Legionnaire by Jason Anspach and Nick Cole

A hostile force ambushes Victory Company during a diplomatic mission. Stranded behind enemy lines, a sergeant must lead a band of survivors against merciless insurgents on a deadly alien world. With no room for error, the Republic¿s elite fighting force must struggle to survive under siege while waiting on a rescue that might never come.

I was NOT expecting this book to be as good as it was. I picked it up for cheap and expected it to be one of the million run-of-the-mill amateur military SF novels. What I got was two ex-military professionals turned novelists channeling David Drake – pure excellence. What really set this 5-star review in stone was the fact that this first novel is a full novel in and of itself – there's nothing more to buy. The authors are not trying to capitalize on a multi-part novel that forces you to purchase 3 books to get the full story. Gritty, bloodsoaked, intelligent. I will be picking up further novels in this series.