Hard Duty Merkiaari Wars Book 1 eBook Mark E Cooper
Download As PDF : Hard Duty Merkiaari Wars Book 1 eBook Mark E Cooper 
Hostile aliens nearly eradicated humanity. Will the next encounter finish the job?
Sixteen billion dead in the last alien invasion of the Alliance's colony worlds.When survey ship Captain Jeff Colgan discovers a new alien race, he's required to investigate.
As the aliens discover Colgan's ship and begin to hunt him down, the captain's mission changes from one of study to one of survival.
Hard Duty is the first installment in Merkiaari Wars, a military sci-fi of alien invasion and space exploration. If you like realistic engineering, vivid battles, and futuristic warfare, then you'll love Mark E. Cooper's sci-fi work of art.
Buy the first book in your new space opera obsession today!
Interview with the author
Why did you write Merkiaari Wars?
The easy answer I love to read science fiction books. All kinds of sci-fi really, but particularly military science fiction. The better but longer answer stories about space marines in power armour defending us against an alien invasion just excite me. Add a marauding space fleet and give me the chance to write some battles in space and I’m in heaven.
Is Merkiaari Wars an alien invasion story?
Sort of, but it’s bigger than that. Book 1 is about first contact with aliens, but at the same time it’s about what it means to be Human. Given the power to intervene, isn’t it our duty to do that, even if it means fighting a war and dying against a galactic empire determined upon genocide?
Why cyborg soldiers and nanotech?
I could say because they’re cool, but the real answer is that nanotech intrigues me; my engineering background coming through I guess. I’ve always been interested in the latest scientific theories, and research into nanotech. Trans-humanism and genetic engineering are important themes in the Merkiaari Wars Series.
Will Merkiaari Wars ever be a movie?
I would love to see that one day. Readers have compared the books with Universal Soldier and Aliens. I can see why they do that, but the series is really trying to answer the question
What is Human?
Is it bodies or something more ephemeral? If it isn’t linked to physical form, can an alien species be Human, and what of Artificial Intelligence? The later books in the series try to discover this.
Hard Duty Merkiaari Wars Book 1 eBook Mark E Cooper
Could have been a winner, but many problems. I strongly recommend reading the other critical reviews. I initially read this some time ago and didn't pursue the series. I bumped into it again in a collection which prompted me to write a review. While not a bad read, some readers will find it's flaws unredeemed so it's up to you to assess whether or not this book is a fit for you.This book has a particularly annoying multiple cliff hanger ending in which all the story lines are left completely unresolved. Worse is the fact the author revisits, in the most shallow way possible, a story line untouched for hundreds of pages just to move it abruptly to the cliff. A real slap in the reader's face.
There are some rather grating inconsistencies in the development the story and some plot problems that simply don't fly. Potential spoilers follow you have been warned.
***
***
***
Problems with the Shan.
While the shan are an interesting alien species and the author spends a fair amount of effort in their development there is a glaring flaw. In the past the Merkiaari invade the Shan's system. The Shan are very primitive and are nearly exterminated before they are able to defeat their invaders by gaining access to their enemies weapons. The Shan are able to jumpstart their technological development by using captured Merkiaari technology. They also develop a cultural aspect in which every living Shan is taught to fight and keeps weapons available to fight off the Merkiaari should they return. A major part of their infrastructure includes fortresses sufficient to house and defend their population should an invader manages to land on their planets. They are a species of naturally instinctive hunters who prize the primitive aspects of the hunt even as they develop further and further from it. This conditioning has been a part of their culture for dozens (hundreds?) of generations.
When the Shan learn that humans are in their systems hundreds of thousands of them flee their cities in a panic to hide in the forest. Yeah, probably not the reaction of a culture literally taught from childhood to oppose alien invaders with deadly force. Eventually in the book the Merkiaari return to the Shan system. The Shan defense fleet although out numbered attempts to defend their planets. They, with the help of an outdated human cruiser converted to exploration, manage to destroy the invading warships but their transports "slip past" to land. Based on the extent of the landings the transports must have out numbered the alien warships by an order of magnitude but none of the defending ships noticed them until it was too late.
So the aliens land and begin slaughtering the Shan, every one of whom is armed with weapons sufficient to kill their attackers. There is some hand waving about how the Shan defenses had to be mobile and couldn't be dug in so the attackers have superior mounted weapons and kill hundreds of thousands if not millions more or less in the first day. Nope. Simply not possible. Bombard them from orbit? Okay that's possibly reasonable. Land and off load your troops in the face of millions of individually armed militia supported by highly trained regular troops, all of whom have been readying themselves for this day? Not a chance. The invaders would be slaughtered immediately. They might well kill hundreds of thousands of Shan, but they'd be overwhelmed. The Shan warriors would take out the enemy's heavy weapons, and regular alien troops would eventually fall to shear weight of numbers.
Shima, a non-warrior female geneticist, who has often hunted with her father, kills five of the enemy who are distracted by what amounts to a series of flash bang attacks more or less single handily. Her support does blast a couple near the end of the engagement but she did most of the damage in hand to hand combat against a fully armed enemy. Out side of the "Mary Sue" aspects of this, how are we expected to believe that the true warriors heavily armed and continually training for this war are so easily neutralized? Sorry simply doesn't fly.
Problems with Eric's cliff hanger.
Eric is a "viper" a cyborg with heavy computer and genetic enhancements. We are repeated told that when in "battle mode" his systems continually and automatically do threat assessments and ensure that he can't be surprised. In fact he can "scan" through walls for extended distances. The cliff hanger has his identity get blown and he flees the encampment he was spying on into the jungle, where he is distracted enough to get jumped from above by a big nasty critter. See the problem? Anything big enough to have jumped down to try to eat him would have tripped the computer warning long before he got there. As I said a vary annoying cliff hanger.
This is not a bad book. It plods in places, and the various story lines are not well blended, but it's not a terrible read. If you want the stories resolved you will have to buy the next book.
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Hard Duty Merkiaari Wars Book 1 eBook Mark E Cooper Reviews
I like the concept, the characters, and even the divergent story line.
many people like the concept and characters and even enjoy the story but get distracted by the divergent story line. There are 3 different stories and several perspectives taking place. first there is what is happening back home, second what is happening in space over the alien planet, third what is happening on the alien planet. Several of these has a human and an alien perspective. For some these multiple storylines can be hard to follow.
What i didn't like, I almost didn't notice, but once i did, I saw it everywhere.
Horrible grammar, run on sentences, spelling mistakes and poor word choices. I realize it is not a high school paper but if my English teacher had seen it there would be a lot of red ink on it.
In the end it is readable, understandable and enjoyable, but it could be better. with more polish i could have read it faster without getting a headache.
This book had some redeeming sections, but it's main drawback is that it's the start of an --apparently-- very long series. So you'd have to really love it or you give up at some point with the story still unfinished.
I didn't love it that much but there were parts I enjoyed. The Shan are an interesting race of aliens, more interesting than the humans in the story in fact. And there's a bit of a cat and mouse game before first contact that was fun. The humans, unfortunately, are not as well developed and tend to do stupid things.
This book covers first contact between humans and Shan with war with another race -- the Big Baddies -- looming in the background. If you enjoy series and military fiction, you'll probably enjoy it.
Imagine you were watching the Avengers Movie, and 30 minutes into it, right as you feel something interesting is going to happen, the scene shifted to the start of "Guardians of the Galaxy". Then after 45 minutes into this second movie, it jumped right back to where "Avengers" had paused. Sure, both are entertaining movies, but what I just described is not an optimal viewing experience. Sadly, this is what reading "Hard Duty" feels like. This book seems like two completely disjointed stories, shifting from one to the other at an awkward pace. In this case, the whole is clearly lesser than the sum of its parts.
Since this is a long series, I'm sure the stories will converge later on, but a book needs to be able to stand on its own. This is a big problem throughout the book, as even individually, the stories don't really pay off and we are left with cliffhangers everywhere. This is hugely important, and when it came to deciding whether or not to buy the rest of the series, this was the deal breaker. I can't justify supporting an author that will publish unfinished works, because this is what this felt like, a two stories without their climax.
Reading this was definitely a hard duty, but I pulled through. Despite these massive flaws, the book does have its positives. There are plenty of likeable characters, which show decent development. The themes of space exploration and first contact are handled well, and there's a lot to enjoy with this book; but sadly, the pros aren't enough to outweigh the cons. Overall, I wouldn't recommend it, as reading this was an exercise in frustration.
Still, the author does have potential, and it might be worthwhile keeping tabs on what he does in the future.
Could have been a winner, but many problems. I strongly recommend reading the other critical reviews. I initially read this some time ago and didn't pursue the series. I bumped into it again in a collection which prompted me to write a review. While not a bad read, some readers will find it's flaws unredeemed so it's up to you to assess whether or not this book is a fit for you.
This book has a particularly annoying multiple cliff hanger ending in which all the story lines are left completely unresolved. Worse is the fact the author revisits, in the most shallow way possible, a story line untouched for hundreds of pages just to move it abruptly to the cliff. A real slap in the reader's face.
There are some rather grating inconsistencies in the development the story and some plot problems that simply don't fly. Potential spoilers follow you have been warned.
***
***
***
Problems with the Shan.
While the shan are an interesting alien species and the author spends a fair amount of effort in their development there is a glaring flaw. In the past the Merkiaari invade the Shan's system. The Shan are very primitive and are nearly exterminated before they are able to defeat their invaders by gaining access to their enemies weapons. The Shan are able to jumpstart their technological development by using captured Merkiaari technology. They also develop a cultural aspect in which every living Shan is taught to fight and keeps weapons available to fight off the Merkiaari should they return. A major part of their infrastructure includes fortresses sufficient to house and defend their population should an invader manages to land on their planets. They are a species of naturally instinctive hunters who prize the primitive aspects of the hunt even as they develop further and further from it. This conditioning has been a part of their culture for dozens (hundreds?) of generations.
When the Shan learn that humans are in their systems hundreds of thousands of them flee their cities in a panic to hide in the forest. Yeah, probably not the reaction of a culture literally taught from childhood to oppose alien invaders with deadly force. Eventually in the book the Merkiaari return to the Shan system. The Shan defense fleet although out numbered attempts to defend their planets. They, with the help of an outdated human cruiser converted to exploration, manage to destroy the invading warships but their transports "slip past" to land. Based on the extent of the landings the transports must have out numbered the alien warships by an order of magnitude but none of the defending ships noticed them until it was too late.
So the aliens land and begin slaughtering the Shan, every one of whom is armed with weapons sufficient to kill their attackers. There is some hand waving about how the Shan defenses had to be mobile and couldn't be dug in so the attackers have superior mounted weapons and kill hundreds of thousands if not millions more or less in the first day. Nope. Simply not possible. Bombard them from orbit? Okay that's possibly reasonable. Land and off load your troops in the face of millions of individually armed militia supported by highly trained regular troops, all of whom have been readying themselves for this day? Not a chance. The invaders would be slaughtered immediately. They might well kill hundreds of thousands of Shan, but they'd be overwhelmed. The Shan warriors would take out the enemy's heavy weapons, and regular alien troops would eventually fall to shear weight of numbers.
Shima, a non-warrior female geneticist, who has often hunted with her father, kills five of the enemy who are distracted by what amounts to a series of flash bang attacks more or less single handily. Her support does blast a couple near the end of the engagement but she did most of the damage in hand to hand combat against a fully armed enemy. Out side of the "Mary Sue" aspects of this, how are we expected to believe that the true warriors heavily armed and continually training for this war are so easily neutralized? Sorry simply doesn't fly.
Problems with Eric's cliff hanger.
Eric is a "viper" a cyborg with heavy computer and genetic enhancements. We are repeated told that when in "battle mode" his systems continually and automatically do threat assessments and ensure that he can't be surprised. In fact he can "scan" through walls for extended distances. The cliff hanger has his identity get blown and he flees the encampment he was spying on into the jungle, where he is distracted enough to get jumped from above by a big nasty critter. See the problem? Anything big enough to have jumped down to try to eat him would have tripped the computer warning long before he got there. As I said a vary annoying cliff hanger.
This is not a bad book. It plods in places, and the various story lines are not well blended, but it's not a terrible read. If you want the stories resolved you will have to buy the next book.
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