| Title | : | Contact Front (Drop Trooper, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 294 |
| Publication | : | First published April 7, 2020 |
For small-time street hustler Cam Alvarez, the choice is simple. He has no family, no friends, no place in the world…nothing to lose. When his latest con results in the death of a cartel hitman, Cam opts to join the Marines and leave Earth to fight a vicious alien enemy.
Drafted into the Marine Drop-Troopers, Cam discovers there’s one thing he’s even better at than running street-con games, and that’s killing the enemy. Wrapped in an armored battlesuit, Cam finds purpose amidst the horror and destruction of the war, and the opportunity for a new sort of friends and family…if he can break the habits of a life spent alone, trusting no one.
And, if he can survive...
Rick Partlow returns with another kickass Military Sci-Fi epic. It's perfect for fans of Jay Allan, Jasper T. Scott, and Scott Bartlett.
Contact Front (Drop Trooper, #1) Reviews
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"I ran. Knowing I might trip at any second, knowing I might fall right into the ditch before I saw it, but I ran anyway. The distant roar of wind had become thunder rolling across the plain. And something else was coming with it, something even more frightening. Dawn. It was just a line of lighter grey on the horizon right now, just a slight brightening of the darkness, but it was coming. The safety of the darkness might have been illusory, but it was all I had."
“Cam” Alvarez is a small urban mammal who has honed his techniques of survival in the future megalopolis. He is often poor and hungry and his choices are limited. The “powers that be” have been watching him (as they apparently can do) and the millions like him. His enterprising nature takes him too far over the line and he is given the choice of joining the military as they battle a “give no quarter” enemy or spending the best part of his life in confinement. Lucky for our author, Cam chooses the former.
"“We need warm bodies, and as good as you are in a suit, we’d take you if you were a narcoleptic necrophiliac. But if you ever want to be more, Cameron, if you ever want to be great, either as a Marine or as a man, then you’re going to have to be more than just a talented killer. You’re going to have to become a leader. You’re going to have to decide you’re in the Corps for more than just a ticket out of the Underground, or to avoid prosecution for one crime or another.”"
So we are up and running with a story that rarely pauses to catch its breath.
"“Welcome to Delta, Alvarez. I usually try to have a meeting with every new recruit eventually, but I’m afraid we won’t have the time before we head out.”
“It seems like I got here just in time, sir.” I laughed softly, despite the man’s intimidating presence. It was just too funny not to. “Another couple days, and I’d have missed the boat.” There was something predatory about Covington’s return smile.
“Which might have been our loss, Private, but perhaps your gain.” “No, sir,” I assured him. “I knew I was going to see combat when I joined up. It’s just as well it starts now.”
“Like I always say, son,” he told me, tossing a wave as he walked away, “you only live once…might as well get it over with.
If you like stories about the future space military, you will note that Partlow gets the “vibe” right. There are a lot of facets to being part of a group of fighters and most of those are included:
"Tonight, I heard your squad leaders, your platoon leader, and a platoon sergeant yelling orders, and no one was listening.” He shrugged, hopping down off the rock platform and pacing through the sand. “Maybe they weren’t the best orders, maybe they were stupid orders, but part of the oath you swore when you signed up was to carry out the lawful orders of your superiors. Not just the convenient ones, not just the ones you think you’ll get in trouble if you ignore, but all the lawful orders. So, before any of you start blaming the leaders we appointed for this mission, think about what you did and whether you did everything you could to support them.��"
And
"Coffee is your friend, chow will be meal packets eaten while you work, and sleep will be a rumor. If you’re going to complain, complain to God, or the Commonwealth Space Fleet, whichever you think is likelier to respond.”"
This is the start of Cam Alvarez’s career and it’s a good start. I certainly won’t object to reading another chapter. -
Well, we've got another good military sci/fi book...and this may tell you something about me as the book's plot, opening and so on follow a line that's in other books I've liked. Here we have (another) young person (young man in this case) who grew up poor, hardscrabble, hand to mouth, and constantly close to getting killed in the future. This is (another) future where most all the people of Earth live in giant cities. The very poor live in the "underground" never seeing the sun or sky...
Cam Alvarez is not only poor and living in the underground, sleeping where he can, eating what he can get, living by his wits...and a certain amount of crime. He manages just after he becomes a "legal adult" to fall afoul of the law in a way that can get him "frozen" in involuntary hibernation, from which he may never be awakened even after his sentenced time as sometimes the politicians like to please the populace and that can mean not waking up the convicts... or he can testify against his "accomplice" (ex-girlfriend. He haddn't been aware she was his ex until she left him holding the illegal bag so to speak). Cam chose not to do that so, he could look forward to becoming a popsicle.
Or he could enlist in the Marines and fight the war with the aliens who were closing in on Earth and killing an alarming number of humans, colonists and military.
Oh heck as a famous sergeant is believed to have said, "do you want to live forever?"
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“There’ll come a time when you have to move beyond what you were, or what you think you still are, and become a Marine.”
“But you can’t fight the world by yourself. The world is bigger and it will always win.”
Go to war or go to jail. A no-choice decision for a teenager. This premise is an excellent introduction of the protagonist’s life, a brilliant description of his training as a marine. The flashbacks of his tormenting past are revealing and a good point of view to understand the psychological reactions of the protagonist. Terrifying childhood memories, provoking heart wrenching moments with vivid lump in throat scenes. The introspections of the main character are impressive, with a language well engaged to a person his age and denomination, full of laid out expressions and sarcastic overtures. It has a quick yet steady progression so that it feels neither thin nor thick. A superbly crafted, riveting page-turner of a read! Looking forward to reading Kinetic Strike #2! -
Rick Partlow, the best selling writer of Glory Boy and Recon novels, returns to this universe of military sf stories with a new series, Drop Trooper. Contact Front combines a bit of military mech and space marine ops with heart pumping action and thrilling adventure. Yet Partlow maintains a strong character driven story as he recounts the tale of new recruit, Cam Alvarez, on his first series of missions. This combination of strong, believable characters in tough, demanding situations (while avoiding a lot of unnecessary space tech jargon) is one of the author's strengths. Recommended for fans of the genre and for those just getting into military sf adventure like I am.
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Very good military sci-fi, it hit all my right buttons. Salty language warning for those who do not like the "F" word sprinkled around liberally.
Cam, the main character lives in one of the mega-cities of over-populated Earth. Each person, unless they are rich, lives in a cubicle sized "apartment". Cam is an orphan and bounces around from foster home to juvie back to foster home, etc. until he runs away and lives in the tunnels stealing and doing whatever he can to make a buck to stay alive. While trying to steal some drugs he is caught by the police and instead of just hauled off to prison he is offered a deal to become a marine because the military is in desparate need of warm bodies. He takes the offer and goes to boot camp.
His early experiences in the military are told in vignettes, a bit of boot camp, then he's in training to use the giant mecha (they are called something else in the book but I always think of them as mecha because the idea of them originates from Japanese manga and anime) machines. Cam has an edge on some of the other recruits in that he does not freak out in enclosed spaces, on the contrary he feels at peace and at home closed in the darkness. But when they go outside on the planet (not Earth, some military training planet) surface to train he sees an open plain an the horizon stretching out and freaks out. Because he's lived his whole life in enclosed spaces he is afraid of open spaces. That is something he has to deal with along with learning how to use his mecha and get alone with his fellow marines. There is one guy who is the token mean bully and he and Cam have a few run-ins. But keep reading because the ending is spectacular. I won't spoil it.
The story is told first person from Cam's POV. THe writing is good, no issues there. The plot runs smoothly, no points of boredom. Altogether a solid military sci-fi book. And I'm going to look into more of this author's work. -
Great start to this new series. Following Cam Alvarez as he joins the Marines to fight an alien race that are attacking the colonies. Plenty of action with humour along the way. Would definitely recommend this book.
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I picked this one up on a whim. I honestly was searching the Amazon catalogs in the Sci-Fi section and came across this one. I couldn't be more impressed by the story that has been created. I had a blast reading about the main character jumping out of ships with his drop Trooper suit on, ready to face the enemy. It's kind of refreshing to not get deep political intrigue involved in a Sci-Fi or a fantasy story. this was very well written story and I am surprised I hadn't heard of this author till recently. In The narrative We get to follow Cam as he embarks on this great journey that so far will span five novels. Cam is a criminal on Earth, when he gets caught with the drug of choice he is arrested and given the opportunity to join the Marines or go to jail. Cam decides to go to basic training for the Marines and is sent almost instantly on missions. That ending was hard to read, great job by the author. I will keep the rest spoiler free definitely recommend checking out this series and I will be picking up the next one today.
Video Review
https://youtu.be/oCpd1q_fTes -
Excellent start to this mil/sci-fi series. Alvarez is a good character to watch grow into the role being forced on him and the Drop Trooper suits make for fun combat scenes.
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Review for the nine book series, which starts out a bit awkwardly. It builds around two characters—Alvarez and Sandoval—in a future Earth Marines fighting aliens. The two take time—not much—to get married and quit halfway through, but the war scoops them back in.
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classique histoire d'enrôlement et de formation (soldat dans des armures robots façon jeux video)
pour une série B (ce qui explique mes généreuses 3 étoiles) c'est plutôt bien écrit et lisible mais sans réelle surprise Les aliens constituent l'ennemi mais sont très "absents" et peu à la hauteur malgré qu'ils soient les dominants de cette guerre spaciale
c'est aussi une leçon de morale, visant à prouver que l'armée peut malgré un départ difficile dans la vie, vous transformer en un bon soldat prêt à défendre sa patrie et ses camarades
Vite lu et certainement vite oublié mais je lirai les suites pour une lecture de plage où je n'ai pas besoin de concentration !
classic enrollment and training story (soldier in robot armor like video games)
for a serie B (which explains my generous 3 stars) it is rather well written and readable but without real surprise The aliens constitute the enemy but are very "absent" and not up to par despite they are the dominants in this space war
it is also a moral lesson proving that even with a bad and difficult start the army helps you to become a good soldier who will defend his homeland and his comrades in combat -
I did not have a problem with the lack of originality, as I did not expect any. Also did not expect this to be Starship Troopers/Armor/Forever War level, and it wasn't, but better written than I expected from this type of milScifi (better written than Kloos). I did though have a small problem with the fast forward always jumping in time story, and a huge problem with the fact the MC is soooo extra smart, cool, lucky, talented, fast-learning, natural-talent and so on. Come on, man!
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Great read. I enjoy these type of future near apocalypse bad scenarios. I spent 6 years in the Army, and this is close to what I would expect the military in the future.
I enjoyed the pacing and the story. I thought some parts were a little flat, but I understood it for the sake of pacing. The book worked for me on multiple levels. -
Admittedly, this first part does not shine with its originality, but it is quality entertainment: the main character is thick, the universe is quite consistent, and it is very easy to read.
Some ellipses in the story are a little brutal, the fights are a little too quickly dispatched, but it's promising. -
Welcome to the Marines!
Cameron Alvarez was born into a life of gangs, violence and death under the skyscrapers of Tran Angeles. Cam was caught up in the life until he was caught by the authorities and sentenced to 100 years flash frozen in a rehab facility . . . or join the Marines to fight, and likely die, in the war against the Tahni. When mankind escaped the bounds of Earth and made it to the stars, we met the enemy - the Tahni. From planet to planet, the Marines fought to keep the colonies safe. With a huge suit of armor, called a Vigilante, Cam learned to fight, and kill, the enemy.
Well written, the storyline leaps through furious combat sequences, believable encounters with a believable enemy, and spats in bar fights. The characters are believable also. They jump from the pages in full armor, fighting for their lives and the lives of their fellow Marines. This is a good read! -
First-person narration is a tough writing approach, especially when trying to convey an epic scope of world-building and interplanetary war. But it really worked well in this mecha-trooper actioner. I took away one star because the articulate narration voice clashed with the clumsy dialogue voice of the character, but the overall package succeeded for me:
1. The action and technology were understandable, easy to follow, and didn't get sidetracked by boring info-dumps.
2. The plot-driven story kept a high tempo. It was difficult to put these books down (I devoured the first three books in 3 days).
3. The characters were likeable for me, so the emotional stakes were high. Yeah, kid-from-the-slums-earns -self-respect-and-saves-the-brigade is a trope we've all seen before, but Cam Alvarez and his platoon mates are textured enough that cheering for them felt natural. I particularly enjoyed the father-son relationship between the unit CO and young Alvarez.
4. This story was more than just shoot-em-up mil-SF; there were great snippets of philosophy and insightful social commentary woven in. The author's infantry background definitely showed through.
5. The protagonist's meteoric rise through the ranks was believable to me.
Recommendation: if you liked Marko Kloos's 'Frontlines' series, or Elliot Kay's 'Poor Man's Fight' series, then you will like this Drop Trooper series.
I look forward to Rick Partlow's book 4 later this month!
4. Emotional stakes -
חמוד, סבבה לגמרי
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Pretty well written
Slow to start but it picks up. A little heavy on the explanation of military jargon...but I know they speak their own language in the services. All in all a very nice read. -
Its times like this I wish Goodreads had a larger rating system other than 0-5. Contact Front is a 3.5 out of 5, possibly equating to a 7 out 10.
When I think of Military Sci-fi, there are a few books I always go to. Old Man's War, Starship Troopers, and Forever War. Does this have any of the qualities that made those books stand outs? No.
What it does have however is a likeable protagonist, and an excellent amount of character building from beginning to end. The over arcing plot is basic, mostly focussing on the hero's beginning as a Rookie, and ending up a Sergeant. Its serviceable, but lacks any sort of grand battle that I was hoping would materialize. Are there firefights? Sure, but there's never much of a feeling of squad comradely - I'm not sure I can even remember their names. Many of the supporting cast don't seem to stick around long enough to draw any real connection to.
Contact Front is average, but has spikes of interest. I would still recommend it however, Marines running around in Power Armour? A well fleshed out hero? Take Contract Front as the opening act on what could be a great series
Audible Version - narrated by James Patrick Cronin. Cronin comes across as a little young to be voicing a gruff space marine at first, but thematically his casting is well done. His narration fits the books perfectly.
I'd quite happily try further books in the series, hopefully, It will deliver on its potential. -
Really disappointed to realise towards the end that this is basically a rehash of the Recon series. The only difference is that the central character is a poor kid from the underground of the big earth cities rather than one of the richest kids on earth. If course I knew it was the same universe, but the ending really is ridiculously similar, and hence a huge let down. I was really keen to read more in the same universe but I wanted new stories, not the same one rehashed.
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I really, really like books like this! It certainly fits into the military science fiction genre and that’s just perfect for me. The story starts with one young man, Cameron Alvarez, who hasn’t had the best of life. He’s certainly a loner having become independent at about the age of 10. The book paints a rather disturbing picture of the far future, where humanity has cluster in megacities. Apparently building up and up with apartment complexes and layers upon layers of humanity. Cameron came from one of the bottom layers also know as the “Underground”.
At about the age of 19, young and stupid as we all were, he got caught stealing some drugs from one of the gangs. Fortunately, it wasn’t one of the gangs that caught him, or he’d be dead, but the Transit Authority Cops certainly frowned on having people killed in their subways. That was kind of an accident in that the guy chasing Cam, didn’t stop for the subway train coming down the tracks. The subway train didn’t stop for him either! So, Cameron Alvarez is brought before a judge with the charge of murder added to many other charges.
Yeah, he didn’t kill the guy, but he was killed during the chase caused by a felony theft. That makes the thief guilty of murder in some degree! So, “Cam” gets ready for his sentencing and he gets a break, well, sort of. He’s offered cryogenic hibernation for 100 years or join the Commonwealth Fleet Marine Corps and complete basic training. Since there was an on and off again war with some nasty aliens called the Tahni, going with the Marines wasn’t necessarily a great choice since it was heard that the Marines weren’t doing so well against this enemy. So, the Marines were willing to take anyone right at the moment.
Of course, Cam took the Marine Corps enlistment offer and started on a fascinating new career! This is where he gets “indoctrinated” into the Marine Corps from the very beginning of basic training. I like that kind of story. It’s real interesting to see how characters react to something they have never in their life come up against. I don’t care where you come from, unless you’ve been there, you’ve never heard anything quite like a Marine Corps Drill Instructor yelling at you form the moment you step off the bus or in Cam’s case, step off the shuttle. A young man or even a young punk, coming from who knows where, quickly goes into to shock at the change in their life. Cam is no different although he does seem to have an aptitude for the military which he didn’t have a clue about before “joining” the Marines.
This book takes us with Cam through basic training and gets him ready to become an Armor Marine. By Armor, I’m talking about fighting inside a 2-ton, 3-meter tall, mechanized fighting machine that can terrorize anything on the battlefield. Cam’s first time inside this machine surprisingly seemed like home to him. Others were not quite comfortable to the enclosed space while some couldn’t take it at all and wound up as straight-leg Marine infantry. Cam was used to enclosed spaces since he’d spent most of his youth scuttling through maintenance tunnels in the Underground back home. Then again, he found out he had something just the opposite of liking enclosed spaces. He was very much agoraphobic! Look it up.
Books 2 (Kinetic Strike), 3 (Danger Close), & 4 (Direct Fire) are already on Amazon, so I’m heading there to get them. This is going to be a great series! -
Hm, difficult book to rate. I picked up my copy after seeing that it had been picked as best scifi book of 2020 by the gang at discoverscifi.com - which I would add has become one of my favorite newsletters and Facebook groups. Which is why I was pretty shocked when I found the first 2/3s of THIS book to be really disappointing and barely worth the 2 stars (or less) that I was thinking about slamming down here at that stage.
Partlow starts his book off with a rush and doesn't let up. Sure, it's full of action and a little bit of character development (more on that in a sec) but there's really no significant world-building nor sufficient explanation for the entire mess we find ourselves in on Earth or in space. It is at best a very jumpy pacing (we're on Earth, we're on a different planet now, etc.). The author seems to just want us to get past all the 'awkward' introductions and off into what seems to be the entire purpose of the book, namely, to glorify both being a Marine and start our lovefest with the mechs this generation use for all the good killing that is to come. Oorah indeed. Needless to say - but I will - but for me this all came off as a bit stilted, unsatisfying and, at least with the 'flashbacks' provided, even a bit racist, like it was conceived by a conservative politician from Texas more than anything else. Lots and lots of clichés and stereotypes abound-ed and at this point I was really asking myself 'wtf' - what the fuss - was it all about.
Then, with about 30% left to go in the book (and yes, I checked), the story FINALLY comes alive and by 'alive' I mean we're treated to a few legitimate scifi bits as well as some truly worthwhile character insights. Connecting with the folks that were being hurt worst by the war made all the difference. Even the battle scenes became much more vibrant and, again, meaningful, that is, beyond just killing because someone was on OUR rock! I was glad to finally see why so many of my compatriots enjoyed this book even though I wouldn't set it anywhere near the top of any of the 'mech-centric' books I've read myself. But at least I began to see some potential and could at least continue with my original target, namely, to read at least 2 of this series before deciding whether to commit to the entire set or not.
So that's what I'm doing. We'll see after that. -
I love space marine books. Ever since Starship Troopers I haven't been able to put them down. Recently I finished all 6 Marko Kloos Frontline series and enjoyed them all, some more than others naturally. So I had high hopes for Rick Partlow's Drop Trooper book Contact Front. It has a four and a half star rating on Amazon kindle. It just goes to show you that you can't rely on reviews... mine being no exception. You have to take a chance and read it for yourself. The concept was good and follows along the lines of most other books in this genre. A guy who lives in a shit hole on Earth, for one reason or another, has to join the space marines to fight for humanity's very survival against some very pissed off greedy aliens hell-bent on wiping us out. We're taken through boot camp and into the battles on distant worlds. But somehow Rick's writing falls flat. His descriptions of what's going on are uninspired and lacking. I don't know how exactly to describe it other than to say that when I finished reading Contact Front, I had already forgotten it. I won't be reading any of his other books in this series as I think there are more talented writers in the genre that I can sink my teeth into. He's just not the writer for my space adventures.
