Battle Lines

Tranquility, Book 2

By: Devon C. Ford, Josh Hayes

Narrated by: Scott Aiello

The Hive is gone, but the queen’s effect on the world lingers.

As the people of Tranquility rebuild, those touched by the alien creature struggle to come to grips with what was done to them and the pain they’d caused to their friends and family. Joel Lander is no stranger to their hardships, but with a new threat looming, they have precious little time to lose.

The fight for Tranquility is not over.

Lander has defeated the Asiatic Chinese Alliance once before, but out here on the frontier, with no allies and nowhere to retreat, the odds are once again stacked against him. As old demons appear from his past and enemies press against him from all sides, new champions are forced to step up and fight.

Battle lines have been drawn, and the victors will decide the fate of the world.

Book two of an action-pack new military sci-fi epic from best-selling authors Josh Hayes (The Valor trilogy) and Devon C. Ford (After It Happened). Starcraft meets Titanfall in a thrilling battle for survival.

©2021 Josh Hayes and Devon C Ford (P)2021 Audible, Inc.

Ending Rushed

Comparing with the first book, which was written well and had a good story, this one was rushed.

The whole story just seems rushed like there was a little left over from the first book that they couldn't fit in.

Good Mecha Fiction

After defeating the hive mind in the first book, old enemies have shown up to attack the nascent colony. And a military unit against a largely civilian colony isn't exactly a fair fight.

There is some espionage, quite a bit of well-described combat, and, unfortunately, several scenes of POW torture. (I've read enough POW torture scenes for one life.) And then things get complex.

There is an event in the middle of the book that seems entirely too convenient to me, both in its timing and in its details. The event itself wasn't unreasonable, given the information available to the principals, though. (Further details redacted as spoilers.) This did impact my suspension of disbelief, but not fatally.

Just as a note, the kinds of accelerations described for people in mechs being kicked or thrown across a battlefield would likely be unsurvivable, regardless of how good the internal acceleration protection is. But that's the kind of thing that's a bit of a trope in mecha fiction, so it's forgivable.

In spite of some problems, this book worked much better for me than the first book in the series.