Scorpio (Frontlines: Evolution Book 1)
£2.80
On a distant Earth colony, an orphaned survivor of an alien invasion discovers that the greatest world-ending dangers aren’t behind her.
It’s been eight years since an alien invasion drove a small surviving group of settlers to seek refuge in an underground shelter. Cut off from the rest of humanity, the ragtag band has maintained a narrowly functioning colony due to communal effort and salvage runs. Alex Archer has her own duties as a dog handler. While this off-world colony may be harsh, Ash, Alex’s black shepherd raised to sense threats, makes living in it a little nicer.
But the tenuous hide-and-seek with the monstrous species known as the Lankies is about to come to an end for Alex and her close-knit crew of soldiers, techs, and friends. When a salvage operation goes catastrophically wrong, the Lankies home in on the humans.
With hopes of a rescue long faded, all Alex has left is will—and the fear that there’s so much more to lose.
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Additional information
| Publisher | 47North (1 Jan. 2024) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 5745 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 283 pages |
| Page numbers source ISBN | 154203549X |
by C Jennings
I really enjoyed the original Frontlines series and was very much looking forward to this novel when I received the notification of its pending publication. It does not disappoint. A great read with some new characters and who knows what the future may hold for them.
by SR
This is the first Marko Kloos novel I have read and having read the pre-order information for this story I was expecting quite a large proportion of the book to be about the fighting between the Lankies and the people from Earth. I was therefore surprised when this part ended quite early in the book. It was only when I started getting suggestions from Amazon about further books by this author that I realised that there had been an earlier Frontlines series. I wish they had made this clear as this lack of information spoilt the book for me, hence the low star rating I gave. However it has not stopped me adding Marko Kloos to my list of authors to watch.
by allbythebook
Thanks to Amazon First Reads for this ARC copy of Scorpio by Marko Kloos. This gripping scifi novel is quite thought-provoking and is 4⭐️ from me.
It’s Alex’s 21st birthday, and she’s the dog handler in a military vehicle as part of a scavenging mission on a remote colony on an alien planet. 8 years ago, aliens called Lankies invaded their partially-terraformed planet and killed most of the colonists (including her parents), and she’s grown up knowing that they are on their own against the Lankies – there’s no one to come and save them. So when things go wrong on their mission, Alex is facing down survival.
I’m being deliberately vague here, but this book is quite strongly in two parts. The first is beautifully reflected by the description, and is really gripping. The second was totally unexpected, and also excellent but for a very different reason – it’s very psychological. To begin with, I wasn’t sure about this structure. Was it anti-climactic? Maybe. But after sleeping on it, and ruminating a bit more, I definitely like it a lot, despite it being very unusual. It’s clearly setting up a series, but even without that element, I think I really liked this even as a standalone, because it really made me think.
If this were a standalone, I’d have liked more build up of Alex’s life in the Vault before the mission. We got to see some of her relationships with other colonists like Val and Blake, but I’d have appreciated more of that, and it would have made later events hit differently. But as an opener for a new series, I can forgive that.
I also would have liked to see more buildup of the fear of the Lankies, and the near-miss encounters with them previously. It would have helped make their appearance more dramatic if the fear of them and what they could do was built up more – and it would have made the disaster hit harder too.
I really liked the development of the relationships with both Ash and Lopez though, for very different reasons. I’m hoping this will be continued in subsequent books. However,the romantic element is definitely not a major subplot in this book, in case that is a dealbreaker for you.
It was scifi enough for me, without getting into heavy science or fantasy-science – this is probably pretty good gateway scifi, or lighter relief scifi for those who are into the heavier stuff already.
This book is for you if you liked The Martian by Andy Weir, or The Gap series by Stephen Donaldson but wanted something simpler, shorter and more female-focused.
by veradosamamadosa
Firstly its quite a good book, read it in a week with work etc getting in the way.Its set off world on Scorpio a planet “invaded” if thats the right word…more ignored till they get in the way,survivor story,which revolves around alex and her dog ash and the story they go through to see another day.It is a slow burner but did leave me wanting more….. next book isnt out sadly, but i will give frontlines ( confusingly a different series by marko) a try next
by Barn Owl
It kept my attention with fast-paced dialogue, although some elements of the science were a bit difficult to believe. The latter half of the book was not as good as the early stuff, but I guess it was setting the scene for a follow-up book, as seems standard now.
I await the second in the series – I’d like to know more of the war with the Lankys.
by NJ man
Really enjoyed the start ad middle of this hook. There were a lot of unexpected twists and some really good ideas around the alien world and life. Characters were well thought out and acted as one expects. Only downside is the book is a little short, more context and background information was needed on the lore and world building.
by Geeshy the book
Markos Kloos turns out to be one of my favourite authors so when a new book turns up, it’s definitely clicked on straight away. This book didn’t disappoint, even if the ending had a sense of inevitability, but don’t let that put you off, it’s the journey there that you’ll enjoy. Can’t wait to see what’s in Alex’s future
by jgabrielehay
I liked having a single viewpoint all the way through. I don’t always enjoy reading a story from a young adult’s perspective, but it is appropriate here and tackles the very adult themes of war and loss.