Rick Partlow

Troops that have been fighting brushfire wars on Earth and keeping the asteroid belt free of pirates suddenly find themselves fighting a professional army of unfriendly aliens because someone has found an ancient alien stargate. Of course they have.

The user reviews for Rick Partlow’s Genesis tell as much about reader expectations as they do about the book. Those who read it looking for a series to fill the void after The Expanse were very disappointed. Those who wanted the author to pay show more attention to science details like the effects of prolonged acceleration on the human body were a little disappointed. Some readers thought the prologue was a good way to set up the rest of the series. Others said the prologue was a distraction and wanted Partlow to get on with the interstellar battle. Those who wanted a plain vanilla military space opera with gobs of action got just what they wanted.

I enjoyed the action and did not mind the prologue, but I am with those who would have liked fewer common tropes and more science. show less

Some flaws

The world-building has some holes, particularly when longevity comes up.
The military is not well built. A Chief Petty Officer would not be a crew chief on a new platform, they would be involved in training. Not critical, but it illustrates a weakness.

The characters are not very deep. They claim to have issues, but there isn’t much display of those issues.

Clean grammar and spelling.

Overall, it’s adequate for amusement, but not a homerun.

I did not have a problem with the lack of originality, as I did not expect any. Also did not expect this to be Starship Troopers/Armor/Forever War level, and it wasn't, but better written than I expected from this type of milScifi (better written than Kloos). I did though have a small problem with the fast forward always jumping in time story, and a huge problem with the fact the MC is soooo extra smart, cool, lucky, talented, fast-learning, natural-talent and so on. Come on, man!

I enjoyed Cam's story, although I was unfamiliar with some of the military jargon. Having never read the previous books, I barely kept up, but I pulled for the now lieutenant Alvarez as he took over control to defeat the enemy called the Tahni who had seized control of their colony and used humans as their shield. With Cam and Vicky in the military, they barely got to say goodbye before they have to leave each other and go fight again. Seeing through Cam's eyes, what I go through, I am just show more GLAD listened my brother's threat if I decided to join the Marines!!! show less