Soldier of the Legion (Beta 3) [Paperback]

Marshall S. Thomas (Author)

Book Description

Series: Beta 3 | Publication Date: June 2002

A rough truce divides the known galaxy between the System, the despotic slave empire that rules the inner systems, and the Confederation of Free Worlds. A ConFree unit is dispatched to defend a remote world from a mysterious Systie incursion. Our hero, call-sign "Thinker," will soon discover that giant exosegs, slavers and Systies are just the beginning. Once before the Legion faced the godlike, utterly alien and evil, Omnis, and drove them back at the cost of billions of lives. The future of humanity, all humanity - even the corrupt and decaying System empire, will soon be in the hands of Soldiers of the Legion.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Marshall S. Thomas is a Foreign Service Officer who has served in East Asia for most of his career. Marshall attended the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, the University of New Mexico and the University of Miami where he graduated with a major in Government/ International Affairs, a minor in History. Marshall's Foreign Service career included postings in Saigon, Vietnam (1969), Taiwan, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Manila, Canberra, Kuala Lumpur, and Washington D.C.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"Get up! Attack! Biogas ignition! No effect! Recommend stunstar to take enemy prisoners! Ignition! Fire xmax! Major antimat launching sequences continuing! I detect a major launching completed! Numerous deceptor launches! Airburst antis! Major enemy troop concentrations directly ahead! Enemy vac, laser, nuke, tacs now on you! Fire all weapons! Psycho, fire tacstars, fire! Ignition! Multiple attacks, fire and fall!"

I fired and fell, just as we had practiced a thousand times in Hell. Again a white-hot sun licked at my armor.

"Get up! Attack! Psycho, give me some stunstars! I want prisoners!" Snow Leopard walked into the firestorm just ahead. Every muscle in my body screamed in agony. Engulfed in flames, I found something in my way. A massive chunk of metal, hanging from the overhead by a thin strip. I kicked it away. I thought I saw Valkyrie walking past me, calmly firing her E from the hip, wreathed in flames. I immediately thought of Priestess, somewhere behind me. I raised my E and fired, suddenly enraged. I could not afford such thoughts.

Sleepwalking, I stepped over the smoking armor of a Systie soldier, his A-suit torn open by unimaginable forces. Several of them sprawled, pitted and dead, frozen in grotesque positions, flames licking all around them. Someone screamed. I thought for a moment it was me. A sharp, eerie whistling, all around me. Suddenly pure white smoke enveloped me, and the air sparkled like diamonds. Biogas! I held my breath, instinctively.

I almost stumbled over another A-suit. This one moved, and I was about to shoot when I realized it was Legion armor. Ironman had fallen to his knees, his left arm missing below the elbow, armor burnt and smoking, raising his other arm to me. His eyes appeared strangely calm and vulnerable. Blood spurted from the wound.

"Medic! Priestess, Thinker, on me! Ironman’s hit!" I tore open my medkit, ripped out a pressure dressing and forced it up past the jagged edges of Ironman's armor and into the wound. His blood squirted all over my armor.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Timberwolf Press (June 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587520397
• ISBN-13: 978-1587520396
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,465,345 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Midwest Book Review - enthusiastic recommendation, August 31, 2002

By 

Laurel Johnson (Kansas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Soldier of the Legion (Beta 3) (Paperback)

"A rough truce divides the known galaxy between the System, the despotic slave empire that rules the inner systems, and the Confederation of Free Worlds." That brief beginning blurb on the back cover of this book did not prepare me for the exciting read I found in Soldier of the Legion. Heart pounding action.
Mind blowing battles. Adrenalin pumping encounters with alien life. Mr. Thomas packs that and more into this futuristic sci fi masterpiece.

From first page to last, the action stopped just long enough to let me catch my breath. The story unfolds through the eyes of Thinker, a Legion warrior who joined up after a broken romance. Thinker and his fellow warriors are kept young and strong, immortal, through biotechnology beyond our present imagination. The barren worlds they face and alien life they battle become real through the author's creative mind and skillful writing style.

Horrific other-worldly combat assignments come alive through Mr. Thomas's prose. Eerie images of fire and destruction dance on the face plates of their armor as our heroic warriors slog their way through blood, fire, slime, and body parts to hard-won victories. From fossilized cities that once housed vanished civilizations, to violent volcanic worlds, Thinker and his Beta unit take on forces that are bent on destroying life. All human life. These immortal warriors face horror and human degradation beyond imagination. But ruthless slavers and hives of terrifying alien maneaters barely prepare them for the scourge of all creation, the soulless Omnis.

Times of respite are few and far between for soldiers of the Legion. Thinker has the violently possessive Valkyrie and tender-hearted Priestess to take his mind off warring. Except for those rare occasions, Thinkers mind is seldom far from thoughts of battles, past and future. It's the way of the Legion.

At the end of Soldier of the Legion, the author sets us up for what will no doubt be an equally exciting sequel. If what follows is as good as his first, Marshall Thomas should soon be a major name in futuristic sci fi. I enthusiastically recommend this book to fans of the genre as well as those who simply enjoy excellent story telling.

21 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From MyShelf.com, September 12, 2002

By 

Nancy L. Mehl "Author" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Soldier of the Legion (Beta 3) (Paperback)

Beta 3, called "Thinker," because others see his capacity to reason even though he has been trained to react instantly as a part of a military team, is sent with his detachment to Andrion 2 to secure the planet. He is part of "The Legion," an army sworn to protect to the death. And death is the price a soldier of the Legion must be willing to pay to defend the Confederation of Free Worlds against the "System." Although an uneasy truce exists between "ConFree" and the System, unusual activity on Andrion 2 leads the Legion to speculate about possible illegal actions from the "Systies." Thinker is part of a unit. Each soldier has a unique personality. Some, Thinker is convinced, are insane. But in the Legion, they are brothers. One mind - one heart - and one life.

The planet is inhabited by a people the soldiers refer to rather derisively as "Scalers." These people, actually called the "Taka," attack the Legion. But, when they are saved by the soldiers from the disgusting exosegs, horrible, deadly creatures that aren't supposed to be on Andrion 2, the Taka declare their loyalty to the Legion.

What is happening on the planet? Are the Systies there? How did the exosegs get to Andrion 2? Nothing makes sense. Thinker's sense of alarm is muted by his desire for another soldier, Priestess - and the conflict he feels when a past love from his training days on Planet Hell shows up and declares that she and Thinker are tied together for eternity. Where is his heart? Does it belong to Priestess or Valkyrie? Is this emotional battle compromising his ability to sense danger? Thinker needs all of his wits and training - because there is a surprise on Andrion 2. One more diabolic and dangerous than any of the soldiers have prepared themselves for.

SOLIDER OF THE LEGION is a deep, rich story that captures the heart of Sci-fi while bringing the elements of suspense, mystery, horror, and romance together and blending them into a perfect story that everyone will enjoy. Thomas's talent as a writer shines through the action, making the dialogue captivating, and in many passages, moving. His protagonist, Thinker, may be involved in a life that few of us have experienced, but Thomas keeps Thinker so human that we are able to experience the joy, the pain, and the fear that a soldier of the Legion endures while putting his or her life on the line without question.

I highly recommend SOLDIER OF THE LEGION, one the best books I've read this year! Watch for the next books in this exciting series!

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Had potential, but didn't live up to it, April 19, 2011

By 

gilliduck - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Soldier of the Legion (Kindle Edition)

Lots of potential with this one. Far future troopers who are effectively immortal thanks to their technology fighting another formidable opponent. Once you get past the concept though it goes down hill fast. The biggest complaint I have with this is the complete lack of explanation. You are thrust into a new world, looking through the eyes of a new legionnaire and are inundated with the terms of his world. I'm ok with that. Most authors that throw you new terms and concepts right off the bat tend to explain them as the book goes on. But no this guy. No. I surmised a lot, but I don't have any clue as the motivations, origins or pretty much anything else that has to do with the Legion. The personal motivations of this main character elude me, frankly I don't actually like him that much. The use of different terms as replacements for our current modern terms takes a lot of use to figure out. There is apparently an entire religious aspect to the Legion that could be very interesting, but isn't touched at all. How there are so many other books after this baffles me, but I assure you that I will not be reading them. This was a struggle to read, the skill of the author is very minimal in using a first person narrative. I'd normally give it 1 star, but it gained a 2nd star simply for being just interesting enough to make me finish it (though I was anxiously awaiting it to end so that I could finally be done trudging through this trash).