War Dogs

Greg Bear

War Dogs Book 1

Sergeant Michael Venn is a Skyrine (a member of the US Military branch that specializes in space warfare). He has dropped 3 times onto Mars and is about to begin his 4th deployment. The war is between humans and an alien species, referred to as Antagonists. We don't really know where they came from, or what they want. But apparently stopping them at Mars is essential. Apparently since the intel comes from another alien species (the Gurus) who are friendly to earth and dole out high tech secrets to aid in the war effort. It is their advice that the war is essential. Very much feels like an imperial analog to US imperialism in SE Asia in the 60's and 70's. On this 4th drop to Mars for Venn, everything goes wrong and his team of survivors discovers some strange stuff on planet and gain some strange allies. This is high quality space-war storytelling.

4 stars (out of 4)