Review of Critical Asset

[Chiwelite O]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Critical Asset" by Ian Tonnessen.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Critical Asset by Ian Tonnessen is an educating and exciting book that I found difficult to put down. I enjoyed this book from the first page to the last. Tonnessen took me on a journey into the near future of military science fiction; a future both exciting and unsettling.

The story starts when Demirci and his fellow rebels hatch a plot to overthrow their nation’s government. To actualize this plan, they seize the most valuable research station ever built, which is "The Dirac Station." Following up on their plans, they destroy the station. To shield themselves, they set up their government to take the blame for the destruction. They did this to instigate a war between their government and the governments of other nations. The rebels expected the war to be quick and positive.

The story progressed and we met Jaana Pierce, a selfless captain and one of the U.S space command’s best officers, who spent her career in the second world war. She was unexpectedly drawn into military action together with her crew. They trained only for a day to battle a relentless enemy and to also save the civilians on the Dirac Station. They lost some of their crew members in the course of the battle and some were injured, but this did not deter them from fighting the enemy. While the world moved rapidly towards disaster, Jaana would have to risk much more than her life to end it. She will also have to risk her duty and post as a captain. Were they able to come out victorious? Were they able to save the civilians? Was she able to stop the war?

The book has a lot of positive aspects. I liked the plot of the story, which was fast paced and realistic. The buildup of tension was just incredible. I loved that the characters were developed and dynamic. Also, I was exposed to words I had never come across before such words include; "Army Bivouacs," "Abeyance," "Conflagration," "Pollyannaish," and so on. I was also able to learn some abbreviations of military terms too, like; DEFCON, DEW, COPLAN, CS, and much more.

This book also has a few negative aspects. I didn’t like the fact that most of the words used in the book were abbreviated. This is not wholly negative as the writer provided the meaning of all the abbreviated words he used before diving into the story. However, I didn’t like the fact that I had to go back to check the meaning of these words while reading the book.

I did not find a single grammatical error in this book. This book was exceptionally well edited. I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. I did not give this book a lower rating since the negative aspect I stated above did not take away the overall pleasure I had while reading the book. I recommend this book to all lovers of military science fiction. Those who love reading about military operations would find this book fascinating.

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Critical Asset
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[Pearl Thomas]

This book sounds like a heavy read, especially with having to cross-check the abbreviations time and again. Lovely review.

[Gabriella1997]

Am not a lover of military science but I find this review very intriguing, thanks for the honest review

[Medhansh Bhardwaj]

I really like sci-fi books, but I should be able to understand them. You are completely right with your point of excessive abbreviation usage. If the author makes a good appendix or something it would be really helpful.

[NetMassimo]

This seems like an engaging science fiction novel and I think that military sci-fi lovers are used to abbreviations and acronyms. Thank you for your great review!