In the year 2040, the United States Marine Corps is becoming obsolete due to global peace and the invention of space travel, the need for aquatic beach landings has dwindled. The Marine Corps has one last attempt to stay a branch of the military and not be disbanded: they must send one platoon of Marines to Mars to protect American interest on the red planet. There are only countries with the ability to make manned space missions, the U.S., Russia, China, Japan, and England. Thus begins Ian Douglas`s space adventure Semper Mar.
The last two factions are the U.S.A and Russian pact and the U.N. As the name suggests, the U.S. and Russia have banded together and every other country now belongs to the U.N.. The Earth is currently at peace but on the verge of an all out global war. Any country that is part of the U.N. must disband their military and let their country be run by U.N. appointed rulers. The U.S. and Russia want no part in this and tensions are high.
Tensions on the mars base are high between the Marines and the U.N. soldiers as well, and once an archeological discovery is made that will change the world, the U.N. troops take all the Marines and Russo/American civilians prisoners and send them 1,000 kilometers into the Martian desert so they can’t tell Earth what they found. Major Garroway the highest ranking American solider there, has to take command, but what will he do?
This book is written in a very interesting way because it takes the perspective of multiple characters. It’s interesting how it changes from Marine to Marine in combat scenes and how you don’t get lost with all the character changes. Each character has a different defined view. It has a very well developed plot that makes the reader not want to put the book down. The plot really caught my intention with all the combat scenarios. For the most part it’s hard to put actions like a firefight into words but it was written very well.
The character development made me feel like I personally knew the Marines. This book really shows how much Marines sacrifice for their country and their fellow Marine and it really made me think about what I would do in their shoes. I recommend this book for anyone interested in the military and even more for people who want to learn about the history and how the marines work. This book is also part of a nine book series so if you like it you`ll have a lot to read.
