Terms of Enlistment: Frontlines, Book 1
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Terms of Enlistment: Frontlines, Book 1 Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Marko Kloos (Author), Luke Daniels (Narrator), Brilliance Audio (Publisher)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 23,799 ratings
Goodreads Choice Award nominee
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“There is nobody who does [military SF] better than Marko Kloos. His Frontlines series is a worthy successor to such classics as Starship Troopers, The Forever War, and We All Died at Breakaway Station.” - George R. R. Martin

The year is 2108, and the North American Commonwealth is bursting at the seams. For welfare rats like Andrew Grayson, there are only two ways out of the crime-ridden and filthy welfare tenements: You can hope to win the lottery and draw a ticket on a colony ship settling off-world...or you can join the service.

With the colony lottery a pipe dream, Andrew chooses to enlist in the armed forces for a shot at real food, a retirement bonus, and maybe a ticket off Earth. But as he starts a career of supposed privilege, he soon learns that the good food and decent health care come at a steep price...and that the settled galaxy holds far greater dangers than military bureaucrats or the gangs that rule the slums.

The debut novel from Marko Kloos, Terms of Enlistment is an addition to the great military sci-fi tradition of Robert Heinlein, Joe Haldeman, and John Scalzi.

Revised edition: This edition of Terms of Enlistment includes editorial revisions.

Previous page
  1. Listening Length
    9 hours and 36 minutes
  2. Author
    Marko Kloos
  3. Narrator
    Luke Daniels
  4. Audible release date
    January 28, 2014
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Brilliance Audio
  7. ASIN
    B00HQHXWS2
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 9 hours and 36 minutes
Author Marko Kloos
Narrator Luke Daniels
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date January 28, 2014
Publisher Brilliance Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B00HQHXWS2
Best Sellers Rank #13,397 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#47 in Satirical Literature & Fiction
#496 in Fiction Satire
#589 in Literary Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
23,799 global ratings
Received Horrible Quality book
1 Star
Received Horrible Quality book
Recieved a USED book when I purchased a “new” book. The book’s spine was broken, there’s a name written on the inside and it appears someone spilled a liquid all over the book! In disbelief that I would actually be sent a book this bad of quality.
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Top reviews from the United States

R. McAdams
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome, just awesome!
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2014
Verified Purchase
I do not give out 5-star ratings to anything casually. The best you are going to get out of me if I like something is 4-stars. I reserve 5-star reviews for things which have something special about them. They don't have to knock my socks off, but they have to have something to offer that is more than just "good." However, that being said, Terms Of Enlistment knocked my socks off!

It's just ... it's just so good! I am a huge fan of the military science fiction genre. I love books like  The Lost Fleet Series  by Jack Campbell, and  The Man of War Series  by H. Paul Honsinger. Kloos, Honsinger and Campbell all understand how to mix together elements of honor, excitement, duty, realistic military descriptions, and space-faring ships crewed by humans in a way that is just spell binding. These kinds of books are capable of keeping me up until 4 AM to read "just one more chapter" because I HAVE TO find out what happens next!

Kloos, like Campbell and Honsinger, writes exciting military science fiction that depicts humanity realistically, but with some artistic license to keep things interesting. None of them go too dark with their stories (no rape, no torture, no crimes against women), and all of them tell interesting, page-turner tales.

In Terms of Enlistment, Kloos tells the story of a dystopian future for humanity (rapidly approaching in real-life, at the rate things are going) where the Earth is over-populated, and humanity has reached the stars. Things are pretty desperate on earth if you aren't born to a family with money. Most of humanity is living in welfare cities called Public Residential Centers (PRCs) that double as ghettos to keep the poor in one place. The powers on Earth have split into two main factions, the North American Commonwealth (NAC), which is basically all of the Western Hemisphere vs. the Sino-Russian Alliance (SRA), which is basically all of the Eastern Hemisphere.

The main character in the book, Andrew Grayson, was born in a PRC, in what used to be called Boston, before it merged with all of the rest of the mega-cities in the area. He is joining the military to get out of the poverty he was born into, as the military is pretty much the only meritocracy left on Earth that everyone has a chance to make it with.

What follows is a fast-paced, extremely interesting story that is very accurate on the military details, and contains a surprising amount of human-interest elements as well. Grayson starts out as ground-soldier, and by the end of the story he is living through adventures that are amazing, and set the stage for the sequel. You are with Grayson every step of they way, and you understand him, and the choices he makes. The loyalty shown amongst the soldiers rings very true, and is very appreciated in the story (those kinds of elements are why I read military sci-fi in the first place).

Star Wars and Star Trek fans will feel mostly at home in this universe, although the tone of the series is much more Starship Troopers, but with less graphic violence. Read it, you will be glad you did.

5 stars!

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Book Content Guide For Parents:
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Sex & Nudity: [3/5] the military of the future is an integrated military, so the males and females sleep and shower together. Characters are depicted having sex together, but not in graphic detail (descriptions amount to phrases such as "enjoy each other's bodies", that sort of stuff). Any child over 12 will know what is going on, but it isn't any more graphic than prime-time TV dramas (I would actually said it is quite tamer).

Violence & Gore: [3/5] numerous military battles take place, and humans are killed. No torture, and no gore or graphic details. But descriptions of things like grenades blowing holes in peoples chests, and descriptions of people being shot, and what it feels like to have their lung collapse do occur. I would say the violence levels are at the PG to PG-13 level.

Profanity: [4/5] it is a military novel, OF COURSE it has language in it. All of the "big 4" make it into the language of the soldiers, but not actually as often as you might expect. Nothing too terribly graphic or offensive, though (no bodily descriptions, crude sexual remarks, racial epithets, or hate-speech).

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: [2/5] I don't recall any smoking, drug abuse is commented on in the PRCs but never depicted, but there is a bit of drinking in the story, nothing graphic or glamorized, though.

Frightening/Intense Scenes: [3/5] standard PG/PG-13 action/war movie stuff. There are some intense military battles, soldiers die, and the protagonist is in mortal danger more than once. But it is never horrifying or sadistic stuff. Quite tame compared to some of the horror shows I have had to endure lately. None of it bothered me.
20 people found this helpful
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Jas P
4.0 out of 5 stars The start of Starship Troopers, and the end of Black Hawk Down, but high action Mil Sci-Fi – worth the read.
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2017
Verified Purchase
So in the future, Earth has turned into almost the complete social state, with the large majority of people living packed like rats into these welfare tenancies, being fed by the Govt the bare minimum of calories of food. Life is not a life anymore, it is an existence for most of these welfare people, stacked on top of each other in ever increasing and more tightly packed places. Our main character, Andrew Grayson lives in one with his Mother, and pretty much the only way to get out of these places is to sign up for 5yrs with the Military, where at the end, you get a bonus payout. Sounds kind of perfect, you get out of the slums, get fed real food, have a job, and at the end, you have a real sum of money that will allegedly get you out of the slums permanently.
So our hero signs up, goes through boot camp, which is the usual torture, except he meets a girl, and then at the end they are all sent to one of the different areas. There is the overly coveted Navy positions, the Marines that work in space either on the ships or on the colonies, or there is the TA, the Terrain Army that stay on Earth and look after home. No one wants the TA as it is looked at as being the worst of the jobs, dealing with the welfare places when they riot etc. Of course, the girl gets Navy, and Andrew gets TA.
So the start of this book does have some similarities to Starship Troopers, as a lot of other reviews have said, but that is only because of the boot camp and the girl who goes to Navy. At the end of the day, Andrew ends up with Halley, and they stay in touch, long distance.
Andrew goes to TA, finds he loves it, meets his team who become some of his best friends, and realises that the whole space deal is not all it's cracked up to be. The real comparison that should have been made to this book was Black Hawk Down, as part way through the story, a mission to control one of the welfare areas goes wrong, and then a dropship is taken out – and you can almost hear the call ‘We have a Blackhawk down, we have a Blackhawk down’, but instead, it's a dropship down. And all of a sudden, all hell breaks loose, and a large part of this book is taken from the movie, just with more modern tech as they try and rescue the crew of the dropship, and ultimately, rescue themselves in the middle of a PRC that has gone to the darkside.
Not to say that was a bad thing. This was a good introduction of the Characters, the concept of the various elements such as the Navy, the TA, and some of the characters that are key to the story in this and future stories. It also gives a good understanding of the background of Earth and its current predicament, especially things like the PRCs, I mean, we complain about welfare now, but Kloos’ future makes now sound like a fairy-tale in comparison
Kloos has a good understanding of Military tactics and operations, and describes them well in the story, making this a good Military Sci-fi read. Well worth the read, I am into part 3 already, they keep getting better as they go on.
57 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Marian
5.0 out of 5 stars first contact
Reviewed in Canada on January 18, 2024
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A well developed concept with a few real people put through several very stressful situations. The progression of the story has a very real feel to it. Enjoy!
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BlueBellPaws
5.0 out of 5 stars converted genre lover
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 6, 2024
Verified Purchase
OK so before this book I had it in my head I don't like Sci-fi.
How I knew this when I had never read any I have no idea. So this came across my search for something new & interesting to read so took the plunge I honestly thought I'll give it a few chapters so I can say I tried then go back to my usual reads of thillers which I have gotten a bit tired of.
Well the first night I was up for 3 hours reading this! I couldn't go to sleep I kept saying to myself oh one more chapter and before I knew it it was early hours of the morning, that is a perfect sign for me I really enjoyed the book.
This has SO much to get a novice into this genre, It starts off with a little over half on earth & Andrew being an army grunt, well the author puts in an amazing very taught gun street fight I was holding my breath & didn't realise I was! It was so in depth and detailed, I was holding my Kindle tighter, I was just rapt during those chapters it was almost sad we had to move on to his space journey but that is the sci fi element & it starts & it didn't disappoint.
I was annoying my husband the next day explaining the lankies, I failed big time but I actually had fun telling my partner all about this book. I started this at the start of Dec 2023 I am now on book 7 and it is very early Jan 2024 that is how engrossed I have been in this series!!!! Oh and book 6 must be read for the ride of the valkeries scene total genius! You'll know what I mean if/when you read it.
Superb start to the series and easy to lose track of time to. If like me your new to this genre or your already into it then this series does not disappoint. Very strong beginning.
2 people found this helpful
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Claude Chalem
5.0 out of 5 stars very entertaining
Reviewed in France on August 5, 2023
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I am looking forward to reading the whole series. I am a fan of space opera and here we have it in spades. Thank you
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Diego
5.0 out of 5 stars Diferente
Reviewed in Spain on May 9, 2023
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Me ha gustado, la historia es muy creíble e interesante. No contiene mucha acción pero representa muy bien el mundo en el que se establece
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Never read a book so fast
Reviewed in the Netherlands on December 1, 2022
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I'm a casual reader and usually read a few pages in bed to fall asleep. Usually it takes weeks or even months to finish a book. This one was done within a week. The story kept pulling me back in the book and before I knew it, I was already half way in 3 days. Spoiler alert: Some scenes felt a bit repeatable like the thermobaric round on the sniper and a few pages ahead another thermobaric round into the apartment building. Also, why didn't the dropship destroy the heavy guns on the rooftops and whatever happened to the sniper in the city? Also fitting a tight flight helmet when you have a big cut on your face would be worth mentioning a few times. Other than that, great read, exactly my taste.
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