I’ve been waiting to read this book for a long time. I didn’t really have any expectations other than I know Chaney & Maggert are both very good writers. Still, the title sounded very, very interesting. Turns out the whole book is interesting and has a very surprising twist on how our main character becomes a reluctant hero at the end.
Cullen Bright is an Olympic Champion many, many, times over. In 2206 AD he’s won the Olympic Gold Medal for the Enhanced Pentathlon three times now…and now he’s bored! He’s risen to the demanding challenges all his life to reach his goal of championship competition. Not only does he desire to win, but he wants to destroy his opposition at every single event he participates in. He’s been doing this for quite some time and has amassed wealth far beyond what he could ever use. So, what’s in store for this champion of champions?
Well, it was during his last Olympic awards ceremony when he had just received his third gold medal, when everything began to change. The large screens around the stadium erupted with the astounding news that humanity was under attack! The supposedly friendly Hardshells had suddenly and without provocation attacked Charon Naval Station destroying Unity Explorer Fleet One in its entirety which numbered in death to 4,219 humans.
Cullen decided right then and there that he had to become involved in this new war. He had numerous business interests, including charities, academies, and other ventures all capably managed by his attorney, Denise Sudmann. She was practical and had contacts that had turned Cullen into a multi-billionaire and a universal celebrity. Yet, when it came down to it, she couldn’t talk Cullen out of his decision to do something during this war. And his decision was to enlist in the Unity Marine Corps!
The only problem with this idea was that the Marines at the Marine Corps Recruiting Station didn’t take him seriously. When he showed up, so did a huge number of his adoring fans. It was looking like some publicity stunt and even the Marines at the station couldn’t believe that the real Cullen Bright had shown up in their offices. The had to call in MPs to contain the crowd and that was becoming more and more difficult. Cullen tried to convince the Marine Officer in Charge that this wasn’t a stunt, but that he really did want to join the Marine Corps, then and there.
About the time he was talking to the Marine Officer, Denise contacted him via his comm device and asked him if he had gone stark-raving mad! She said he just couldn’t do this and needed to let her work it so he went in with a commission as an officer at the minimum. The Marine Officer was also telling Cullen that the crowd was getting too large and someone might get hurt so he needed him to go somewhere else and take the TV cameras and reports with him! I believe it was also one of the Marine Sergeants that then yelled to Cullen that he was 32 years old and too old to enlist in the Marines! That stopped Cullen immediately. He just couldn’t believe that they wouldn’t allow him to join no matter his age.
So, Denise got to work and she does very good work. She had gotten the ear of the top brass and told them that Cullen Bright, yes, that Cullen Bright was determined to join the Unity Marines and that they needed to make it happen. Of course the brass started thinking about what a fantastic recruitment tool having Cullen Bright in a Marine Corps dress uniform might look like so they did what the usually do in these situations, they granted an age waiver. But, they also only did this because Cullen had done his own work in gettin them to see things his way. He had learned that a survivor of the attack on Charon Station was being treated in a local hospital.
Cullen walked into the hospital and went to the injured Marine’s room only to find a guard at the door. But, with the offer of an authentic autograph from the real Cullen Bright, he got access to the room. Once there he found out that the Marine wasn’t being treated as best as he should have. He was missing a leg and the one they have given him, didn’t fit! So, this Marine was definitely upset. Cullen offered right then and there to buy the Marine the best new leg or even finance a regenerated leg if the soldier would just tell hime about the attack.
So, it turns out that this wasn’t the first time the Hardshells had attacked humanity. The fighting had been going on for the last three months and humanity was losing big time! While they had been reporting 4,000 casualties for this latest attack, the Marine said the total number was upwards of 32,000 over the last three months. Everyone knew the Hardshells or Turts (yeah, they looked like turtles), were more advanced than humanity, but they had also professed to be the silent, contented, studious type species that abhorred war, until now.
With this knowledge and with Denise’s inside work, it wasn’t long before Cullen Bright did, in fact, become a Unity Marine. What they were going to do with this almost perfect specimen of humanity was to even enhance his abilities even further. They knew that he could be the spark that set humanity on the winning track if the things they were going to do to him just worked. Unfortunately, the Turts also knew of Cullen Bright and they also had the feeling that this one individual human could have a significant impact on their war with humanity.
This book is very exciting and well written in my opinion. Could all this stuff really happen? Of course not. But this military science fiction for a far future that’s much different from our own. The book is entertaining and fun to read so in that it does what books should do. I’ll be looking forward to reading book 2, “Blood Meteor”, and every other book in this series, which right now shows four books.
[Note 1 (12/23/2025): I’m no longer associated with Amazon and will no longer provide any links to books from that website. You can usually find books that you like at your usual source.]
[Note 2: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be posted on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. ]