The Runes of Engagement Paperback – 18 Jun. 2024

I've read several pieces by Buckell and enjoyed them a lot and the premise here looked like fun and it was for the first couple of chapters. For me it never elevated from there. The plot is serviceable at best with the main characters meeting one fantasy foe after another as the chapters progressed. It was like fantasy 101 and here's a troll and now here's a dragon. Easy undemanding read that could have been so much better.

The premise of this book and the front cover both grabbed my attention when I was scrolling through Netgalley looking for things to read.Fantasy creatures, marines, "Lord Of The Rings meets Slaughterhouse-Five by way of World Of Warcraft"! What's not to love!The general story is that a unit of marines gets stuck behind enemy lines on the wrong side of the portal to fantasy-land. What follows is a single POV narrative as they trek overland trying to escape.This book is absolutely packed with fantasy tropes, pop culture references and just a general feeling of nostalgia. The pacing was great, I enjoyed the story but for some reason it was just missing that little bit extra for me and I think I've worked out why.There wasn't anything there in terms of character development. For the most part the marines just combined into a nameless group for me with only a couple of memorable characters. This made it really difficult to get attached to anyone and it also removed a lot of the sense of threat for me. When a 2-storey tall troll is barreling towards your main group, or a dragon is flying overhead raining down fire, it's hard to feel tension when the characters all just blend together and you know there's a good likelihood that all will be fine.

I've been a fan of Tobias Buckell for a while, and when I heard he'd co-written a book with Dave Klecha, I decided to order it. I finally got around to reading it. It's a quick and enjoyable read.The premise is entertaining and unique. In our near future - near enough that serving sergeants were corporals in Afghanistan and Iraq - portals open, belching mythical creatures into our world. After some initial battles, our militaries go into Fantasyland, first to set up a perimeter in front of the portals and then to figure out why the invasion is happening. A squad of US Marines - 13 people - is in Fantasyland on a routine mission, then things go wrong.This is no super-squad of super-soldiers, rather a regular squad, with regular problems, which I found refreshing. The characters were well-developed, and it was an enjoyable romp.

Heck of a romp. Fantastic read from authors who know and love the genres of military and high fantasy. A tribute to both in the same way Lower Decks is a tribute to the Star Trek universe.