The first book I ever remember reading about an alien invasion of the Earth was Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle’s Footfall in the late 80’s. Since then, several others have come out that I have read, Weber has added this to the list and as with anything Weber writes, it is in general outstanding.
The basic plot is that earth is invaded by an alien species that got its first scout reports from our 15th century. The invasion fleet arrives in the 21st century and is astonished to see how fast and how far humanity has developed technologically. They proceed with the invasion and initiate it with kinetic strikes against most of the major cities on earth. They assume that the conquest should be simple, it is not as humanity fights back. The story centers around telling the tale of several different people just before and after the invasion. The story is great until the end, when Weber inserts a plot twist that kind of ruined the rest of it for me. I am not going to put a spoiler in here but will suffice it to say that normal Weber readers like myself will be kind of disappointed with the way the story is wrapped up.
That is not to say this is not a good book, it is. Weber’s characterization is excellent and the way in which he pulls the story along is up to his usual standard of perfection. I recommend this book to both Weber fans and regular SF fans, I just have some mild reservations about the way it ended.