3 out of 4 stars
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The Earth has been invaded by an alien race. A space shuttle lands in front of you sporting the stars and stripes. What do you do? This is the dilemma facing Lt. Commander Scott Cave, commonly called SC, in the novel Retaliation: Earth Reclamation Force by Martin Wallace. This is a science fiction/war story set in the present day. Although it starts on Earth, it quickly spreads out into the rest of the galaxy.
SC was serving aboard the HMS. Edinburgh when the invasion of Earth happened. A human gets out of a shuttle that landed on the deck, he claims that he can take them to somewhere safe. This turns out to be a covert base on the moon. Joining with other evacuees, SC helps in the shipyards, where they try to build spaceships with which to repel the invaders. Unfortunately, they are detected before the fleet can be finished, and they have to escape in what ships that are available.
Out in deep space, the fight is on for the survival of the human race! Will they survive? Will they be able to do become what the book title suggests they will? These questions and others are inside Retaliation: Earth Reclamation Force.
Martin Wallace has a wonderful flowing writing style; however, this is totally ruined by multitudinous grammar mistakes and incorrect definitions. I found over a dozen mistakes in the preface; I didn’t bother keeping track in the main book.
The parts of this book that I loved the most, was the ingenuity and innovation shown by the main characters, this enabled them to evade death on several occasions when I thought they would be dead. Most particularly the scene where the space station was invaded by SC and a few marines.
The one aspect of the book that I found unrealistic was where the Earthlings had better ships than the invaders. We had a few covert troops looking for advanced technology, whereas their whole culture was involved in open space warfare. At best we could expect to be equal to them, though I think that is unlikely too.
The details in the book were very vivid, bringing everything to life, especially the space battles. I got carried into space with them and experienced everything alongside the characters. The major problem with the book was the errors. I found over a dozen grammar mistakes in the preface, after that, I stopped counting. Alongside the grammar errors, there were also scientific errors that further confused me as a reader. Though I found the story compelling, these errors mean I can give this book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. I think that any sci-fi fan would love this book, along with anyone who likes war stories or stories where the underdog wins.
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Retaliation
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