This is the second book of the Epic Book series. I have never or rarely ever finish one book in a series and then start on the second one immediately. But, I certainly did for this series. First, I’m fortunate that the series has already been written into four books and I believe they are all published. I plan to read them one after the other. Second, I’ve rarely read an author that writes so passionately about peoples emotions, their inner conflict when faced with adversity. And not all of his writing is about good stuff.
As nice and exciting as the first book was, this book definitely takes a turn to the dark. I don’t think you will believe what you are about to read in this second book and I’m not sure the title fits. Scott Remington and his fellow “Operatives” from Richmond base, have settled in with their new platoon members, Unit 14. It’s been three months since the Bakma attacked Novosibirsk. That was an all out attack that almost wiped the base out if not for the courage of, once again, Scott Remington and about 3,000 Nightmen.
So, now things have settled down into a rebuilding routine. Scott has been promoted or ordered promoted by General Ivanovic van Thoor. No one knows why and Scott’s immediate command, Captain Clarke, wasn’t given a choice. Now Scott is almost an Officer. If you remember, Scott is a holder of the Golden Lion. He is known throughout the base as the American Golden Lion although there are many who don’t believe he’s really that great. Some just don’t care. But, then again, Scott doesn’t care either, he just wants to get on with his training and go home. Then he hears the great news that Nikki, his long time finance will be coming to Novosibirsk for a visit. That’s allowed although not many come to Siberia by choice. He can’t wait until she shows.
The action in this book is very exciting. I had a tough time putting it down. I read during the daytime which I seldom do, but I had to find out what was happening on the next page. You really get to know the characters in this book. They are a mixed bag of good and bad, but even the bad seem to want to get along, to a point. The unit is coming together with a professional attitude that few units attain. But, things can change very, very rapidly.
I don’t understand the authors military rank structure. It sounds as though he’s mixing Naval rank with an army/Marine type unit. Captain Clark must be equivalent to an Army/Marine Colonel, because he has a Commander as his XO. Then you have Lieutenants. And even with that rank structure for the officers, this is only a unit of about 18 men and women. That’s not even two full Army squads. Yet they call this a Platoon with a very top heavy commanding rank. And then, the military discipline inside the barracks is very lax. Some will say it’s too lax and can cause problems down the line.
Once again, I’ll say that this book is very dark. If you’re in a depressive mood, don’t read this book now. If you do read it, make sure you have the third book handy because you’re going to want to get right back in the action immediately. This is good writing. Not great, because some of the plot is so obvious you should no what’s going to happen well before it does. But, there are twist that come about in very strange ways. Keep reading.