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Mission: SRX #1
Confessions of the First War
Librarian's note: There is an Alternate Cover Edition for this edition of this book here.
For the first time, humanity is united in the exploration of the galaxy.
For the first time, humanity is fighting for its very survival.
In the near future, humanity has overcome the bonds of earth and begun to explore the galaxy. The alien first contact was everything the world’s greatest scholars could have hoped for; the Aquillians were advanced, intelligent and peaceful until ships and colonies turned up missing. Having previously no military capacity, the alien’s ability to reverse engineer humankind’s technologies of war proved to be a great equalizer.
The aliens grew increasingly brazen, culminating in a series of devastating attacks on the populations of earth. It quickly became clear that the military leaders had greatly underestimated their numbers, proficiency, and reach throughout the galaxy.
Commander Prime Jefferson Grant has nothing left to lose. Left alone without a home or family, he enlists in the United Space Corps to give the only thing he has left: His life.
To avenge the lost he must carve a path of destruction beyond compare to secure humanity's future. From the Earth to the stars, across countless alien battlefields, the war must be fought. To succeed, Grant must take a descent into madness, give up all that he knew, and realize his destiny as a hero or a monster.
The enemy is coming. Is the will of one soldier enough to save it?
Experience Confessions, the explosive introduction to the MissionSRX universe!
For the first time, humanity is united in the exploration of the galaxy.
For the first time, humanity is fighting for its very survival.
In the near future, humanity has overcome the bonds of earth and begun to explore the galaxy. The alien first contact was everything the world’s greatest scholars could have hoped for; the Aquillians were advanced, intelligent and peaceful until ships and colonies turned up missing. Having previously no military capacity, the alien’s ability to reverse engineer humankind’s technologies of war proved to be a great equalizer.
The aliens grew increasingly brazen, culminating in a series of devastating attacks on the populations of earth. It quickly became clear that the military leaders had greatly underestimated their numbers, proficiency, and reach throughout the galaxy.
Commander Prime Jefferson Grant has nothing left to lose. Left alone without a home or family, he enlists in the United Space Corps to give the only thing he has left: His life.
To avenge the lost he must carve a path of destruction beyond compare to secure humanity's future. From the Earth to the stars, across countless alien battlefields, the war must be fought. To succeed, Grant must take a descent into madness, give up all that he knew, and realize his destiny as a hero or a monster.
The enemy is coming. Is the will of one soldier enough to save it?
Experience Confessions, the explosive introduction to the MissionSRX universe!
307 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 24, 2013
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23 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 10, 2023
Flawed but still good reading
We follow the somewhat superhuman activities of a man driven by his past to have nothing but the desire to annihilate the little understood and inexplicable alien enemies of humanity. He manages downright amazing feats in his rapid ascension to a command position.
The tale is entertaining but the frequent spelling errors & grammatically incorrect usages along with some frequent cases of words missing from sentences serve as a distraction to the reader. The book begins and ends with Grant in custody without giving us any indication of how he might be able to get back to his chosen task of eradicating the enemy from existence.
We follow the somewhat superhuman activities of a man driven by his past to have nothing but the desire to annihilate the little understood and inexplicable alien enemies of humanity. He manages downright amazing feats in his rapid ascension to a command position.
The tale is entertaining but the frequent spelling errors & grammatically incorrect usages along with some frequent cases of words missing from sentences serve as a distraction to the reader. The book begins and ends with Grant in custody without giving us any indication of how he might be able to get back to his chosen task of eradicating the enemy from existence.
February 12, 2014
I have never read anything so action packed ever!!
For science fiction fans who like a Star Wars type adventure but with even more battle scenes then this will be perfect.
I have to take my hat off to the author that he managed to make so many action scenes exciting and different enough to continue to hold my interest.
At the heart of the story is a battle between Humans and Aliens. Our hero has lost his loved ones in the first attack on Earth and is out for revenge and boy does he get even!
I look forward to reading the next in the series.
For science fiction fans who like a Star Wars type adventure but with even more battle scenes then this will be perfect.
I have to take my hat off to the author that he managed to make so many action scenes exciting and different enough to continue to hold my interest.
At the heart of the story is a battle between Humans and Aliens. Our hero has lost his loved ones in the first attack on Earth and is out for revenge and boy does he get even!
I look forward to reading the next in the series.
September 1, 2022
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THIS “STORY” COULD NOT POSSIBLY BE MORE CONFUSING OR VAGUE.
THE VERY OUTSET — the start — IS OBSCURE AS HEYELL.
It seems to me the object here is to make everything as stoopid and dumm as possible.
I stopped reading very early and dumped the “book,” as trash.
.
.
.
THIS “STORY” COULD NOT POSSIBLY BE MORE CONFUSING OR VAGUE.
THE VERY OUTSET — the start — IS OBSCURE AS HEYELL.
It seems to me the object here is to make everything as stoopid and dumm as possible.
I stopped reading very early and dumped the “book,” as trash.
.
.
September 22, 2016
Before reading the series launch, I read the short prequel Mission SRX: Before Space Recon, which happened roughly a decade earlier. At that time, humans and Aquillians were still new to one another and diplomacy was the standard practice. That is, until the first attack. The pace was good and plenty brutal. It ended well, positioned the beginning of war, and framed the Space Opera adventure.
So, here we are to the series launch: Confessions of the First War. Jefferson Grant was a civilian with a desk job and typical family. However, when the Aquillians attacked Earth, he lost everything. Driven by revenge, he enlists in the United Space Corps and plans to kill as many of the enemy as possible before his own destruction.
Let me first state that the lead, Jefferson Grant, is an arrogant soldier that somehow survives odd-defying, bloody battles while scores (sometimes all) of others fall. He isn't bullet-proof, but pretty damn close. He takes over ground command on an offensive and is then promoted to Captain and treats the entire chain-of-command like children.
As the story unfolds (not giving anything away), he is promoted to Commander Prime and leads a hard-charging elite force. His story has many turns of events and it is narrated as he is in a prison cell. There is a lot of action and brutal destruction. The body count, on both sides is high.
I found this book entertaining, but annoying as well. Grant is just a douche in pretty much all respects. He also can speed-read and remember everything. He has an uncanny ability to defy odds.
At the time of this review, there are three full novels and the prequel. I have started reading the second book, and it is better thus far.
This book needs an editor. Grant is a Captain in one bit, a Sergeant in another, and back and forth. Continuity is a reader's friend. There is a sentence repeated a handful of pages later, and the occasional wrong word used in a sentence. I will say the editing on the prequel and on book two is much better.
Author provided this book for review.
So, here we are to the series launch: Confessions of the First War. Jefferson Grant was a civilian with a desk job and typical family. However, when the Aquillians attacked Earth, he lost everything. Driven by revenge, he enlists in the United Space Corps and plans to kill as many of the enemy as possible before his own destruction.
Let me first state that the lead, Jefferson Grant, is an arrogant soldier that somehow survives odd-defying, bloody battles while scores (sometimes all) of others fall. He isn't bullet-proof, but pretty damn close. He takes over ground command on an offensive and is then promoted to Captain and treats the entire chain-of-command like children.
As the story unfolds (not giving anything away), he is promoted to Commander Prime and leads a hard-charging elite force. His story has many turns of events and it is narrated as he is in a prison cell. There is a lot of action and brutal destruction. The body count, on both sides is high.
I found this book entertaining, but annoying as well. Grant is just a douche in pretty much all respects. He also can speed-read and remember everything. He has an uncanny ability to defy odds.
At the time of this review, there are three full novels and the prequel. I have started reading the second book, and it is better thus far.
This book needs an editor. Grant is a Captain in one bit, a Sergeant in another, and back and forth. Continuity is a reader's friend. There is a sentence repeated a handful of pages later, and the occasional wrong word used in a sentence. I will say the editing on the prequel and on book two is much better.
Author provided this book for review.
May 17, 2019
Well, I read the short story that leads to this three book series and I was thrilled with that beginning. This is nothing like the short story! In this book, we get to read about Commander Prime Jefferson Grant writing about his war exploits while he awaits his execution by his own command. Not a great end for any military career.
What is a Commander Prime anyway? I suppose science fiction authors can make up just about anything since they aren’t dealing with the real world. So if it was the intent of the author to make up his own military, then fine, Commander Prime it is. But, if he was trying to stay within the bounds of what people currently know about the military, then he entirely missed the mark. This entire book is pretty ridiculous. Jefferson Grant is some guy who was working away in some technology company satisfied with his wife and young daughter and life, in general, was pretty good.
Then the Aquillians struck Earth! A sneak attack that was also a suicide attack hoping to shock and terrorize the citizens of Earth. They devastated several large Earth cities; completely obliterating everything and anything in a vast around that city. Unfortunately, Jefferson Grants family was at ground zero. Everything he knew and loved was gone in an instant.
So, like any young man who wants revenge, he enlist in the United Space Corps. Yeah, he enlists. He goes through the United Space Corps Academy and excels at everything they throw at him. He graduates in the top 1% of his class and becomes a Squad leader of tweet-four men. Now, in my day, squads were comprised of about 11 guys, including the squad leader. They were further broken down into two 5-man fire teams. Usually a Corporal command the Fire Teams and a Sargent commanded the squad. None of this is followed in the book. Why should it be since we got us a superhero-type soldier in our midst. And here’s where the story takes a bad turn.
Jefferson Grant goes from a lowly Squad Leader to telling Colonels what to do and when to do it. He’s promoted at least twice, once to Captain and then to Commander Prime. He doesn’t have any experience except the ability to live through his battles, but that seems to make him the expert at every thing. He can read books and retain almost everything he reads, even highly complicated weapons manuals to include space fighter manuals. He can do everything. And the one thing he really excels at is getting his people killed! I got to where I almost couldn’t stomach this guy. The situations he gets involved in and the outcomes are so ridiculous, that you wonder when he’s going to rip off his uniform and show his Superman suit underneath. The story is bad.
Now, if you like a military science fiction story that is non-stop action, kill the alien enemy by the thousands, don’t stop to rest or re-arm unless almost completely out of everything, then this is your kind of book. If you expect any kind of realism in this story, even a tiny bit, you won’t get it. There was only one part where it probably could of happened. That’s where the Colonel of a unit place subordinate to Captain Jefferson Grant, shot him in the chest and left. Should have been done a long time ago.
I don’t know if I want to read the next two books or not. If they are a continuation of this guys story, forget it. I might start the next one just to find out.
What is a Commander Prime anyway? I suppose science fiction authors can make up just about anything since they aren’t dealing with the real world. So if it was the intent of the author to make up his own military, then fine, Commander Prime it is. But, if he was trying to stay within the bounds of what people currently know about the military, then he entirely missed the mark. This entire book is pretty ridiculous. Jefferson Grant is some guy who was working away in some technology company satisfied with his wife and young daughter and life, in general, was pretty good.
Then the Aquillians struck Earth! A sneak attack that was also a suicide attack hoping to shock and terrorize the citizens of Earth. They devastated several large Earth cities; completely obliterating everything and anything in a vast around that city. Unfortunately, Jefferson Grants family was at ground zero. Everything he knew and loved was gone in an instant.
So, like any young man who wants revenge, he enlist in the United Space Corps. Yeah, he enlists. He goes through the United Space Corps Academy and excels at everything they throw at him. He graduates in the top 1% of his class and becomes a Squad leader of tweet-four men. Now, in my day, squads were comprised of about 11 guys, including the squad leader. They were further broken down into two 5-man fire teams. Usually a Corporal command the Fire Teams and a Sargent commanded the squad. None of this is followed in the book. Why should it be since we got us a superhero-type soldier in our midst. And here’s where the story takes a bad turn.
Jefferson Grant goes from a lowly Squad Leader to telling Colonels what to do and when to do it. He’s promoted at least twice, once to Captain and then to Commander Prime. He doesn’t have any experience except the ability to live through his battles, but that seems to make him the expert at every thing. He can read books and retain almost everything he reads, even highly complicated weapons manuals to include space fighter manuals. He can do everything. And the one thing he really excels at is getting his people killed! I got to where I almost couldn’t stomach this guy. The situations he gets involved in and the outcomes are so ridiculous, that you wonder when he’s going to rip off his uniform and show his Superman suit underneath. The story is bad.
Now, if you like a military science fiction story that is non-stop action, kill the alien enemy by the thousands, don’t stop to rest or re-arm unless almost completely out of everything, then this is your kind of book. If you expect any kind of realism in this story, even a tiny bit, you won’t get it. There was only one part where it probably could of happened. That’s where the Colonel of a unit place subordinate to Captain Jefferson Grant, shot him in the chest and left. Should have been done a long time ago.
I don’t know if I want to read the next two books or not. If they are a continuation of this guys story, forget it. I might start the next one just to find out.
September 3, 2013
Commander Prime Jefferson Grant has had his family obliterated by an alien invasion, and henceforth, he becomes an alien fighting force. For all intents and purposes, he is purely a fighting machine. Every fibre of his being is solely dedicated to fighting the aliens. No injury, odds, nor overwhelmed squadrons would deter him from his ultimate goal - eradication of the alien forces for once and all.
The entire book feels like a play-by-play of battle, after battle. Every maneuver is detailed. He is promoted many times, to the ultimate command position of Commander Prime. There are also authorities within his command who feel that he is too dedicated to his goals; such that he is willing to sacrifice the soldiers under his command. For some battles, he is indeed the only survivor of thousands of casualties.
I felt the book was missing the essential ingredient: a story. The story starts off with the motivation for the resolve of Commander Prime Jefferson Grant - the attack on his family. Near the end of the book, he finally wonders if the loss of his soul was worth all the piles of bodies - those of his forces and those of the aliens, as well. In between, page after page recounts the numerous battles. I feel there should have been more drama. Battle scenes, however intense and exciting, are not drama by themselves. We need a story of the how the battle fits in the emotions of those affected.
I see that the author has other books that look very interesting: a non-fiction history of the major catastrophes of mankind. I would like to read that! However, for his first science fiction story, I feel he needs to craft together a compelling narrative that explores the essential question: who is Jefferson Grant, and how does he evolve his strategy and his feelings toward the alien invasion? Aside from eradication of the aliens, what do we readers learn about the characters and the battlefield?
The entire book feels like a play-by-play of battle, after battle. Every maneuver is detailed. He is promoted many times, to the ultimate command position of Commander Prime. There are also authorities within his command who feel that he is too dedicated to his goals; such that he is willing to sacrifice the soldiers under his command. For some battles, he is indeed the only survivor of thousands of casualties.
I felt the book was missing the essential ingredient: a story. The story starts off with the motivation for the resolve of Commander Prime Jefferson Grant - the attack on his family. Near the end of the book, he finally wonders if the loss of his soul was worth all the piles of bodies - those of his forces and those of the aliens, as well. In between, page after page recounts the numerous battles. I feel there should have been more drama. Battle scenes, however intense and exciting, are not drama by themselves. We need a story of the how the battle fits in the emotions of those affected.
I see that the author has other books that look very interesting: a non-fiction history of the major catastrophes of mankind. I would like to read that! However, for his first science fiction story, I feel he needs to craft together a compelling narrative that explores the essential question: who is Jefferson Grant, and how does he evolve his strategy and his feelings toward the alien invasion? Aside from eradication of the aliens, what do we readers learn about the characters and the battlefield?
October 15, 2016
Sometimes you read a book and think "this should be an action movie."
I've never actually gone to an action movie and said "this should be a book," but if I had, this would have been the movie.
This one is all action. In fact, the scenes in between battles are really just brief pauses (like, two or three pages) for you to go refill the buttered popcorn bucket.
The book has good military detail, lots of gruesome battles full of detail and action, and the main character is even a little bit of a psychopath, with the whole "if I lead you into battle, we'll win, all the enemies will die, but a lot of you will probably die as well" vibe.
If this sounds like fun, buy this book. It is fun. I enjoyed it.
Of course, packing the pages with action leaves little room for character development, or a whole lot of emotional investment in who's who. But honestly, once you get part-way into the book you realize that's not what you are here for.
If there was one thing that started to bother me after a while, it had to be that things got a bit repetitive. The military gets itself into a stalemate, the regular troops and generals are kind of stymied, and our hero, most of the time he's at the rank of Captain, is given charge of the whole operation, which he personally takes over and kills every enemy in sight. Lather, rinse, and repeat eight or twelve times and voila, you've got a book.
It's just... a little much after a while. But really, I probably shouldn't complain. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone made millions on this formula.
I've never actually gone to an action movie and said "this should be a book," but if I had, this would have been the movie.
This one is all action. In fact, the scenes in between battles are really just brief pauses (like, two or three pages) for you to go refill the buttered popcorn bucket.
The book has good military detail, lots of gruesome battles full of detail and action, and the main character is even a little bit of a psychopath, with the whole "if I lead you into battle, we'll win, all the enemies will die, but a lot of you will probably die as well" vibe.
If this sounds like fun, buy this book. It is fun. I enjoyed it.
Of course, packing the pages with action leaves little room for character development, or a whole lot of emotional investment in who's who. But honestly, once you get part-way into the book you realize that's not what you are here for.
If there was one thing that started to bother me after a while, it had to be that things got a bit repetitive. The military gets itself into a stalemate, the regular troops and generals are kind of stymied, and our hero, most of the time he's at the rank of Captain, is given charge of the whole operation, which he personally takes over and kills every enemy in sight. Lather, rinse, and repeat eight or twelve times and voila, you've got a book.
It's just... a little much after a while. But really, I probably shouldn't complain. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone made millions on this formula.
November 11, 2013
So much stuff happens in this book. The amount of details that are written with the progression of battles are amazing. This feels like a Battlestar Galactica style of "sci fi", or at least that's how it felt for me. Because the pace between plot points is so fast, it was possible to get a little lost and jolted if you missed one little detail. This writer's military background is definitely beneficial for the piece. The narrator is very reliable but a tad-bit one dimensional and under developed as a person. What I enjoyed most about this book is the brief glimpses of Grant reflecting on the events the just unfolded. These short bursts added some character development, but I would have liked to have see more. Either way, this is a very dense piece, fast paced and full of action, which is the intention and it does a very good job at it.
September 1, 2016
confessions Of The First Warr is Science Fiction on rocket fuel. It starts out fast and the pace is maintained to the very end. There have been numerous first contact novels but I really like that contact started on a positive note with the Aquillians and the progression to conflict. It was a different approach and one I thought worked really well in the context of the story. There is a lot to take in as other reviewers have pointed out but that's what I want from my Science Fiction . A fully realised future setting into which I can escape and that's what I got.
January 19, 2014
I really enjoyed reading this book.
While I was reading this book it was still being constantly updated and with some more work needed.
Despite having to download the file over and over again I could not stop reading it.
It is a great and well thought out work of science fiction.
I would love to read the next book in the series (if there is one).
While I was reading this book it was still being constantly updated and with some more work needed.
Despite having to download the file over and over again I could not stop reading it.
It is a great and well thought out work of science fiction.
I would love to read the next book in the series (if there is one).
October 30, 2016
he really have no idea what he is doing ,neither science nor military
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews