So far this series is probably a 3.5 star for me (so I rounded the first one down and this one up). I really love how Torin gets things done in the face of impossible odds. But never in that irritating way that makes you dislike her for being too perfect. Looking forward to the next one.

another 3.5 star read. entertaining, but forgettable.

In book 1, I struggled to keep the names, species, and personalities of 48 marines straight, so I was annoyed when book 2 sent Torin to an entirely new, one-off platoon, and I had 48 more people to meet and remember. Even though book 2 takes place immediately after book 1, you could read book 2 first and it wouldn't make any difference. Nothing that happens in book 1 is relevant, and the two books feel strangely disconnected.

Book 2's plot is also way too similar to book 1. Torin is assigned to a no-combat mission,

Spoiler

the platoon is attacked and officers are rendered unconscious, forcing her to take charge. Then she figures out that the mission is actually a test from an alien race, she is attracted to a newcomer but refuses to admit it, half the platoon dies, and a horrible admiral only cares about how the whole thing makes him look.

I am curious about the two military alien species, but they are not developed any further in book 2. Neither species’ culture seems to be any deeper than is needed to make jokes about them. What about those class differences mentioned in book 1? Nope. The Krai continue to be the cannibals who eat anything, and the Taken are sex crazed, and nothing else. We do learn that after centuries of war, the confederation knows almost nothing about the others.

Book 2 wasn't bad, but it felt frustratingly meaningless. Book 1 established the world and the characters, and book 2 should have seen them grow and become more complex, but it didn't.

Another fun military sci-fi romp in Tanya Huff's Confederation series. This one had the frustrating annoyance of the vastly superior alien technology that's never explained, but the actual adventure was fun.

Got stuck for a while because Ryder and Travik were just so damn obnoxious.

Another 3.5. Again, Staff Sargent Kerr is awesome, battle scenes moved quickly and the themes were classic and full of witty banter. I just couldn’t help feeling it needed another edit to keep the pace consistent. I’ll read more in this series.

ooh i love a mysterious alien ship, and the very enigmatic last paragraph.....

my main love is sci fi that blows your understanding of “the world as we see it”. this story manages to get a bunch of marines on a mysterious alien ship and fighting for their lives. enigmatic unknown aliens are so much fun to think about. and a lovely mystery layer to add to this solid girl with guns in the marines series.

Solid military sci fi. Somewhere between original series Star Trek and Old Man's War

Torrin continues her reign of kicking alien ass and taking no shit from superiors. I continue to enjoy this serious immensely.

I read these books mostly for the main character, who only disappointed this go-round by falling into a love interest subplot. Yes, they both like to snark, but for the vast majority of their time together, he was actively a drag on her doing her job, but yet she still found him charming for reasons that I just didn't really get. They were all in a life-and-death situation, and yet he kept taking up her attention as a leader while she was trying to get them to safety much longer than I thought made sense, either for him to do or her to put up with.

The plot was ok. Just ok, in that there was a big deus ex machina as a plot device, which kept pushing everyone around for no discernible reason. The subplots were really more interesting: the usual back and forth in the squad, the squad dynamics, the other secondary characters, and the introduction of some more information about the Others was welcome.