Review: Nothing much
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 10, 2012
I read this immediately after book 1.  Firstly, there are some editing problems - "Where was his medals?", "What have you got to loose?" and an injection "irrigating" a person's neck are just a few.  Very irritating, or should that be "irrigating"?The main problem is that not much happens.  Oh, the Varson race start its second war with humanity, but it is all very distant.  Very early on, the Varson people become merged into the character of one maniac bent on revenge for their earlier defeat by humans.  We know virtually nothing else about them as a race, nor is there any suggestion that, with the exception of one deserter, some of them might disagree with their leader.  Even Germany had its resistance movement during World War 2.The character of the leader is purely one dimensional.  I lost count of the number of people he killed, most by beheading them with his sword.  No mean feat when you think about it.  He starts with the sword in his scabbard and manages to behead people with one swing.  No one even has a chance to move.  Even a Samurai would be impressed.The former stowaway, Har Hansen is back.  He is no longer completely round the twist, his thought about "Where was his medals" being his only reference to the fact that he apparently thought he was an Admiral and therefore entitled to medals. He is now simply a very annoying, probably paranoid but at least observant, child.  However, the author has at least one senior officer thinking that one day he (ie young Mr Hansen) will run the place.  Please, give me a break.  He is 12 years old, for goodness sake!  He has been admitted to the Naval academy.  I pray that he will be left there for the next 10 years before he graduates and we will not have to put up with his presence in the next book.  However, I have this horrible suspicion that in book three he will morph into a gifted, but difficult, student.  This would be despite all evidence in the books, particularly book one, where his mother despaired of ever getting him to do any study.  His reading as a stowaway appeared to be comics and penny dreadful science fiction books featuring rapacious aliens.  Whilst his mother insists he was an intelligent boy, I don't care how intelligent he is, he simply cannont make up for doing virtually nothing of an academic nature for the 3 years he was a stowaway.  Indeed, his apparent inability to frame a question in proper English, ie about his medals, may have been indicative of his lack of academic knowledge.  Any attempt by the author to whitewash his academic deficiencies will be a major inconsistency.  Quite frankly, his presence is reason enough to deduct one star from any potential rating for the book.Overall, the book was okay, but the series is becoming quite tedious, after just two books.  None of the characters grab one's interest and there is little development in their characters or abilities.  Young Mr Hansen probably occupies more space than any other character, and I have given my opinion of him.  Even Captain Haad shows little of the competence that one is supposed to believe he has demonstrated for years. If he is the hero of the series, he is a very boring one.I will give book three a go, but the writing and plot development needs to improve before I would be interested in reading any more, if there are to be any more.