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.