The plot arc isn't well structured either - although I think this is really an artefact of the way the series was written. After a major plot-turning firefight, most of the casualties are really just names to the reader despite their importance to the main character. Whilst Kloos does a fantastic job of "show, don't tell" with army life and the background political unrest and intrigue, friendships and even romances just appear out of nowhere. The secondary characterisation is below par for a novel. He is just a young, impulsive enlisted soldier. He is no author-avatar with perfect military skills and likeable flaws. The main character is likeable without being super-human. The technology is plausible, and is never used as a get-out-of-jail-free card by the author.
In any fire-fight it is easy to visualise where everyone is and what is happening. At least in this first book of the series, the action is well above average for the genre. The action is up-close and personal, set in a universe where government isn't perfect, conflict isn't clean, and the military gets to play hero on a small scale whilst the overall morality of the conflicts they take part in is constantly questionable. The tone and style are similar to Robert Henlein's Starship Troopers or Jerry Pournelle's Co-Dominium. It follows the protagonist, Andrew Grayson, from high-rise slums through book camp, a combat infantry posting, and then out into space. Terms of Enlistment is a newly written but old-school military science fiction novel. Revised edition: This edition of Terms of Enlistment includes editorial revisions. The debut novel from Marko Kloos, Terms of Enlistment is an addition to the great military sci-fi tradition of Robert Heinlein, Joe Haldeman, and John Scalzi.
But as he starts a career of supposed privilege, he soon learns that the good food and decent health care come at a steep price.and that the settled galaxy holds far greater dangers than military bureaucrats or the gangs that rule the slums. With the colony lottery a pipe dream, Andrew chooses to enlist in the armed forces for a shot at real food, a retirement bonus, and maybe a ticket off Earth. For welfare rats like Andrew Grayson, there are only two ways out of the crime-ridden and filthy welfare tenements: You can hope to win the lottery and draw a ticket on a colony ship settling off-world.or you can join the service.
The year is 2108, and the North American Commonwealth is bursting at the seams. His Frontlines series is a worthy successor to such classics as Starship Troopers, The Forever War, and We All Died at Breakaway Station. “There is nobody who does better than Marko Kloos.
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