Recruits by Thomas Locke Series: Recruits #1
Published by Revell on March 24, 2026
Genres: Juvenile Fiction / Science Fiction / General, Young Adult Fiction / Science Fiction / Alien Contact, Young Adult Fiction / Science Fiction / General
Pages: 384
Format: eBook
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Twin seventeen-year-old brothers Sean and Dillon meet their new neighbor Colonel Carver, who has come to Earth, an outpost among dozens of human-occupied planets in the galaxy, to recruit the boys to join the Human Assembly, but first they must complete their training and discover the source of recent disturbances to interplanetary peace.
Fun Fact: I read this book in the before time (2019 to be specific). Also, for reference, I’m realizing that I say Fun Fact to myself entirely too many times a day. Like obsessively. I need new words. But, back to the reason for this story. I knew I’d read it, remember checking it out of the library, but honestly, I didn’t really remember the story. And I never got around to reviewing it, so I didn’t even have previous thoughts to work with. As I read, little things popped out, but it’s been long enough that it was like reading it from scratch again. And sometimes, my memory works in my favor as it needed to be read from scratch again.
I really have no idea how I feel about this book if I’m being completely honest. It’s a genre bender to me. It’s absolutely a sci-fi, but it’s edged with some dystopian and fantasy edges. Maybe that’s what sci-fi is, but for me, it’s all the things! The book moves really fast, and these young men (twins!) seem to just accept everything as the new normal without any incredulous disbelief. And all the ‘adults’ in their orbit fall in line without a moment of hesitation. Meanwhile, I’m over here in my lair with huge amounts of incredulous disbelief. Oh my ancient heart?
Despite it all, I really enjoyed this book. There’s some things I’ve found myself harping on this year with a lot of tell but no show, but this book had both in a balanced way. And a lot of background work, but honestly, I needed that with this book. I had glimpses of the impact to everything that happened after the ‘incredulous disbelief’ that made it feel oh so real to me as a nongifted Earthling. As a side note, there was the romance angle (times two, of course) and both were seriously instalove, but you know what. I don’t even care; it was just that good.
About Thomas Locke
Davis Bunn is an internationally-acclaimed author who has sold more than eight million books in twenty languages.
Honored with four Christy Awards for excellence in historical and suspense fiction, Davis was inducted into the Christy Hall of Fame in 2014.
His bestsellers include The Great Divide, Winner Take All, The Meeting Place, The Book of Hours, and The Quilt. A sought-after lecturer in the art of writing, Bunn was serves as Writer in Residence at Regent’s Park College, Oxford University.
Davis Bunn also writes under the names Thomas Locke (for his epic fantasy and techno-thriller novels) and T. Davis Bunn (for books published prior to 2002).
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