Published: Aug. 30, 2011
Words: 121543 (approximate)
Language: English

Ebook short description

Earth is engaged to help save an alien race from extinction, using an army of children. An Army of Orphans training for six years to fight enormous humaniod Gators across the Galaxy. Will a military genius arise in time to lead them? Are they heading for a fight they can't win? Should we even be getting involved in the fight?

Extended description

For eight year old orphan, Alexander Hawk, the question, "Is there other Intelligent life in the Universe?" has been answered with a resounding YES!

Plucked from a correctional facility for boys because of a test he never even finished, Alexander is sent to train for combat against an alien race of Alligators which is attacking another group of aliens, the Macktonics, who have allied with United States in return for advanced technology.

The United States' gathers an army of children so they will arrive at the perfect age for fighting. Alexander faces grueling training exercises as he struggles to rise to the challenge of preparing to save the placid Macktonic alien civilization from pending attack. Before his training is complete he comes face to face with the enemy. Alexander becomes student and teacher as they square off against a superior aggressor. Traveling through time portals crossing time and space to gain intelligence, and ultimately to hunt down their foe before they at... (Read more) For eight year old orphan, Alexander Hawk, the question, "Is there other Intelligent life in the Universe?" has been answered with a resounding YES!

Plucked from a correctional facility for boys because of a test he never even finished, Alexander is sent to train for combat against an alien race of Alligators which is attacking another group of aliens, the Macktonics, who have allied with United States in return for advanced technology.

The United States' gathers an army of children so they will arrive at the perfect age for fighting. Alexander faces grueling training exercises as he struggles to rise to the challenge of preparing to save the placid Macktonic alien civilization from pending attack. Before his training is complete he comes face to face with the enemy. Alexander becomes student and teacher as they square off against a superior aggressor. Traveling through time portals crossing time and space to gain intelligence, and ultimately to hunt down their foe before they attack the Macktonics.
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Adult-content rating:

This book contains content considered unsuitable for young readers 17 and under, and which may be offensive to some readers of all ages. For more information, see the Support FAQ.

Tags

action, military, futuristic, alexander, hawk, rules of engagement

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Reviews

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Review by: Mike Schnurr on Feb. 12, 2012 :
I think this book was great. I was kinda skeptical going into it thinking it was going to be an ender's game type book but it had a totally diffrent concept that worked. I would reccomend this book to anyone
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Roger Royer on Feb. 10, 2012 :
I liked this book. It was not the best I have ever read nor was it the worst though some of it was a little upsetting. Taking place in the future as it does makes it almost reasonable though there are some things I did have issues with. Let me start with the things I liked.

I did like the idea of using time travel to fight a war though the way it s being used is very short sighted. It is still a good idea for as far as they went with it. I also liked the character development. All of the main characters developed well though (see below) there where some issues.

Some of the neutral thoughts I have about the book deal with the age of the characters. They are young, too young though I understand why they are that young but then the rules changed and they are eight or nine to twelve instead of the idea of landing at the age of 16 to 20. I also was fond of the training scenarios until they formed the major part of the book. Fun? yes. Half the book? I really do not think it was needed.

Now for the bad. I did not care for the rather adult situations some of the soldiers where put into at the age of eight to ten. I also found that some of the areas they covered where a little bit less than what I hoped for as they dropped some character development half way thought the book, added new characters at the end and never developed them fully. The last thing that bothered me was that sometimes the editing was a little off but that is easily fixed.

Overall a decent book and I would read the second one given the chance
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: ashley williams on Feb. 10, 2012 : (no rating)
I did not enjoy this book for many reasons. The first being the errors, they were very hard to over come, be it the spelling or the switch from third person to first, it was a struggle. Second, I found the aliens to be more likely to be real than the humans. I know the children in this book are supposed to be very smart but the language just doesn't fit kids. And in this book these kids just seem to be born with skills that are impossible. That being say, if the grammar was sorted out I would have given this book a better rating.Still very glad I got the chance to read this book!
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Lynxie on Feb. 10, 2012 :
What can i say about 'No rules of engagement' that will encourage you to read it?

It reminded me of a slightly less articulate and mentally slower sibling (the kind that gets pushed to the back of photos) to Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card . Not as polished, not as exciting or well written, but the general idea of it was there (aliens, space fighting, lots of children dragged across the universe to fight an adults war... you get the gist)

My main issues with this book were the editing within the .mobi version I got from Smashwords, there was a point approx. 58% of the way through (Where he's quoting from the bible) where the text colour changes from black to this lighter grey and I seriously thought that my kindle was dying for a second until I opened another book and confirmed it was just this book. (FYI, it continues all the way to the start of Chapter 19).

Other editing issues included missing words, incorrect use of words, or mixed order of words in sentences.

they said it was a standardized test. First the questions were way to hard, and then... Missing the second o in too. Similar instances included it instead of it's, your instead of you're, except instead of accept and the list goes on. These just added to the many, many small but noticeable and quite frustrating editing/spelling/grammar mistakes. 1 full star lost to that.

I also had huge issues with the POV changing from first to third person mid scene, hell, even mid sentence!

"Please give it a try, Sir." Captain Bratten said to me as he held the door open to one of the balls. Alexander climbed in and shut the door.

Editing and spelling issues aside here, probably the most disturbing thing about this book is the age of Alexander and the very adult situations he was portrayed in. Tawna's review (on GoodReads.com) outlines pretty much every problem I had in relation to his age and I agree with her that if he was just a couple of years older this issue wouldn't be so bad.

i'm sorry, but the fact that a 10yr old is discussing having sex with his girlfriend is more than a little disturbing, even though it is a work of fiction. This along with the annoyance at the editing and POV changes really ruined what could have been a decent story. Thomas, I would consider either making Alex a bit older or laying off all the sexy stuff with his girl friend until he's at least 13-15.

The bible stuff didn't thrill me, but then I mostly skipped over that while reading as I didn't feel it added anything to the story, in fact it probably made me dislike Alexander even more, he is rather disturbing in how one minute he's super kid extraordinaire, the next he's just a mean kid who likes to bash up anyone who touches him...

I could have really gotten into a bit more information about some of the other main kids that stepped into the other major roles, Intel and Kirk etc and less simulations, or at least more interesting ones.

Sorry Thomas it just didn't do it for me. It was a struggle to get through some of it, I won't be reading book #2.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: sgunnell on Feb. 10, 2012 :
very different book for me, I didn't really enjoy it, but I made myself finish it..I admire the author for writing such a different storyline
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Thomas ibbotson on Feb. 01, 2012 : (no rating)
To be honest, I didn't enjoy the book. Even though I rarely like books with military themes, I didn't let that get in the way and started the book with open eyes as there are some gems out there. Unfortunately, I had lost this optimism after a while.
A lot of the grammar, punctuation and spelling were far from perfect. The only example of this that I wrote down came from an early part of the novel: 'Why was the test, messed up, explain that?'. I'm not sure if the commas were there to represent pauses, because 'messed up' isn't a parenthesis, as ellipses would have been more suitable. These mistakes really did make it less enjoyable to read and I felt I was playing 'spot the mistake' instead of actually reading the story.
I think Alex being of a younger age could have worked very well but I was put off a lot by his character as it was very off-putting reading pages and pages where almost every line of Alex's dialogue contained swearing.
Not to sound too negative, I really do like the ideas that the novel is based on, such as the intergalactic space travel and how we can see that even though war occurs outside of Earth, that power and money are still important factors.
The comparison of Alex to Alexander the Great was something I also liked.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: jodie nielsen on Jan. 26, 2012 : (no rating)
I finished the book late last night. First I have to say that for me the book had two strikes against it from the beginning. The age of the boy and an alligator race. ( I've never read this category before) I must say that despite my doubts Thomas pulled it off, and very well at that. From the beginning I was captured by his writing style and the characters were great! Towards the end of the first hundred pages I stopped thinking about the impossibility of an 8 year old being capable of leading this and and just really started getting into the story, once that happened I didnt put it down much. I did get a little tired of the battle simulations at this time and must admit I skimmed a few pages. All in all, despite my misgivings in the beginning, it was a really good book and Thomas Wilson is a great writer that I will definitely look for in the future. I will also be looking forward to the next book ( I assume there will be one )to share in the rest of Alexanders adventure!
(reviewed within a week of purchase)

Review by: Andrew Fontenelle on Dec. 03, 2011 :
Take one no nonsense General, an army of youngsters lead by an eight year old military genius, an alien race on the verge of destruction and you have what turned out to be a great story! "No Rules of Engagement" by Thomas Wilson had me hooked from the start. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series!
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: RJ Palmer on Nov. 16, 2011 :
Overall Feedback: Unbelievably well written story. This is a hold on to your seat, rampant ride into space military action. The action is non stop and Thomas has really done well to grab a hold of the reader and not let go until the last page.

Point of View: You will be following young Hawk as he realizes was he is born to do.

Voice: It seems to me this is more about realizing the truth of yourself rather than the truth people choose to see in you.

Character Development: You will get a real feel for the main character. I do think that the supporting characters could have used a little more polish.

Plot: Twisting turning action packed space military adventure. Need I say more.

Dialogue: Believable and natural.

Pacing: The writer will run away with your imagination leaving your heart racing and you breathless.

Setting: Perfect and adds to the imaginary real to this story.

Continuity: A couple issue in the beginning but nothing that will keep you from enjoying a great story.
(reviewed the day of purchase)

Review by: RJ Palmer on Nov. 16, 2011 :
Overall Feedback: Unbelievably well written story. This is a hold on to your seat, rampant ride into space military action. The action is non stop and Thomas has really done well to grab a hold of the reader and not let go until the last page.

Point of View: You will be following young Hawk as he realizes was he is born to do.

Voice: It seems to me this is more about realizing the truth of yourself rather than the truth people choose to see in you.

Character Development: You will get a real feel for the main character. I do think that the supporting characters could have used a little more polish.

Plot: Twisting turning action packed space military adventure. Need I say more.

Dialogue: Believable and natural.

Pacing: The writer will run away with your imagination leaving your heart racing and you breathless.

Setting: Perfect and adds to the imaginary real to this story.

Continuity: A couple issue in the beginning but nothing that will keep you from enjoying a great story.
(reviewed the day of purchase)

Review by: J.L. Murphey on Sep. 07, 2011 :
This is a fabulous novel! From the first line to the last. Young Alexander Hawk is conscripted into the army for a rescue mission on another planet. Step by step and with his own ingenuity, he becomes the fighting machine the military needs to save the Macktonic planets from annihilation and defeat the Raptors.

I highly recommend this novel, but be warned hang onto the seat of your pants for a roller coaster ride. Brilliant imagination for the author, Thomas Wilson. Can't wait for the sequel.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

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