Man of War: Rebellion, Book 1

This novel is a fine space adventure focused on the resistance struggle against Aliens who, 50 years earlier, attacked Earth, destroyed all opponents and now lives on Earth in starships landed as cities. The story is told through two POV characters, Donovan of the Resistance and Gabriel from the New Earth Alliance space force, who are the last survivors of the single starship that escaped humanity's destruction. This is an easy read, written in smoothly flowing prose that immediately engages the reader. The action is nearly non-stop and there are no slow spots or data dumps. As a longtime reader of science fiction, the writing style reminded me of Robert Heinlein while the storytelling mode has echoes of Arthur C. Clarke. While I quite enjoyed this tale that begins a series, I did find a few weak issues that kept me from giving it five stars. There are some FTL physics issues that are not plausible to me, while the last quarter of the book has a few dozen typos that were slightly bothersome. Also, there are some evolutionary biology issues related to the Dread mixing their genome with the human genome. However, the strong points include fascinating Aliens, called the Dread, whose society is explored in the course of the novel. I quite enjoyed this picture of Aliens who destroy humanity who are -not- evil, just trying to survive their own eco-destruction of their home world. The social context of the Dread society is nicely done and different from most Alien cultures I have read. Other strong points are excellent writing, fast paced scenes and a logical storyline that naturally flows from the opening premises. Overall, a worthwhile read.

I've read lots of Forbes and this one does not disappoint! It's a rollercoaster ride from the start of this book to the third, that I just started but had to come back to this one to leave a review that will hopefully spur others to join in! I immensely enjoy Forbes writing. The way he sucks you in from the very beginning as if you have always existed right there with his characters and thier plight. He then moves you through the telling of his story in a way that immerses you to the point that you may struggle returning to the real world outside of his books. Now I don't say this lightly as I own and operate 4 restaurants 14 hours a day. I pick books wisely for the limited time I have for reading and I have the hardest time putting his books down!

"Man of War" by M. R. Forbes was not what I expected, but I'm glad. Previous experience with 'aliens have taken over the world, humans fight back' have left me feeling sour at the setting, but Forbes has brought me back into it with a fantastic "Defiance" meets "Battlestar Galactica" feel.Humans already possessing spaceflight and using it to run and hide made for a unique selling point to "Man of War", though I'm glad Forbes flicks between the perspectives of both a space pilot and a guerilla fighter back on Earth. It gives us two opinions of the same war, adding some tense military exercises and insidious, if a little predictable, political drama to the plot.This all said, there were moments between some of the characters that feel a little cliche - perhaps crammed in to add a B story to our Earth fighters. This involves some romantic elements between them that feels jarring and out of place. Perhaps this is a tale that will evolve into something more complex and interesting in the later parts of this series, but for now it was awkward.Behind this though are some interesting aliens, some cool sci-fi concepts and a pretty solid read. "Man of War" probably won't go down in history as a groundbreaking new piece of art, but it certainly makes for an entertaining few hours and is worth a purchase. I look forwards to seeing how the next in the series plays out.

This was a binge worthy scifi military series! I read the whole trilogy in less than 48 hours.To those who have read Forbes's previous work, the main characters are maybe a bit less dark but no less determined and they are always doing the right thing. Spirituality and providence has not been forgotten when considering the mindset of soldiers at war times. Some may find this unpalatable in a scifi story, but I find it more realistic psychologically.The first book in the series starts with a breakthrough in intelligence about the aliens defences and weapons at the same time as 50 years of resistance is ready to give up, both on Earth and on the colony from the only starship that got away. Well, there would not be a trilogy about it if that had been the end of that.The story is remarkably positive for its genre without being over the top and I consider the trilogy very uplifting reading and promoting understanding that people are people everywhere and same origin does not mean same beliefs. Peace :)

This is a very well crafted and written book. Great characters. Very good story and good narrative.It is a story that resonates with some others I have read, but is still original enough to be very enjoyable. Very good editing.My only problem with it, is that it does not end. It resolves some of the issues, but it literally cuts out like a Saturday morning serial. A shame, I would have like to see if the author can close the action as well as setting it up.Still, a good book

Sci-fi, tech, military, resistance fighting... and lots of action. That would be the quick version.The writing is solid, although there are some typos later in the book (unless it has been updated since I read it). The characters are interesting. The "enemy" isn't too transparent.I tend to be able to "suspend my disbelief" well, so I don't worry about physics that are wrong or technology that isn't explained. But there might be some of that. I go back to the name "fiction" right in the genre of "science-fiction".Overall, this is a fun book to read. Fast paced and loaded with action. Worth the time to read it.

Plot and storyline were entertaining enough, in a 'chewing gum for the eyes' sort of way. However I quickly lost all sympathy with the lead character whose stilted dialogue and juvenile thought processes made him seem like a spoilt child throughout. What the author tries to portray as passion more frequently comes across as petulance, and his portrayal of scientists and engineers as socially inept nerds is just lazy. I like my sci-fi action-heavy, but even saying that I need key characters to be a whole lot more believable.In all honesty I gave up 40% of the way through; there are much better authors available in this genre. (And to be fair, much worse!)

A trilogy that should have just been one book. A story where apparently you should have innocent people die rather than break a promise and God will sort it all out for you. Despite the genocide and slavery of billions if lives this is made ok because two of the generic one dimensional characters believe in him. You may as well name them Pilot Hero, Old Pilot Hero, Ground Hero and Mary Sue #1, 2 and 3 there to give an extra layer of plot armour. Don't waste your time, unless glaring plot holes, infantile one dimensional characters and overuse of deus ex machina is your kind of thing. In which case this is the book for you.

Bit of a story by numbers this one. The grizzled old commander with the silly nickname, the humble but heroic fighter pilot and ne'er do well politicians. It has an unhealthy regard for god despite said gods apparent indifference to the mass slaughter of Earths citizens, a poorly understood grasp of, so basic mistrust of, science and utterly sexually unaware resistance fighters. I shall not bother with any more in the series.

Would have been a 5 star book if it had a better ending. The big shame is, you need to keep buying, if they come down to a pound or two, then I might be tempted. Otherwise a great read, one that I could not put down whilst on holiday. Dont get me wrong, the ending was OK, but it could have been better and it did not ruin the read, I understood this was how it would be before I bought book 1, still worthy of a holiday read regardless.

I enjoyed reading this book, it comes at you from a different angle. I will get the next installment to see if the story expands. One thing though or maybe 2 things, first why cannot the aliens track them to their new hideout as it is ONLY 10 light hours away? and secondly you have to take emotion out of your decision making if the safety of your race is in doubt, surely it would be better to re-establish, flourish and then look to re-take your planet.