Book #33–Poor Man’s Fight

Poor Man's Fight was recommended to me by Amazon, so I grabbed it. I was hooked right away. It’s the future, with a number of systems settled by humans. We know there are aliens, but we don’t see them. Instead, we find that kids go through educational systems, take a test, and then can move to university. Like today, right?
No, all the debt is held by the students. Most come out in huge debt, and must work to pay it off most of their lives with 3 large companies running education and holding the kids semi bound to them. Half the book follows Tanner Malone, a smart kid who gets stuck with debt and rather than take out more, he decides to join the Navy.
The other half of the story is pirates, who take advantage of cruise liners and freighters, preying on them like might have happened years ago.
The two stories some together a bit as Tanner goes through basic and then gets deployed on a ship. He struggles fitting in as the ship is strange and somewhat slack after his basic training. He’s unhappy and doesn’t get much training, but he learns what he can on his own.
However when they get called to respond to a patrol, they take off short handed, and Tanner shines. He goes aboard as an extra as he had marine training in basic. The freighter they boarded is a pirate ship, with plans to kill the boarders and ship. However Tanner’s quick reactions save one of his crewman and allow the corvette he’s stationed on to capture the pirates. He’s awarded medals, despite the fact that he feels guilty a few of his fellow crew died.
The crew doesn’t like him, and he feels guilty. They go out a few months later and the entire crew is killed, but Tanner survives with an exciting ending. A good space opera.