Reviewed by Carissa

TITLE:  The Sol of Jupiter

AUTHOR:  Thaddeus J

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH: 253 pages

BLURB: Turner Michaels is an idealistic junior enlisted communicator that wants nothing more than to successfully execute his duties. After being transferred to a light armored reconnaissance unit in the middle of the Mojave Desert, the young U.S. Marine starts to feel a bit overwhelmed and out of place from his usual role of support – that is until he is reunited with his old friend JaceSozio. Reconnecting with one another is simple, but neither of them could have imagined the intense yet awkward attraction that would grow between them. Though admitting these feelings to one another poses a dilemma for the men, as neither wants it to threaten their close friendship. Taking things to a whole new level raises a number of other questions as well. First and foremost, would their peers accept them, or would they have to forever hide their relationship? And admitting their true feelings for one another is easier said than done. Their harsh supervisor is demanding and makes life miserable for the pair, and they also have a number of very good (though sometimes annoying) friends that make them question if they even need enemies. But with the help of their family and inspiring leaders the two will discover that loyalty and support are stronger than bigotry and misperception. Proving that the Corps indeed is a sacred brotherhood where men can trust one another with their very lives.

REVIEW:  

Just to get this out of the way…despite the title, and the cover, coming across with a slight scifi bent, this is not actually a scifi story.  It is about two American Marines, set slightly in the past–pre DADT repeal–and there are no robots, space ships, or flesh-eating aliens.  Sorry.

Turner Michaels and JaceSozio have been friends since the first day of boot-camp.  When Michaels is transferred to the base where Sozio is stationed, things pick up between them, right where they left off.  As friends, nothing more.  They seem like an odd pair, one straight-laced, one hot-headed but fun.  They fight, they yell, but together they also are more themselves when they are together, than they are with anyone else.  If nothing else, Sozio is intent on breaking Michaels’ rigid by-the-book mentality, and Michaels is going to try and drag his friend towards respectability if it is the last thing he does.

But Sozio’s friend, Adams, seems intent on hating Michaels, and Michaels has a commander that is going to drive him crazy; so despite their re-found friendship, not everything is going good under the hot Mojave sun.  Add in the fact that their friendship has become a bit more, then a lot more, and a strict Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy breathing down their necks, and you have a recipe for disaster.  And even if the others don’t drag the pair down, they might just do it to themselves.  Hell, hand basket, and all.

It is always nice to pick up a novel that feels like the author knows what they are talking about–or, at least, that they bothered to properly research the topic.  I think sometimes, especially when it comes to things like the military or policing, that people are willing to simply go by what it looks like on TV.  And it is highly unlikely that an hour-long drama on CBS or NBC is actually factually accurate.  Entertaining, yes.  Sticking to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?–not so much.  So I was pleased with how authentic the military aspect of the book came together.  It felt real, but also, mostly understandable to a layperson like me.  I appreciated that.

It is just too bad that the commands, the guns, and the lingo were about the only thing that felt remotely understandable.  This book suffers from a severe lack of editing.  Grammatically, the dialogue is downright confusing at times (ex: “dialogue here. thoughts here in italics.”).  The first few times I put this down to not catching where the quotation marks ended up, but it happens over and over, leading me to believe it was done on purpose.  Due to this, I was never quite sure what the hell was actually being said to the other person.  Syntactically, the sentences were a mess.  At one point Michaels ends up–unintentionally, I hope–saying he wants to engage in some rather illegal acts with a sheep.  Not exactly the sentiment he was going for, originally.  Or, at least, the sheep is question hopes.

The narrator also seemed to suffer from ADHD, because he couldn’t seem to stick to one POV for more than a few paragraphs.  While I dislike this happening in general, the story here was not helped at all by the fact that everyone sounded exactly the same.  It took me nearly twice as long to read this book because I had to keep going back and figuring out who the hell said this, or thought that, and didn’t he just leave the room?  It was very hard to enjoy the story here because the way it was written made it near impossible to stay inside the story for more than a few seconds at a time.

And, well…I just never felt more than a flicker of chemistry between Sozio and Michaels.  All the characters were (incredibly) over-emotional, about everything, but when it came down to the relationship between the MCs there was zip, nadda, for nearly nine-tenths of the book.  I don’t know if you could really call it a slow-burn, since there really wasn’t much to burn.  Which was odd since everyone in this book seemed to enjoy shouting every other sentence, so the passion was there.  It just came across as an “I want to cut out your heart with a rusty spoon and use it to paint my walls a very nice color of red” kind of passion.  Not exactly what I’m looking for in a bed-partner.

This story just got bogged down by its disregard for simple, basic, writing rules.  Rules exist for a reason, and when they are run rampant over, it just pisses-off my inner editor.  I wish I had read the story this could have been–that it really could be if the author is willing to go back and work with the story and not against it.  The ideas of honor, truth, love, and necessary lies are classics for a reason–they work.  They hook us in because we all have to deal with them in some way.  This book never seemed to be able to put those idea, and ideals, to full use, though.  At the end of the day, all of those errors simply stripped the story of life.

RATING:

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