⇒ [PDF] Gratis CROW The Union Series Book 1 eBook Phillip Richards

CROW The Union Series Book 1 eBook Phillip Richards

Download As PDF : CROW The Union Series Book 1 eBook Phillip Richards

CROW The Union Series Book 1 eBook Phillip Richards

As a voracious reader, who's weekends are often spent chewing through 1500-2500-page anthologies/series - thanks to Kindle Unlimited - I very seldom write reviews, nor buy them,

I retract that - this is my first kindle e-book review - written after having decided to purchase Mr Richards' quintet "The Union Series", as I begin the fifth, and final book.

Among the many notables that make The Union Series notable is that fact that Mr Phillips is writing while actively serving in the British Army. No military sci-fi work I've read has even come close to the "fog of war", in particular, trench warfare - he tells it as it is - it does not get more real, folks. The confusion, panic, the paralyzing fear, the numbness that comes from emotions cauterized in the battlefield - all vividly captured. His acknowledgement toward the "future science & tech" aspects clearly shows an understanding of the concepts etc. But, unlike the majority of the military sci-fi out there, he keeps it in the background - MILITARY sci-fi, not military SCI-FI. The true grit and horror is there - the panic, the slipping on blood, using your comrade-in-arms' dead body as cover, the flash blindness & concussion from "danger close" ordnance. This is as "down-range" as I've ever read.

I served in my country's armed forces for a mandatory three years at eighteen, and was cross-trained in the US. However, my first taste set of DPMs & infantry boots came by way of five years in boarding school in south England. In an extra-curricular activity, the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is offered in over 300 schools across the United Kingdom; each one attached to a unit in the British Army, Royal Air Force or Royal Marines. There are many cues to a certain renown training area in a mountainous region of Wales that I actually climbed at sixteen. And my "hands-down" personal favourite notable is the terminology & phrases, which instantly yanked me back thirty years to the Beacons.

"Mate! Tthis was the best read of my 2017. CHEERS!"


Tags : C.R.O.W. (The Union Series Book 1) - Kindle edition by Phillip Richards. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading C.R.O.W. (The Union Series Book 1).,ebook,Phillip Richards,C.R.O.W. (The Union Series Book 1),The Electronic Book Company,FICTION Science Fiction Action & Adventure,FICTION Science Fiction Military

CROW The Union Series Book 1 eBook Phillip Richards Reviews

First of all, all due respect for the author. He's worn a uniform, stood a watch and been to war.

I won't mince words this isn't great.

The writing is fine, Brit slang aside (I struggled trying to translate English to American several times) and a regrettable enthusiasm for exclamation points, the prose works. The setting is just sci-fi enough to wear that label without really being about science, technology or even big ideas. Which is also fine, not all sci-fi needs to be transformative.

But I do need to like the protagonist. And I did not.

In fact, he's not even a protagonist. He's more of a narrator. A protagonist does things. Moralee has things happen to him. And he doesn't respond to the trauma of war and joining a new unit with wit or verve or even nerve.He cowers. He cries. He's weak. I almost could believe he's supposed to be a caricature of what a Millennial soldier would be like. Almost. Moralee stands around staring until someone else, someone frankly more interesting kicks him in the ass and makes him do his job.

Because Moralee isn't good at his job. He's not a REMF or a FOBbit. He's just delicate, emotional and not good at taking action. I said in my title he's not a hero. And I'm biased towards liking heroes in my fiction. But I can like a coward or antihero if he has some style, Fraser's Flashman books come to mind. Or Douglas Adams.

That lack of enjoyment in the main character made it hard to read because I stopped caring. About him, at least. There are compensations in the story.

Everyone is drawn very realistically, vibrant and alive. Everyone feels 'real'...and I'm much more interested in everyone else.Heck, Brown's story would have been more fascinating that mopey Moralee. The tech is interesting and plausible, which is a plus. The politics is a little odd but not too much...though I noticed the author seems to have chosen to pretend anything between the Atlantic and the Japanese home islands don't exist. Might be some wish fulfillment there, but who knows?

On the whole the author has written about hard men doing a hard job.

It's just a shame Moralee isn't one of them.
As a voracious reader, who's weekends are often spent chewing through 1500-2500-page anthologies/series - thanks to Unlimited - I very seldom write reviews, nor buy them,

I retract that - this is my first kindle e-book review - written after having decided to purchase Mr Richards' quintet "The Union Series", as I begin the fifth, and final book.

Among the many notables that make The Union Series notable is that fact that Mr Phillips is writing while actively serving in the British Army. No military sci-fi work I've read has even come close to the "fog of war", in particular, trench warfare - he tells it as it is - it does not get more real, folks. The confusion, panic, the paralyzing fear, the numbness that comes from emotions cauterized in the battlefield - all vividly captured. His acknowledgement toward the "future science & tech" aspects clearly shows an understanding of the concepts etc. But, unlike the majority of the military sci-fi out there, he keeps it in the background - MILITARY sci-fi, not military SCI-FI. The true grit and horror is there - the panic, the slipping on blood, using your comrade-in-arms' dead body as cover, the flash blindness & concussion from "danger close" ordnance. This is as "down-range" as I've ever read.

I served in my country's armed forces for a mandatory three years at eighteen, and was cross-trained in the US. However, my first taste set of DPMs & infantry boots came by way of five years in boarding school in south England. In an extra-curricular activity, the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is offered in over 300 schools across the United Kingdom; each one attached to a unit in the British Army, Royal Air Force or Royal Marines. There are many cues to a certain renown training area in a mountainous region of Wales that I actually climbed at sixteen. And my "hands-down" personal favourite notable is the terminology & phrases, which instantly yanked me back thirty years to the Beacons.

"Mate! Tthis was the best read of my 2017. CHEERS!"