Review - The Alien Soldier by Eryn Ivers

Patrick has served in the Klah'Eel army all his adult life. He's very loyal to the nation that raised him, but he's been looked down on by most of his fellow soldiers and commanding officers for his entire career for being “just” a weak human. His latest general is determined to see Patrick fail. To that end, he puts Patrick in charge of a group of new recruits, misfits recruited from the slums of Klah's moon that nobody expects to get through the trials before battle. Fal'ran is one of those recruits. He has only ever relied on himself and has never had anyone else believe in him. Like almost every new young Klah'Eel soldier, Fal'ran thinks challenging his new human captain will score him some easy points with the other soldiers. Patrick is used to younger soldiers thinking he will be a pushover, but what he lacks in size and youth, Patrick makes up for with experience. Once Patrick proves he's in charge, Fal'ran's opinion of his captain changes significantly.

“The Alien Soldier” is another great entry in the Interspecies Alliance series. Like all books in the series, the focus is on two different characters that played little or no role in previous books. However, the books are all set in the same universe and feature an ongoing set of challenges for the three (so far) alien species featured. If you don't read all of the preceding books, in order, you'll be missing a lot of world-building.

Patrick has appeared as a secondary character in several of the books of the series, but this is the first time we get to know anything about him. Patrick is a rather classic military hero archetype. He strongly believes that he's fighting the good fight to protect his country, and he will do almost anything to protect the men under his charge. His determination to do the right thing by Fal'ran, no matter what Patrick wants for himself, is quite admirable.

Fal'ran is quite the cocky, charming rogue of a young man. While he might not be human, his transformation from a loner who looks out only for himself to a confident team player is quite believable. His attraction to Patrick can seem like a crush on the first person to believe in him, but it soon becomes clear there's more to it than that.

There's a bit of angst to this story, as Patrick worries about doing the right thing by Fal'ran and prevaricates about getting involved with him. However, it's not without good reason, and the more we learn about the man, the more we understand his doubts.

“The Alien Soldier” is available from Amazon (commissionable link).