Rating: 
Summary: Good start of a promising series
Review: Rick Shelley has the ability to combine believable military action with the backdrop of an interesting sci-fi world. I look forward to better character development in the next book and I'm sure Shelley will deliver plenty of mouth-watering action.
Rating: 
Summary: bad military sci fi; skip it unless you're a genre fan
Review: The author has potential but the book needs a lot of work. The opening premise is flaky and inconsistent with the cover blurb. The main character draft-dodges service with the Federal Police (a much tougher job than infantry, I might add); this is _not_ "trumped-up charges." He leaves Earth to sign up with patently unrealistic "mercenaries" on a cartoon-stage world. The main character is one-dimensional. The combat is late 20th century; the tactics and technology employed are pathetic. A company of 20th century Marines could eat both sides for lunch; oh, and has the author ever heard of orbital bombardment? Infantry GPS? Crew-served weapons? _ARMOR?_ The client world has neither a distinct culture nor any realistic means of paying mercenaries. I'd recommend S.M. Stirling and Jerry Pournelle instead. After reading this book, I rushed to grab my copy of _Falkenburg's Legion_ and get the taste of this one out of my head.
Rating: 
Summary: Realistic Military Sci-Fi at its Best!
Review: This is the first book I've read by Rick Shelley and I was immediately struck by the realism that he creates in this tactical military novel. You really get a sense of what it would be like to be a new recruit going into live combat for the first time. Shelley does an excellent job of explaining tactics and combat situations. One thing I found intriguing was that as I was reading this, I forgot I was reading a sci-fi novel. The level at which the conflicts were examined, from the perspective of the ground troops, would apply to any war. The futuristic weapons and equipment are kept to a minimum.
My only complaint was that the character of Lon Nolan didn't seem to exactly fit that of the first-timer going into battle. Lon reacts cooly and professionally with only a minimum of anxiety. Once the action starts he acts like a seasoned veteran. Maybe Shelley is just trying to show that Lon is a natural in the arts of warfare. Anyway this is a minor quibble and doesn't knock this down from a five star rating. Highly recommended if you're into grim and gritty military combat.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent book, not a prize winner.
Review: This was a decent read, though not a prize winner. The blurb on the back was not consistent with the story as told in the book. Otherwise, an ok read, with a standard SF warfare plot.
Rating:
Summary: An inferior copy of Joel Rosenberg's "Not For Glory"
Review: When I picked this up, I was in the mood for some fun, if a little shallow, military science-fiction (my Honor Harrington fix). I got the latter, but not the former. The story progressed at a sluggish pace and the hero didn't really show any attributes that made me care whether he survived or not. But what really bugged me was the feeling that everything was just a little too familiar. In 1988, Joel Rosenberg wrote "Not For Glory" about the Metzadans, futuristic neo-Israelis whose poor planet's only viable export is mercenaries. The structure and 'feel' of the Metzadans was very similar to the dirigents, but also backed up by a good story. Too bad it's out of print.
Rating: 
Summary: More of the same -- and it is a bit pointless . . . .
Review: While in general I like this sort of military sci-fi, I find myself a bit bored with the lack of a bigger picture. Shelley is good at setting the stage, but in the end, it is all about a few guys fighting as mercenaries. No context, no good vs evil, no real reason. Just war. I want to know why people are fighting and dying, not just that they are doing it.
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