Terms Of Enlistment is the first book in the Frontlines series by [a:Marko Kloos|6606349|Marko Kloos|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1363736682p2/6606349.jpg]. Just to be honest, I received this book in a Goodreads.com giveaway, but there were no strings attached, so this is an honest review! It's a pretty bog standard military sci-fi book, setting up the universe and the main character, but does a solid job of both and amps up the excitement levels appropriately, so I'm ready to try another term.

The book opens as our hero, Andrew Grayson, gets ready to ship out for his enlistment. Life is tough in 2108 in the warrens that are suburbia, in this case the tenements outside Boston. He says his goodbyes, not at all reluctantly, and then heads off to boot camp, and, after that, he hope, the stars.

There he learns how to not hurt himself with all the new weaponry and bonds with squaddies. Then time comes to get assigned and he's crushed by his assignment, but decides even a bad assignment is better than getting mustered out, so he heads off.

There he gets into a few tight scrapes and after one escapade, he manages to wrangle an assignment to the navy, finally, and ships off on a milk run to a fringe world as the "neural network" tech on an old boat. But of course we know it won't be uneventful and, sure enough, things get real hairy real fast.

So, as I said, it's pretty standard military sci-fi, in the Joe Haldeman / John Scalzi atmosphere. Earth civilization is solidly imagined and, although the tech doesn't seem to be as far out as you might hope, it has a few tweaks. Andrew Grayson is growing up fast and is an interesting narrator. While no real surprises, it kept me reading and I finished it pretty quickly. So I'm ready for book 2, Lines Of Departure.