[Report This]Date: 07 Jan 2021 14:24 Title: Prologue
Pretty gripping battle sequence - with good banter under fire. Good job of making the reader care not only about the Marines but their enemy as well.
Talk about a jump-start open...
Thanks!! rbs
Author's Response: Thanks, glad you're checking out Semper Fidelis. This is one of my favorites of the last few years and yes, I tend to like to open my novels with a bit of a bang, you may have noticed. I won't always be able to sustain that kind of pacing but always good to try and hook the reader from page one.
[Report This]Date: 27 Jan 2015 11:10 Title: Prologue
A good tense action scene to begin the story with a visceral description of war with the Dominion just a couple of days prior to the end. I enjoyed Arik as an interesting choice for a marine Gunnery Sergeant.
My only gripe is that he keeps having to remind the marines that they never leave anyone behind. That's drilled into you at boot camp! :) And really surprised not a single one of them uttered the ubiquitous phrase, "Semper Fi," which usually gets the "oorah!"
All in all, it was a good fast paced action scene and I'm turning the page to read more in chapter one.
PS: I hope you don't mind, but I replaced all the � for ellipses for you. Also, the dashes were inserted where they needed to go.
Author's Response: Thanks for the review. And you are right Arik is an odd choice for a Marine. He has actually made a previous appearance in Star Eagle and for those who might recall him from that appearance, he's likely almost unrecognizable here. I decided not to go with the Semper Fi motto as I didn't want these Marines to seem too much like the USMC. Of course some parallels are undeniable. Oh and thanks for replacing the artifacts. I thought I had caught them all.
Date: 14 Oct 2014 00:41 Title: Prologue
That's one hell of an opener!
You've nailed the sheer brutality of warfare while acknowledging the advanced nature of ground combat in the 24th century. This hell-hole makes AR-558 look like a Boyscout picnic!
One can only imagine what surviving something like that might do to a person...
Author's Response: It'll leave a mark, that's for sure. After all we're not just talking about a single battle. This has been going on for the better part of two years. Thanks for the review.
Date: 27 Sep 2014 05:20 Title: Prologue
This is a great start. I love how you show both the bad parts and the good parts of war in juxtaposition: pain, camaraderie, death, loyalty, duty. I can't wait to see where you take it!
Author's Response: Not sure there are too many good parts to war, but if nothing else, I suppose it does create camaraderie and loyalty. It's a theme that will run through most of the novel. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Date: 22 Sep 2014 16:34 Title: Prologue
This is a beautiful combatant story – with military humor, banter and brother-in-arms type of camaraderie. I rarely come across stories about infantry battles, most of them take place in space. The details about weaponry and tactics make sense, and the knife fight between Arik and the Cardassian soldier is very well written and sounds very realistic.
Author's Response: Thanks for the comment. Not to give anything away but I wouldn't call this a combat story per se. Even though we will see some more of it in later chapters.