Easy read, enjoyable, not a Booker prize winner :) ( )

The majority of military SF falls down as science fiction. Future societies are portrayed as being substantially similar to current or past ones. The fictional tech is, again, similar to current tech except for producing bigger explosions. (This doesn't apply to the Culture novels; they are not military SF to begin with). The majority of military SF also expresses a conservative desire to return to simpler times. The post Cold War world, where enemies, allies & bystanders are difficult to tell apart & change places, is not the source for their plots.

There are, it seems to me, two basic strains of military science fiction: that represented by works such as Kloo’s “Aftershocks”, Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers”, Old Man's War, Hammers Slammers, King David's Spaceship, Dorsai and even Bill, the Galactic Hero, and those represented by things like Honor Harrington and much of the Baen 'fleet': that difference being that the former concentrate on the human effects of war - which is usually presented as something that has been unwilling imposed on the race, while the latter seem to glory in the technocracy of war. That former type of "military science fiction" is what I personally prefer to read. On the other hand, I’m always quite shocked at the overt political pontificating coming from the front of the room when it comes to the latter. Some of those authors even use SF panels as a bully pulpit for their (sometimes extreme) political views. I do remember them using panels as a bully pulpit for their works, but that was expected. This? As I said, quite shocked and quite put off. Besides, I've always regarded Honor Harrington as a poor take on Chandler's John Grimes character, the original "Horatio Hornblower of Space" as his dust jackets and back cover blurbs so frequently proclaimed. Now there was a character (and stories and an author) who used mil stuff in balance; Grimes knew how to fight but was also keenly aware of the 'bloody-mindedness' of it all; he always strove to find some non-violent solution to his problems. I would imagine that most SF readers, when it comes right down to it, would prefer to see wit win out over brawn.

Kloos shows what can be done brawn- and wit-wise with just four character-driven POVs in a MilSF context. Better than most of the MilSF being published nowadays. ( )

There isn't much in the way of a plot here, but the characters are so well written that the absence of a plot doesn't really matter much. I don't care who is blowing up ships and smuggling nukes - that part is just "meh" - but I care tremendously about the fate of Solveig, Aidan, Faulk, Aidan's entire crew, Aidina (I listened to the Audible version and English is not my first language, so I'm sure I'm mangling some names here). I can't wait for book #3. ( )

This is really four stories that touch occasionally; it continues from the first book and needs to be read as such. It just seems that the only reason a second book exists is to sell more books as there's really no climax to this one nor the last one., Aftershocks. The characters: Aden, who just wanders looking... Cdr Dunstan, a Navy CO... Idinia, a police woman/soldier who's old at 38... and Solveig, an heiress--all have very much 21st century human lives with a few sci-fi words tossed around. Said another way, not much vision in the future. t seems that the entire book could have been written in half the amount of words. I looked for Kloos' web site and found nothing about a third installment, nothing to tantalize except that the author lives in NH and runs a pack of dachshunds. Maybe, I don't care enough, either, to continue reading the series? ( )

If you were expecting the pace to accelerate after the first book, then you will be disappointed. ( )