TOE: Section 1: Chapters 1-9

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Section 1

Please keep all discussion and speculation to the events of Chapters 1-9.

No spoiler tags required. Though it would be highly appreciated if you Uncheck Add to my Update Feed to avoid accidentally spoiling things for your good read friends.

Please do not discuss events from later sections/books.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

The first part is so-so. I'm a sucker for the magic school trope, but the military training trope just doesn't do it for me.

Despite being set in the future (seemingly near future though), there is nothing particularly memorable here.

Then once basic is over and I'm thinking time to get out in space, bam! We're staying on earth. I'm probably more disappointed than the protagonist is about that fact.

Overall it's OK so far. I'm not bored, but I'm not super excited by it either.

[Ctgt]

Yeah the beginning wasn't earth shattering but I got through it pretty quickly. Even though it is near future(or not so much) many of the military terms he uses translate very closely to the current times.

[Lindsay]

It's also nothing remarkable in terms of a boot camp story either. Memorable boot camps for me include Heinlein who broke up his in Starship Troopers with Rico getting flogged and in A Soldier's Duty the main character Ia is a superwoman who pretty much owns the camp (she's from a heavy-gravity world and is a precog as well).

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

For me it's Full Metal Jacket and nothing else

[Teanka]

Well, the first part was exactly what I expected from a book entitled Terms of Enlistment . I'm not a fan of any school tropes, be it military, magical or otherwise, but this was short enough for me to keep me entertained (only about 20% of the book or so). A solid introduction to the story, we get to know what life on Earth is like, and so on.

The part I couldn't understand was why Andrew never contacted his mother? He seemed to take care of her. I understand why he disliked his father, but mum should have been another story, yet it seems he doesn't want to hear from her, either. Illogical to me.

And yeah, Andrew being chosen for the Territorial Army and staying on Earth as the only guy from his group was an unpleasant surprise, an anticlimax of sorts, but obviously done on purpose.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

That's a good point about his mother. However she seemed to be content sitting there and watching TV, and not too upset at him leaving, so maybe they weren't really that close.

His taking care of her may have been simply "the right thing to do". He had no use for that gun, nor the money/rations certificates he got for selling it. It made sense to do that for his mother, even if they weren't that close.