Overall a step down from the first one, in my opinion. It's starting to have that unfortunate Old Man's War smell where the main character turns out to be the bestest boy in the entire galaxy and everyone else basically stands around telling them how good and great and tough and special he is, and also somehow the fate of the entire universe depends on him. We're not quite there yet, but this feels like a significant step in that direction compared to Term of Enlistment. Here's hoping the next one steps back from the brink.

That's not to say this is a bad book. It's still well written, and I did really like the chapter where we visit earth and see both the bad and the good sides of our planet in the future. Kloos can still write, but the thing I liked so much about the first book -- somewhat realistic low stakes military scifi -- feel like a thing of the past here.