Brimstone

Ascendant War, Book 2

By: Rhett C. Bruno, M.B. Vance

Narrated by: Ray Porter

The Ascendant Humans have conquered Earth and banished mankind to a distant star. There, the refugees war in space over the resources rationed to them. In an orbital habitat, Commander Rylan Shaw labors against the inter-colony arms trafficking when an informant gives him horrific news. The ruthless cartel boss, Lilith, has stockpiled weapons of mass destruction. Worse, she has permission from the Wardens, humanity's robot overlords, to unleash them upon the system.

As the battleship Infinity speeds to investigate Rylan's discovery, her operations officer, Scott Carrick, soon finds himself in a trap more deadly than he could have ever imagined. To his dismay, he learns that his only hope of escape may lie with their most junior crewmember, a gentle nurse named Aila Omura.

As Rylan, Scott, and Aila struggle to survive a war where the rules keep changing, they must answer a terrible question: how do they win when it seems the Wardens intend for everyone to lose?

©2023 Rhett C. Bruno and M.B. Vance (P)2023 Recorded Books

Different book

Very different than the first book in this series, not sure I really liked the odd turn it took into super weird behaviors and such. I get it this is a book about a war but man for odd. Anyway, still deciding about book three our not

completely different style of voicing

Where did Scott suddenly get a horrible British accent and the same thing with a couple of other characters.

Also it is unnecessarily graphic rape stuff. I honestly think the writers need to see a phycologist and the police need to check their basement.

I don't think I will be buying anything else from them.

Enjoyable Book

Book does not disappoint. It picks up shortly after the end of Book 1. The story is paced and easy to listen too. The narration is very good. The character building done in book one pays off again in book two. The risk that the characters face in book 2 is intense and insane. This book really drives home the depravity of superior beings indifference to life. I am looking forward to book 3.

Graphic and in some ways unnecessary to a space opera.

Graphic about sexual
Assault and in some ways unnecessary to a space opera. At some times the content seemed repetitive. I did not feel this way about book 1. Still looking forward to book 3 next year.

A struggle to get through after it switched to only two characters POV.

The beginning was on pace with the first book, changing a specific characters accent from book one was a little off but the progression was good, when it switched to a two character focus for the remainder of the book it was a slow pace with the characters feeling like they were repeating chapters without advancing the story. The end was a jump the shark moment that leaves me not wanting to continue with the series.