Frontlines Books In Order

Publication Order of Frontlines Books

If you want a Sci-Fi series that will keep you mesmerized and glued to the pages of the series has an unbeatable companion with the Frontlines series by author Mark Kloos. This author was born in Germany and with the role that Germany played in the two world wars of the last century it is interesting to find out whether his background has any impact on his view about the world and the military efforts of our contemporary world.

The series starts with the first title the ‘Terms of Enlistment’. The plot is set in the year 2018. In this title the reader comes into contact with the protagonist, Andrew Grayson, who joins the military as the only way out of the miseries of life. Challenges abound I trying to live from one day to the next. A majority of the people find themselves in challenging economic circumstances; they have to make it with two thousand calories of terribly flavored soy on a daily basis. That is not all, America is crime ridden and the world in general is characterized by filthy welfare tenets. It is in this world that the chief protagonist in this series, Andrew Grayson, finds himself. In this socio-economic environment, Grayson seeks for a solution to his predicament. He has only two options to meaningfully escape from all these; either he joins the military or accomplish the unimaginable feat of winning a lottery that will get him a ticket on a colony ship to hopefully better life beyond planet Earth or join the military service as the second option.

Andrew is faced with the dilemma. On one hand he can opt to choose to join the military services, and benefit from all the alluring prospects of real food, a well-deserved retirement bonus and a possible free ticket off the surface of planet earth. Alternatively he can sit back and hope to beat the odds and win a jackpot that will see him bid farewell to planet earth in his civilian capacity. In Terms of Engagement, Andrew Grayson takes the courageous decision to join the military. But there are no gains without pains. Andrew soon learns that the ideal life he envisioned in the military has its fair share of pains. His initial desires of paying a military sponsored free visit to the settled galaxies in outer soon come face to face to face with stuck reality.

All that glitters, at least in Andrew’s mind, is not gold. It dawns on him that the presumably better settled galaxy holds far greater dangers than he had ever dared to imagine. He soon comes to realize there are worse challenges in the settled galaxies than he is facing, or has ever faced, dealing with the notorious gangs that straddle the slums back home or with his encounters with his military bureaucrats.

The book aptly captures the genre of this kind of writing. Reading through it, the book sets the pace and tone of a military adventure like no other. One gets the real life experience of what a soldier goes through in the enclosed military barracks. The acronyms, the guns, the tough mean looking and mean sounding drill sergeants, explosions as well as battles with the alien world effectively brings you to the unique military world and experience. Andrew is in this military environment, his desired safety haven, but what happens next in the wake of all the new challenges? With the possibility of a military confrontation between mankind and aliens, what does it feel to be in combat with marauding aliens? The key antagonists, humans versus aliens have different technologies and different perspectives. How does Andrew Grayson, fit in and respond in this new scheme of things?

The author picks this up and develops it further in the second title in this captivating series, ‘Lines of Departure’. Here Andrew Grayson comes face to face with what he had never imagined was likely when he was joining the military. He finds himself in the eye of a vicious interstellar conflict that pits him and his colleagues against an indestructible alien species. The heart of the conflict revolves around the last habitable zones of the cosmos that holds any promise of possible habitation. Just like the rest of humanity, Andrew Grayson is at a loss when it comes to the possibilities of winning this kind of war. After numerous years of fighting a two front war and actually losing he is no longer certain of success especially in this kind of war with aliens.

Andrew sort of hopes to get himself out of this situation. He keeps screaming of dropping out of service someday. On the hand, warfare is consuming entire planets and this is a cause of concern to Andrew and the military and political powers on Earth. In the meantime the conditions on planet earth are also seemingly conspiring against Andrew’s desire to break free from his military engagements; the conditions on Earth and his immediate home environment keep deteriorating. Does he have anywhere else to go? As he ponders over this, dear planet Earth surfers from a terrible space borne attack. Fate is on Andrew’s side; he survives this catastrophic space borne assault. But then he is soon reassigned to yet another ship that is bound for a distant colony out there in space. The problem is not just the distance. He has problematic partners in the voyage too; a bunch of trouble makers and malcontents. With this unwelcome mix, his most dangerous battle expedition has just begun. Amidst this unwelcome mix that Andrew finds himself in, the reader has the opportunity to follow the intrigues of space war and battles as executed with the inputs and insights of Andrew Grayson.

The author does not leave the you in suspense. He carries the military confrontation to the actual terrestrial battle field in the next title namely: Angles of Attack. Here we meet with alien forces also known as the Lanies. They gather on the edge of the solar system and consolidate their frightening conquest against Earth’s solar system neighbor, Mars. How does this affect alliances on Earth? Are there any possibilities of otherwise sworn enemies on Earth to forge strategic alliances to defeat the enemy? What role does Andrew Grayson play in the unfolding scenario in the battle field? The existence of humanity, at this point, now depends on victory, but will it happen, and if so how? If not what happens next to humanity and the alien attackers?

In the next book in this fascinating series, the author details the progress of the terrestrial war that pits human race against the unwanted alien guests. How the war comes to an end makes for an exciting reading. Is human race annihilated or not? What role does the protagonist and his human contingent of military personnel play? How does Earth’s technological advancement measure compared to what the aliens have? What challenges and opportunities are exploited, or missed, in waging this new kind of war, the terrestrial war against an alien species?

The frontline series by Mark Kloos makes a fascinating reading for any lover of Sci-fi. In fact anyone new to this genre should have a taste of this series. Its high level of creativity and imagination carries the reader away from the traditional real-life like books in the market. So far, none of the books in this series has been translated into a movie or TV series. Despite this apparent shortcoming by movie makers and TV producers, every reader will certainly agree that the series’ high level of imagination would have greater impact in the visual media. We can only hope that movie producers will supplement the reading with a visual version of the Frontlines series by Mark Kloos.