Harbinger of Books

Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos was such a wonderful surprise I so thoroughly enjoyed it!!

The story is about a young man Andrew Grayson. He lives in a ghetto in the North American Commonwealth and life is rather crappy. You have no money and no hope of becoming better, you don’t even have food instead you are given these soy rations for your daily caloric intake. Andrew wants out and a new way of life so he does what many young men do and enlist in the armed forces. The world is at war and people are building colonies in outer space. Andrew just wants to live long enough to complete his terms of enlistment so he can either go to a colony or live outside of the ghetto on Earth.

The writing in the book is solid, I felt like I was drawn and vested into the world. The world is a lot bleak but he does a nice job bringing in the human compassion maybe (not sure that is the proper turn of phrase). My point is the world is bleak and gritty but there are these moments spaced throughout the story and you think life for Andrew not so bad. I really liked the action scenes and thought they were well done.

I had one issue with the book. I wanted more insight in the world building. I never understood which countries are in the North American Content nor how is it governed? I also wanted to know why we are at war with Russia/China. If all people do is accept rations and no one is working how does the country make money? I mean this is affecting almost a billion people. The good news is the book ends like there is the possibility of a series so YAY hopefully my questions will be answered over time.