Teaser

Leading a squad of marines on a voyage of scientific exploration is nobody’s first choice of assignment, but Osiris Aquino was never given the choice. Now he has to whip his ragtag unit into shape before a hostile new life form kills everyone on the ship . . .

Review

It’s no secret that Jack Campbell is one of my favourite authors. His Lost Fleet and its associated spin-offs is still the bar against which I compare all other military SF. Campbell has been on a break from Lost Fleet novels for a few years now, first with the two-part The Doomed Earth, and now with the standalone Squad Kill. Squad Kill marks a slight departure for Campbell. While it’s still solidly in the military SF genre, it’s tonally lighter, has a smaller focus, and more action-oriented than his more epic fare. So far as I can tell, it also doesn’t appear to have a UK publisher meaning I had to take the audio route for this one. Interestingly, the US publisher for this is Aethon, a new company that mostly deals in military SF and LitRPG, a bizarre combination if ever I saw one, as it partners one of my favourite genres with one I can barely stand.

So. Squad Kill. What’s it about? Well, if you’re familiar with the Alien franchise, you can guess where this one is going within the first few chapters. There’s a crew of slightly useless civilians and hapless scientists who think they’re on a Star Trek style mission of exploration that culminates in finding a civilisation that’s been wiped out, and the only remnant being adorable creatures called squonks. Two of these squonks are brought onto the ship, and havoc swiftly ensues.

As a fun aside, the creatures are dubbed squonks because they look like a hybrid of squirrels and monkeys. However, and I can’t prove that Campbell is aware of this, a squonk is also a ‘real’ cryptid from American folklore. This ssquonk is a creature so horribly ugly that if it sees its reflection, it will cry until it dissolves from the acidity of its own tears. Suffice to say, Campbell’s squonks are slightly more dangerous than that.

The bulk of the novel is comprised of Aquino teaching his squad (all of whom have ben previously disciplined for everything from dodging work to springing traps on their superiors) to function as a unit, earning their respect, and then tracking down and killing the two escaped squonks. Naturally, he also finds time to romance one of the scientists. There’s a nice amount of humour that doesn’t quite tip the book into comedic territory, some wholesome bonding, and more inspirational speeches than you can shake a swagger stick at.

If the book has a problem, it’s that it’s all quite predictable. I haven’t even seen Alien, but those iconic beats are so well-worn in genre circles that I could tell you what was going to happen. Naturally, all those failings of the marines turn out to actually be beneficial in this specific situation. There’s only one real surprise here, and that comes at the end when the expected big emotional moment gets undercut by a one in a million chance event. This predictability, however, does not undercut how enjoyable the book is as a whole. Sometimes all you want is a fun space adventure.

If that’s something you want, then this is the book for you. It’s still up there with the good of military SF, but it falls short of being great.

Book Stats

• Narrated by Peter Berkrot
• A standalone Novel
• Published 2026
• Runtime 10hrs 52mins