if "Beast" kept quoting about how everything Russian is better, or if Lailani would say she's broken or that she grew up eating garbage. The whole love triangle aspect is really distracting and not something people would pine over while being submerged in a cavern and surrounded by certain death. It almost reads like a teenager's fantasy about having multiple women fight over him.
SGT Stumpy was one of the worst aspects of the book. He is a blatant ripoff from SGT Stubby (who was a Boston Terrier and "fought" during WW1). Oh, and I won't forget how someone had time to sew up a uniform for a dog (complete with SGT rank insignia) while in serious combat conditions.
I couldn't fully read the book after the crew came across a kitchen and sat down for a family meal after losing the majority of their Company and were surrounded by creatures. Skimming towards the end was a good choice and it seems I saved myself from reading about impossible battles and more ridiculous relationship troubles.
This is certainly science fantasy and geared more towards people in high school.
SGT Stumpy was one of the worst aspects of the book. He is a blatant ripoff from SGT Stubby (who was a Boston Terrier and "fought" during WW1). Oh, and I won't forget how someone had time to sew up a uniform for a dog (complete with SGT rank insignia) while in serious combat conditions.
I couldn't fully read the book after the crew came across a kitchen and sat down for a family meal after losing the majority of their Company and were surrounded by creatures. Skimming towards the end was a good choice and it seems I saved myself from reading about impossible battles and more ridiculous relationship troubles.
This is certainly science fantasy and geared more towards people in high school.
February 28, 2019
Now I Care
The first book in this series introduced us to the main protagonist. A young man that only wanted to live with his books in his family's library. That book also introduced the members of the young man's squad. They all barely survived the first battle. This, the second installment of the series, continues the tale of the young soldiers. The writing has gotten better. The characters here are deeper and more relatable. Although the main character's "sister" is still a bit too outrageous to be wholly believable, the other characters are people I can see myself meeting. The action is far more in the forefront as well. All in all a very solid sequel. I will be picking up the third book to continue the journey.
The first book in this series introduced us to the main protagonist. A young man that only wanted to live with his books in his family's library. That book also introduced the members of the young man's squad. They all barely survived the first battle. This, the second installment of the series, continues the tale of the young soldiers. The writing has gotten better. The characters here are deeper and more relatable. Although the main character's "sister" is still a bit too outrageous to be wholly believable, the other characters are people I can see myself meeting. The action is far more in the forefront as well. All in all a very solid sequel. I will be picking up the third book to continue the journey.
May 9, 2018
I don't know about this...
I gave the first book the benefit of the doubt and figured maybe the next book would get better. While it was a gripping story and darker than the nether regions of hell, I think I'm going to have to stop here. The characters who were so critical to the first book and the comradery between them have been shed like a dog's winter fur. The remaining characters just annoy me. Not mentioning names as I don't want to spoil the story for those who want to read it.
I gave the first book the benefit of the doubt and figured maybe the next book would get better. While it was a gripping story and darker than the nether regions of hell, I think I'm going to have to stop here. The characters who were so critical to the first book and the comradery between them have been shed like a dog's winter fur. The remaining characters just annoy me. Not mentioning names as I don't want to spoil the story for those who want to read it.
December 1, 2016
Not as good as the first novel
I gave the first novel 4 stars because it was a well crafted homage to Heinlein and Card. This story had a solid premises with a lot of potential. Unfortunately, the plot and dialogue were dulled with an overabundance of internal monologue. The characters' incessant moralizing was droll, repeat t active and out of place. The first novel was very satisfying science fiction and I'm holding out hope for book three.
I gave the first novel 4 stars because it was a well crafted homage to Heinlein and Card. This story had a solid premises with a lot of potential. Unfortunately, the plot and dialogue were dulled with an overabundance of internal monologue. The characters' incessant moralizing was droll, repeat t active and out of place. The first novel was very satisfying science fiction and I'm holding out hope for book three.
August 29, 2016
Not very good.
I gave the first book some allowance even though the whole boot camp/coming of age story is old as dirt. I wasn't too excited to read the sequel but I gave it a shot. And I was very disappointed. Bad clichés, plenty of inconsistencies and logic aimed towards teenagers. So I won't continue this series.
I gave the first book some allowance even though the whole boot camp/coming of age story is old as dirt. I wasn't too excited to read the sequel but I gave it a shot. And I was very disappointed. Bad clichés, plenty of inconsistencies and logic aimed towards teenagers. So I won't continue this series.
August 6, 2016
What a let down.
I cannot continue...so much build up of characters to be just cannon fodder and of course just a few survive out of millions...so lucky!
I cannot continue...so much build up of characters to be just cannon fodder and of course just a few survive out of millions...so lucky!
November 13, 2016
Comparing it to Star Ship Trooper is BS.
Save your brain, read ANYTHING else. Plot is lacking, charters are totally unbelievable. This is just plain bad story telling.
Save your brain, read ANYTHING else. Plot is lacking, charters are totally unbelievable. This is just plain bad story telling.
June 26, 2017
Ok. Other better than that. Quite possibly worse. More than a two star, less than three. 2.7ish
February 8, 2018
The beginning of this book was so horrifying and gruesome that I decided to spare myself the angst. Read at your own risk!
July 18, 2020
1.5 rounded up to 2, as a pleasant diversion from the ponderous "classic" I was reading simultaneously for a book club discussion. Lots of action didn't save this one for me, as much of the premise and events are completely preposterous. This review will contain many SPOILERS, so stop reading if that's a problem.
I lost count how many times this story made me say "Huh?" to myself. The book opens with the MC's GF from home, a cadet at an elite academy, transferred to his ship, even though she has not completed training, for a dangerous mission to space to seek out the killer arthropod aliens that have devastated the galaxy. Huh? The ship intercepts a distress call from an isolated mining colony; gee, seems like I have heard that one before, and it never ends well! How very predictable. The engine compartment has been unbolted from the massive naval transport spacecraft (huh?) by a saboteur; the massive ship suffers significant structural damage, losing air, but fully 3/4 of those on board survive a crash landing (huh?). The rocky moon has been terraformed (by whom? How did they get there if the substance needed for hyperspace travel is mined only there? Huh?). The mining colony is terribly important but has no defensive garrison, satellite, etc. Huh? The arthropod aliens can travel in space, but a droid with our heroes is surprised that they use tools? Huh? EVERYONE is gone from the surface colony, with no bodies to be seen (the aliens presumably ate them), but a spunky Boston terrier (a current-day-fad purebred, not a hardy space-mongrel? Huh?) survives for several weeks in a closed room with no food and water and didn't become Scum-food. Huh? The group of soldiers enters the mines, with frequent battles vs the aliens, but someone had the time and equipment to sew a tiny uniform for the dog? Huh? They battle all types of evil arthropods (the giant "silverfish" that ran over their heads on the ceiling of the tunnel made me lol!) but simply close the door to a human kitchen they found, so they can all have a lovely home-cooked meal together? Huh? The training sgt, now helping lead a platoon of those he trained (huh? rather unlikely; he would have been reposted to another training center after theirs was destroyed in Book 1), talked about his wife and child and how he will return to them soon, which is why we KNOW he won't make it out alive. Far too predictable. The evil arthropods have grafted a human woman's upper body to the egg-laying queen. Huh? Why? Never explained. The group makes it back to the ship quickly, despite hordes and hordes of aliens, and the ship has been repaired (giant structural breaches ffs!) in a few days without having a repair station/"dry dock" etc available? Huh? MASSIVE SPOILER AHEAD: Our dear MC sees who the saboteur is, now sporting arthropod claws and other alien features, and doesn't immediately shoot to kill, even though it brutally dismembers his friend? It injects alien saliva into his mouth, previously described as caustic, but he is able to simply spit it out with no harm done? Huh? The saboteur turns back into a human (HUH?) and is put into the brig, not executed? Huh?
And on and on and on. The writing and teen characters put this in the YA category, though the amount of gore might be a bit much for some teens. I don't think I will waste my time on Book 3 of this series, but I guess I got my 99c worth for the 2 I have read. If a deal seems too good to be true....
I lost count how many times this story made me say "Huh?" to myself. The book opens with the MC's GF from home, a cadet at an elite academy, transferred to his ship, even though she has not completed training, for a dangerous mission to space to seek out the killer arthropod aliens that have devastated the galaxy. Huh? The ship intercepts a distress call from an isolated mining colony; gee, seems like I have heard that one before, and it never ends well! How very predictable. The engine compartment has been unbolted from the massive naval transport spacecraft (huh?) by a saboteur; the massive ship suffers significant structural damage, losing air, but fully 3/4 of those on board survive a crash landing (huh?). The rocky moon has been terraformed (by whom? How did they get there if the substance needed for hyperspace travel is mined only there? Huh?). The mining colony is terribly important but has no defensive garrison, satellite, etc. Huh? The arthropod aliens can travel in space, but a droid with our heroes is surprised that they use tools? Huh? EVERYONE is gone from the surface colony, with no bodies to be seen (the aliens presumably ate them), but a spunky Boston terrier (a current-day-fad purebred, not a hardy space-mongrel? Huh?) survives for several weeks in a closed room with no food and water and didn't become Scum-food. Huh? The group of soldiers enters the mines, with frequent battles vs the aliens, but someone had the time and equipment to sew a tiny uniform for the dog? Huh? They battle all types of evil arthropods (the giant "silverfish" that ran over their heads on the ceiling of the tunnel made me lol!) but simply close the door to a human kitchen they found, so they can all have a lovely home-cooked meal together? Huh? The training sgt, now helping lead a platoon of those he trained (huh? rather unlikely; he would have been reposted to another training center after theirs was destroyed in Book 1), talked about his wife and child and how he will return to them soon, which is why we KNOW he won't make it out alive. Far too predictable. The evil arthropods have grafted a human woman's upper body to the egg-laying queen. Huh? Why? Never explained. The group makes it back to the ship quickly, despite hordes and hordes of aliens, and the ship has been repaired (giant structural breaches ffs!) in a few days without having a repair station/"dry dock" etc available? Huh? MASSIVE SPOILER AHEAD: Our dear MC sees who the saboteur is, now sporting arthropod claws and other alien features, and doesn't immediately shoot to kill, even though it brutally dismembers his friend? It injects alien saliva into his mouth, previously described as caustic, but he is able to simply spit it out with no harm done? Huh? The saboteur turns back into a human (HUH?) and is put into the brig, not executed? Huh?
And on and on and on. The writing and teen characters put this in the YA category, though the amount of gore might be a bit much for some teens. I don't think I will waste my time on Book 3 of this series, but I guess I got my 99c worth for the 2 I have read. If a deal seems too good to be true....
February 17, 2018
Marcus, Addy, Lailani, Beast, Caveman, and Elvis, have all survived boot camp, as well as the massive assault that took place on their base that saw multiple killed and injured, including Pinky who lost his legs, but was saved by Marcus himself. Ensigh Ben-Ari has asked them all to join her on a mission into space, to be joined by Sgt Singh. They will be part of a 200 strong HDF force that is being transported to another planet and take part in a mission against the Scum.
However, once in space, they find that any credibility they had for their massive battle at Fort Djemila, in which the fort was lost and so where many lives, means nothing. The HDF in space have faced the Scum in space, and believe the HDF forces on Earth are pathetic jokes in comparison. The Captain of the ship is a cruel, vicious character who goes out of her way to demean Ben-Ari and her troops at every opportunity.
That is until they are required to go to a Mining Colony that is in distress. The Captain immediately deploys Ben-Ari as well as the other Earther HDF troops as the Vanguard.
Whilst book one got compared to Starship Troopers, this second book is more like ‘Aliens’, as the Marines arrive to find the Mining Colony abandoned, but with some strange signs.
It is not long before troops start to go missing, and then it is on.
The remainder of this book is full on war as the Scum, with a whole host of different creations (I won’t ruin the fun!), and the Marines go head to head in a brutal and gruesome battle in which they will be lucky to survive.
Arenson steps it up a notch in this book, as it is full on war. The battles are incredible in this book, and the different creatures are not only fantastic, but they are equal parts horrific and genius, something that would make H.R. Giger want to sleep with the lights on. The story is absolutely brilliant in its intensity and the conflict.
The only thing that probably lets the story down a little bit during these scenes is that the team all get somewhat emotional during various combat scenes, and I don’t mean in the standard, having a bit of breakdown, as you would expect, some aspects of the story almost become too bogged down in the emotional states of the characters, detracting from this incredible intensity and fight scenes that Arenson had going.
However, overall, this is still another fantastic book in the series, and it is definitely worth reading. You get the impression that Arenson is working towards something, we are getting little tastes of it, snippets of the enemy and their power, but something is building, and you just have to keep reading as it is only going to get better.
Can’t wait to read part 3.
However, once in space, they find that any credibility they had for their massive battle at Fort Djemila, in which the fort was lost and so where many lives, means nothing. The HDF in space have faced the Scum in space, and believe the HDF forces on Earth are pathetic jokes in comparison. The Captain of the ship is a cruel, vicious character who goes out of her way to demean Ben-Ari and her troops at every opportunity.
That is until they are required to go to a Mining Colony that is in distress. The Captain immediately deploys Ben-Ari as well as the other Earther HDF troops as the Vanguard.
Whilst book one got compared to Starship Troopers, this second book is more like ‘Aliens’, as the Marines arrive to find the Mining Colony abandoned, but with some strange signs.
It is not long before troops start to go missing, and then it is on.
The remainder of this book is full on war as the Scum, with a whole host of different creations (I won’t ruin the fun!), and the Marines go head to head in a brutal and gruesome battle in which they will be lucky to survive.
Arenson steps it up a notch in this book, as it is full on war. The battles are incredible in this book, and the different creatures are not only fantastic, but they are equal parts horrific and genius, something that would make H.R. Giger want to sleep with the lights on. The story is absolutely brilliant in its intensity and the conflict.
The only thing that probably lets the story down a little bit during these scenes is that the team all get somewhat emotional during various combat scenes, and I don’t mean in the standard, having a bit of breakdown, as you would expect, some aspects of the story almost become too bogged down in the emotional states of the characters, detracting from this incredible intensity and fight scenes that Arenson had going.
However, overall, this is still another fantastic book in the series, and it is definitely worth reading. You get the impression that Arenson is working towards something, we are getting little tastes of it, snippets of the enemy and their power, but something is building, and you just have to keep reading as it is only going to get better.
Can’t wait to read part 3.
April 5, 2020
The second in Mr Arenson's Earthrise series. Marco, Addy, Elvis, Beast, Lailani, Ben-Ari, Singh and Diaz are off to space to take on the 'Scum' in their home turf/vacuum!
Add into the mix, a commanding officer who dislikes our heroes - just once I would like to read about a new commanding officer who loves the group they inherit and gets on very well with them, that'd make a nice change of pace! A distress call, a space battle and a mining colony and you've got a whole world of trouble.
The second in the series goes more into horror than the first book did and there are some very gross moments. What you still have is Marco leading the action with his friends ably supporting him and the tension that anyone could get hurt of killed at any moment.
What is missing is the last 100 pages of the book, the final few chapters, seem very rushed and if the ending of the story was as in detail and descriptive as the rest of the story it would've given it the deserved ending it lacked.
Still and enjoyable read though, and as I'm coming to expect with these books, don't expect everyone to make it out alive or all to be as it seems to be. But do expect guns, soldiers winding each other up, aliens and a death count.
Add into the mix, a commanding officer who dislikes our heroes - just once I would like to read about a new commanding officer who loves the group they inherit and gets on very well with them, that'd make a nice change of pace! A distress call, a space battle and a mining colony and you've got a whole world of trouble.
The second in the series goes more into horror than the first book did and there are some very gross moments. What you still have is Marco leading the action with his friends ably supporting him and the tension that anyone could get hurt of killed at any moment.
What is missing is the last 100 pages of the book, the final few chapters, seem very rushed and if the ending of the story was as in detail and descriptive as the rest of the story it would've given it the deserved ending it lacked.
Still and enjoyable read though, and as I'm coming to expect with these books, don't expect everyone to make it out alive or all to be as it seems to be. But do expect guns, soldiers winding each other up, aliens and a death count.
July 9, 2018
This one didn't grab me like the first one did. It was still a decent story, but I think it concentrated a bit too much on moral choices for me to enjoy it. Having a character wonder if what they are doing is right, that's fine, but not every single time there's a possible decision point, especially when it's already been proven there's no possibility of peaceful coexistence. Get off your high horse and just shoot the damned things already.
The story is a good one, just like the first book, the character growth is slow, but it's there, and the relationship sideline works for the story, none of it feels forced, which makes it flow very well, and makes the story more enjoyable all around, but just like the first ook, sometimes you want just grab the characters and shake some sense into them.I'm really hoping there will be less of that as the series progresses, or I may have to wander off to other entertainment.
Anyway, if you liked the first one, this is probably a good installment to read. If you start with this one though, you may not be very interested in continuing the series after you're finished with it.
The story is a good one, just like the first book, the character growth is slow, but it's there, and the relationship sideline works for the story, none of it feels forced, which makes it flow very well, and makes the story more enjoyable all around, but just like the first ook, sometimes you want just grab the characters and shake some sense into them.I'm really hoping there will be less of that as the series progresses, or I may have to wander off to other entertainment.
Anyway, if you liked the first one, this is probably a good installment to read. If you start with this one though, you may not be very interested in continuing the series after you're finished with it.
July 4, 2021
The first several books in this series are not bad--a little black-and-white (you can spot pretty early who's going to live and who's going to die, classic horror movie rules), but overall not bad.
As we get past the first six or so books, though, the writing becomes progressively worse, almost as if the author wanted to try and tailor his prose to be more accommodating to 12-year-olds, even as he continues to display some pretty adult themes (sex, violence, even rape threats).
The characters never really seem to learn anything, they continue to agonize over the same issues, they continue to have the same internal conversations, and by about the twelfth book, everybody in the inner circle has slept with everybody else, and are constantly revisiting every decision they've ever made, even if they just made that decision a few pages ago.
My enjoyment of the series has progressively declined with each successive book, to the point that I will not buy anything further in this series.
As we get past the first six or so books, though, the writing becomes progressively worse, almost as if the author wanted to try and tailor his prose to be more accommodating to 12-year-olds, even as he continues to display some pretty adult themes (sex, violence, even rape threats).
The characters never really seem to learn anything, they continue to agonize over the same issues, they continue to have the same internal conversations, and by about the twelfth book, everybody in the inner circle has slept with everybody else, and are constantly revisiting every decision they've ever made, even if they just made that decision a few pages ago.
My enjoyment of the series has progressively declined with each successive book, to the point that I will not buy anything further in this series.
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