Lakes of Mars

By: Merritt Graves

Narrated by: Jay Myers

Aaron Sheridan doesn’t want to live anymore. His family just died in a shuttle crash and he’d been the one flying it. The Transit Authority ruled it "instrumentation error", but he knows his mind was drifting. He knows a few millimeters wouldn't have made a difference. And unable to handle the guilt, he signs up for the Fleet expecting a fatal deployment to the Rim War...but is instead assigned to their most prestigious command school, Corinth Station.

The school's infamous for its ferocious sink-or-swim instruction, sporting the highest attrition rates in the Fleet, psychologically breaking and rebuilding students. Initially, Aaron takes the brutality and the Machiavellian tactics of his peers in stride, but after he sticks up for his only friend, he makes himself a target of the most feared cadet on the station, Caelus Erik.

Unsure of whom to trust and worried that anything he does will make others targets as well, Aaron retreats deeper and deeper inside himself, unwilling to play an unwinnable game. However, when he discovers that officer training isn’t the station’s sole purpose, it becomes increasingly clear that risking everything is the safest thing he can do.

Contains graphic language/violence and has an accompanying soundtrack that can be heard at: soundcloud.com/trapdoorsocial/sets/the-lakes-of-mars-soundtrack.

©2019 Merritt Graves (P)2023 Merritt Graves

Epic action!!!

Cool character, high stakes, great writing. Loved it!!!! When is the sequel coming?? Let’s gooo 👏🏼

FAR far Better than expected ! 5.5 Stars

One of the central tropes of military science fiction is the story of the gritty young man or woman who begins martial service in a training program that is a throwback to the Horatio Hornblower books. It is tough, it is even a bit cruel--but one persists. Then came a twist on that line of books, in Ender's Game. Now the basic training/naval academy was a bit more sinister. What is really going on? And, of course, there were many good (Kris Longknife) and bad iterations.

I read the good and the bad. Fortunately, this one is quite good. Nothing world-shattering in terms of the plot, but the characters are three dimensional and have a surprisingly sophisticated series of revelations about both their lives and their situations. The "bad" guys are not cutouts either. Above average dialogue and a well-above-average narrator round out a really good time.

Action packed with a twist

I really enjoyed this book. When will the next one be released? It is a well written story with good characters.