This is a fantastic follow-up to Battle Ground. We get the same story from the point of view of the antagonist. if you’ve already enjoyed Battle Ground, you definitely want to get Ketty’s side of the story. And if you haven’t enjoyed Battle Ground yet, you should grab that one too. She's almost as unlikeable as you thought she was, but understandable as well.

Note: I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review. ( )

This is quite a hard book to review, mostly because of the authors brave/bold decision to change the protagonist away from the previous book. I'm not aware of anything else written quite this way, it's a complete retelling of the events in BattleGround, through the eyes of our former antagonist Ketty.

Ketty was one of the main problems with Bex's training as a recruit before she encountered the evidence that the government was involved in something much larger than just terrorists. But Ketty is not just some stooge of a corrupt government. She's been hoodwinked by the powers above her just as much as Bex. She doesn't have Bex's advantages, background or independence, but she still wants to do what's right to trust that rules are there for a reason, and aware of the bigger threat, she sees the situation very differently and doesn't believe that running away will solve anything. From her point of view, so well illuminated by the author, is that the army is there to give her an opportunity she's never had in life, and these pesky recruits need to learn the discipline she's always had to foster. There aren't exceptions to the rules just because it's convenient. She never gets exceptions, and she doesn't expect the recruits to either. Some learn this much more smoothly than others (eg Bex and friends who treat the RTC as a camp and playground), it being Ketty's job as well as her future prospects, to ensure these recruits

At the same time Ketty has her own problems to contend with, from being a woman in a man's army, through to incompetent bosses, rivals, and politics within the hierarchy of command. None of these has easy answers and Ketty wouldn't allow herself the freedom of taking the easy way out anyway. And then the events in the latter half of the book play out, and Ketty really has to make difficult decisions about whom to believe and what causes she really wants to support.

It's an amazing achievement to re-craft the entire previous book in a new light. My only grumble is that the plot of the series doesn't progress very far, we know everything that's happened, and instead only get to see the familiar events in a new light. I think it would be very interesting to come back and re-read this first, and Battle Ground afterwards to see how that effects one's sympathy for each character. ( )