Ballistic, the second book in the series that began with Aftershocks, is well written, well edited, and continues an interesting story with compelling characters. The storyworld is nicely developed and plausible. The character development is deep and satisfying.

I really want to love this series but it has a major flaw: There's virtually no self-contained conclusion within each book. Series are great, but each book needs to have its own arc of the story that concludes at the end while leaving the larger story open for future development. That's not happening here and it's really frustrating for a substantial book to essentially end with TO BE CONTINUED and little else.

Ballistic is the second in Marko Kloos’ Palladium Wars series. I enjoyed the first book a great deal; it deftly explored the aftermath of an interplanetary war, the morality and ethics of occupation, and the effects of the conflict on both occupiers and the occupied. And it did all of that while managing to tell an absolutely cracking story, where fast-paced, compelling action was wonderfully leavened with raw, emotional, character-driven moments of humanity. It was, in short, rather good.

So what about the sequel?

Well, it has all of the same facets that made the first book in the series so much fun. The world (well, worlds) are vivid, well-realised, each with their own unique mix of societies and cultures. Our protagonists are engaging, with unique voices, and seeing through their eyes always feels like it adds a unique perspective to the story as that crackles along. And yes, there’s more than enough plot here for anyone. High politics. Low politics. Knives in the dark. Some outright heroism, and moments of emotional resonance, backed by adrenaline thumping action sequences which actually made me gap more than once. If you want the tl;dr, then this is it: this is a high quality work of science fiction which will take and hold your attention, and you won’t want to put it down until you’re done.

The story takes place over multiple worlds; some we’ve seen before, while others are new to us. I have to admit, I have a particular liking for the scenes set on Gretia, a planet which started a war with every other planet in the system, and then had the poor grace to lose. Now occupied by forces form the other planets, the Gretin society is fascinating, as are the tensions within it. Business people from the old political classes are restricted in their dealings. Gretian police officers are paired up with non-Gretian military. Civilians are trying to adjust to a new reality, living with the guilt of starting a war, the shame of losing one, and the economic consequences of both. Gretia is a world on the edge, trying to decide which way it’ll fall.

Unsurprisingly, the occupiers aren’t popular there, and simmering resentment is starting to build, even if it’s purposeless and poisonous. Gretia is a cauldron on simmer, waiting for the right demagogue to boil it over.
On the other hand, it’s also a place with people like Solveig; heiress to one fo Gretia’s largest interplanetary businesses, thrust into the role after her unpleasantly political father has been locked out, she really wants to do the right thing. To cut deals, yes, but to make good ones, with old friends and new, to try and put Gretia’s past behind and make something. This is the younger generation, strikign out for themselves – or, in some cases, falling back into the dry embrace of a dead past. Solveig though, is energetic, driven and perceptive. She can see the power structure of her company, and the way it still revolves around the fierce intelligence of her father, who is no less a sharp businessman for his unapologetic views on the lost war (and whose regrets over losing it are oozingly self-justifying. They make an interesting pair, fencers face to face, one trying to make something of his daughter, the other trying to get out from under the shadow of her father and become what she needs to be. It’s a lovely dynamic, and Solveig’s efforts to turn Gretian commerce around are quietly compelling, if less explosive than others. Solveig also takes us to all sorts of exciting new places, about which I’ll say little, except thaat they’re richly imaginative, and very well drawn indeed.

Then there’s Idina. If Solveig is the new Gretia, Idina is their nightmares come to life. A member of the elite ground troops of their occupying enemies. Idina is fast with a gun, faster with a blade, and has so much technological backup inside her armoured suit that you’d need an anti-tank rifle to put a dent in her. Idina is great fun to follow, because she will take absolutely no crap. A senior NCO, she’s not just a one-hit warrior, swinging madly into crowds – but a thoughtful, analytical individual, always maintaining situational awareness, ready to leap into action (occasionally literally) at a moment’s notice. Idina humanises the Gretian’s enemies; not forgiving the cromes of their leaders, but perhaps softeninig on the populace as a whole. She’s fierce, smart, and taking absolutely no crap, which meant the pages turned very fast during her chapters. In this, she’s ably assisted by her Gretian partner; she nominally supervises the other woman’s work. Of course, Idina is military, not police, so really it’s more that the two are learning to come together, to rub along without strife, to see each other’s strengths and weaknesses, to put aside preconceptions that were shaped by years of now quiescent conflict, and make something better. ANd you know what, it works.

This is a slowly warming friendship, opening up by degrees, and the role that the two fill, investigating weapons caches and rising terror threats against civilian targets on Gretia, is utterly fascinating.
Solveig’s brother is another viewpoint; the black sheep, ex-military, a man with false papers, living on a courier vessel which might, sometimes, take on a cargo that’s a little bit grey market. Living on the boundaries of things, and just trying to make a life for himself as something other than his past – a past which the world just won’t let go of. Of course, being a scion of one of the most famous families on Gretia wouldn’t help that – if anyone knew, anyway. The slow growth of camraderie and loyalty that Aden has for his crew is genuinely warming, and their jaunts through space with a cargo of a somewht mysterious nature make for interesting reading; Aden’s quieter, more contemplative, and the threats his crew face tend toward the personal – the knife in the dark, the offer that’s also a threat. Another perspective on evolving, complex situations.

Which leaves Dunstan, captain of a non-Gretian warship, trying to stave off piracy and work out exactly what's making so many ships disappear, if it’s not piracy in his spare time. Dunstan’s military approach is direct, honourable, but still has some room for wit, guile and manoeuvre. He’s someone we can trust, looking at the direct threats out of the window to the stars. I shan’t say more without spoilers, but his sections are always riveting.

Bringing all of these characters and their myriad stories toward a conclusion without us losing the thread is quite a task, but it’s done wonderfully here. There’s always enough from any given viewpoint to advance the story, to answer a few questions, to leave us asking more, to push toward a climax, or allow for a moment of personal tragedy, or triumph. And tying the whole ball of string together is seriously impressive. The story works, it ticks along with the precision of a finely made watch. You’ll find yourself stopping to eat dinner, wondering where the time went....and then wondering how it got to be three in the morning before you put the book down. This is a story with a lot of really interesting themes to lay upon and questions to ask, but it’s also a personal story, a character driven story, and also, a story with rather a lot of snappy action and, er, explosions.

What it is, in the end, is a really good read. So,if you wondered if this sequel was worth your time, I can only say this: yes. Give it a go, you won’t regret it.

A thoroughly enjoyable followup to the first book in the series, expanding characters and introducing new ones. I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series.

Reading Marko Kloos's works are kind of my comfort read now. He might not be full of twists and turns and his plotting is almost always as straight as an arrow, but he is good in making clean narratives with engaging characters that flow within an interesting made-up world. His military knowledge gives him more edge, of course, so you know you'll enjoy more authenticity in the stories as well as the action.

Ballistic continues to be a great but light entertainment for me. I am fully invested in the characters' arcs - the tropes used are not annoying at all, they just felt comfortable. In Aftershocks we were introduced to a world still recuperating from years of wars and the original invader had to deal with the consequences, while facing threats of rebellion from the so-called losing side who's not afraid of terror attacks. He might be inspired with what happened in the Gulf Wars, but now in a much grander scale.

I absolutely enjoyed Idina the Palladian soldier when she had to balance her military training and crowd control when she was embedded in the police force of a former enemy planet. It takes totally different training and police stuff seems very much more unpredictable as you often don't know where your next attack will come from especially in public space. Her friendship with a vet female police officer was refreshing. I wish more SFF have more of these mature, highly capable women's friendship and bonding.

I could not wait for the next installment. Thank you Netgalley and 47North for the review copy!

This is a safe bet from an experienced author. As usual, it's an imaginative tale with well drawn characters and good action. I"m not a big fan of cliffhangers which the author is fond of. Otherwise, this is nicely done.

Thanks very much for the review copy!!

Ballistic by Marko Kloos
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a very solid Mil-SF that doesn't so much dwell on the military aspect as it focuses more on our four main characters that come from all walks of life in a richly-imagined worldbuilding setting. It continues after the events of the war in the first book, mostly developing a feel of uneasy occupation in enemy territory, or rather, trying to get by as the defeated party in your own world.

I think a lot of us can relate to that. So much of our lives seem to be out of our control and power is in the hands of people we don't/can't trust. Add a rather deep look into the life of the police, or smugglers, or the daughter of a business clan on the losing side, and you have a pretty detailed and broad tale in this book.

So many people are just trying to get by, have to suffer under misconceptions, or even actively try to stop terrorism even when it hurts them personally. I really enjoyed the character building and the sacrifices that keep having to be made.

As for the big action near the end, suffice to say, Kloos has a definite thing about leaving us at spots where we REALLY can't wait for the next volume. :)

This is the 2nd novel in the Pallidium wars series and an excellent followup. The varied characters and story lines continue to draw closer together, the plot becomes more intricate and the characters more developed. The pace of the story is good and the world building excellent. Highly recommended, an excellent read.

Ballistic is the second book in Marko Kloos' space opera series, The Palladium Wars, following up from the series opener, "Aftershocks" (Reviewed Here). Kloos' "Frontlines" MilSci series is one of my favorite ongoing series at the moment - and I'm not a particularly big fan of MilSci, so that's saying something - so I was excited before Aftershocks to see what he would do with a genre I liked a bit more. But while Aftershocks had a number of really interesting characters, and a solid setup, it felt way too much like a prologue than a complete book for my tastes, with none of the characters' arcs having any satisfying resolution for me to grab hold of. So I was hoping the sequel, this book, would move forward a bit more quickly and give me more meat to hold onto.

Ballistic is better about this than Aftershock....but still suffers from the same problems. If combined with Afttershocks into a single book, it'd probably be a far more satisfying novel, but as book 2, it continues to be disappointingly slow. The character buildup remains mostly excellent, and most of the characters' arcs feature some major events happening, but Kloos continues to slowplay the overall plot developments of the series - even plot developments that Kloos has clearly been hinting at for two entire books now. Even as a reader who prefers books high on character to being high on plot, there just isn't enough here to grab me, so unless you have Kindle Unlimited and or can get in on this series while its on sale (rather likely), I can't wholeheartedly recommend it, despite the solid writing.
---------------------------------------------------Plot Summary------------------------------------------------------
The Gaia system remains on edge five years after Gretia's surrender to the Alliance of the other planets, with unseen actors taking steps to bring war back on the horizon.

On Gretia itself, Pallas Colour Sergeant Idina remains on patrol with her Gretian cop partner, trying to track down the mysterious insurgents who destroyed her unit and later set off a pair of bombs, killing Alliance troopers, Gretian Cops, and innocent civilians alike....but her search may lead her to discover a more formidable enemy than she realizes.

In space, Lieutenant Commander Dunstan Park and his Rhodian Navy Frigate, the RNS Minotaur, continues to search for whoever was behind the scuttling of the Gretian fleet, as well as the possible theft of the Gretian cruiser. But in the process, the Minotaur will find an enemy beginning to step out of the shadows....and who might just outgun the Minotaur in the process, requiring his crew to pull out all the stops in order to survive.

Also on Gretia, Solveig Ragnar has begun to settle in in her executive position, when she finds herself for the first time on an off-planet mission to renegotiate a major contract. But as she begins to take more acts for her own personal self, and not for the good of her father and the company, she begins to wonder to what lengths her father will go, and whether it is possible for her to slip his control.

Meanwhile, Aden has found himself a new home on the merchant ship (and sometimes smuggling ship) Zephyr, although only the captain knows of his true background. But when Zephyr picks up a new illegal smuggling job, Aden finds himself once again in the midst a situation that threatens to send the whole Gaia system into crisis, and only his choices can possibly save those he cares about from destruction.....

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Aftershocks spent its length introducing to the reader the Gaia system, our four protagonists, and sowing the seeds for the conflict that will presumably set the plot into action: the acts of unknown conspirators - with seemingly impossible resources/technology - trying to reignite the war that devastated the system up until 5 years prior. Each chapter was told from one of the protagonists' points of view, although Aden clearly got the most page time. But the book, which spent its entire length hinting at these mysterious antagonists, right from the very beginning, never revealed them to the reader, leaving the situation mostly where it was at the beginning.

Ballistic again splits the plot into the same four points of view, although the distribution of viewpoints is more equally distributed this time. And again, all four of our main characters are interestingly written, with different facets of their personalities which come out over the course of the plot. Aden remains the uncertain man, trying to figure out his new life despite events which keep bringing his past back to him, and learning to become part of the crew of Zephyr. Idina continues her journey with her Gretian partner, struggling with her hate of this place and her feeling that she needs to do more since the job isn't done. Dunstan provides for the space opera fun of the series, as he tries to figure out what's going on in space with the mysterious disappearing cruisers and gets into the series' first real space battle, which is excellently done.

And then there's Solveig. You'll notice that in the above plot summary, Solveig's section is the only one which is described without her being tied into a bigger conflict, which is because she's not - her only conflict is her personal one with her father and brother, as she tries to grow up. It's like she's part of another book entirely, and while this reader probably suspects she'll tie in more to the conflict as things go on - the odds Solveig's and Aden's father isn't involved in the conspiracy seems low, even if there's no in-book evidence of such - there's nothing there yet. And I mean she's likable and enjoyable as a character, but her chapters just constantly make you wonder "when will something happen" and well, nothing ever does in them.

That was of course the issue for Aftershocks, where after the entire book very little happened to majorly change the status quo. Ballistic is better in that regard for the other three characters, and a major event does occur at the book's end which clearly will shake up the status quo in a major direction. And if that event had occurred in book 1 of this series, it'd be a satisfying climax, even with the lack of Solveig significance. But as the climax to book 2, it feels underwhelming, like by now we should have at least some inkling of who our antagonists are, and well...we still don't, and they're still utterly in the shadows. A lot more happens in this book mind you, and only one of our four protagonists remains wholly separate from the others, but again it just feels like things are moving way too slowly for my taste, and we still don't spend enough time with a single set of interacting characters long enough for character development to be sufficient to overcome the lack of plot movement - for instance, it's very easy to several of Aden's crew members confused, since their individual traits aren't really that important for the plot and we keep switching away from them.

In short, if you could get Aftershocks and Ballistic as a single book - and for Kindle Unlimited, you basically can - this would be a solid intro novel to a series with some strong potential. But as a whole second book, it just again feels too slow, which is a disappointment.

Ballistic by Marko Kloos- Sequel to last years Aftershock and a very good space opera to boot! It's been five years in this relatively recent colonized system since an all out civil war devastated everyone. One planet decided all should be under their rule, but was defeated through great effort and sacrifice. Each society is unique and well developed for their environment. The story continues, as in Aftershocks, following the individual stories of four people dealing in their own way with the aftermath of the war and the unpleasantness that followed. Great world building and great character development raises this story above the normal slam-bang military space operas, and becomes a very enjoyable read. My only complaint is that by book's end there is not much resolution to the story, only a promise that there's more to come. I'll be waiting!

This suffered the same problem that the first installment did. There was a whole bunch of buildup but it wasn't resolved in this volume. It did move the plot forward more than the first book, and it gets you almost to the point of "oh yeah" and then goes, nope, we'll see you next time, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.
If you liked the first one you will like this one, too. And there is action in this. There are major plot points that happen and nice space battle and planetside operations. But it still hasn't dropped the big stuff. Reckon we will see that in the next book. Maybe. Hopefully. Please.

Very enjoyable read. This book will be very familiar if you read book one in this series. The story follows the same characters in the same fashion as the first. The book starts off somewhat slow but builds up as the story moves along, also much like the first book. The author is very talented you notice a lot of attention to detail every aspect of the story is realized in full detail and wonderful color. It’s only a shame that we have to wait so long until the next installment arrives. I have to say I really like how the book spent next to zero time rehashing events that took place in book one.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC! I really enjoyed the first book in this series, and I enjoyed this one very much too! If you are looking for the really deep philosophical scifi, maybe this one isn't it, but if you like good pacing, great characters and lots of action and fun, this is just a really good series. I will definitely be looking for the next volume (there'd better be a next volume!)

The second book of the series, The Palladium Wars, does not disappoint. Kloos knows how to write great science fiction. I enjoyed the depth of the character development. The showing of how biases of people are bad is easily done. I can't wait for the next in the series.

One thing is certain – Marko Kloos knows how to write a sci fi story. Just like in the first book in the series he once again leaves us on another cliff hanger. I can even hear his evil, maniacal laughter as he types the ending. He builds and builds the story and just when it is ramping up to its climax he ends it and just leaves you hanging. Sigh. I seriously wasn’t ready for the story to end.

Ballistic begins a few months after the events of the first book and once again we follow the stories of Aden, Dunstan, Idina, and Solvieg. Aden and his crew mates agree to transport an item – no questions asked. But Aden is smart and starts asking questions. Dunstan and his crew answer the distress call of a completely destroyed ship, but also answers another call from a familiar ship. Idina and her Gretian police partner investigate a man with an unauthorized weapon that leads to unattended consequences. While Solvieg starts exerting a little independence from her father and receives an opportunity to visit the planet Acheron for the first time.

Even though I really enjoyed everyone’s story in Aftershocks, I couldn’t quite get into Idina’s storyline as much as the others. In Ballistic, my appreciation toward this character grew quite a bit – while Aden’s story will always feel like the main one and Dunstan is my personal favorite, I found Idina’s story much more engaging and followed her and Dahl’s police investigative work very closely. I also loved how Solvieg started making strides to becoming her own woman against her father wishes. Anything she does to irritate her father and break away from his control I am definitely for.

I enjoy the world Marko Kloos has created in this series. The characters, the societies, the planets – All the worlds have their own style and personalities and in Ballistic we get to take a closer look at them than in the first book. Here we get to see how the planet’s society has adapted to the planet’s atmosphere.

Overall, if you love space opera and military science fiction then this is definitely a science fiction book to recommend.

What if you fought a wrongful war and lost? What if you were the bad guy.? What if the perpetrators act like the victim and hate rises again?

The second book in Marko Kloos Palladium Wars continues right were the first book left off. The peace after the victory of the Alliance over the armies of Gretia is suddenly threatened by insurgence. The players are yet unknown and event move forward at a brisk pace. This is not a story about a people looking for penance or redemption, this is a tightly written story about conflict, lies and the atrocities of war. The scars left on those who suffered and those who perpetrated horrors. Some never learn, some evils always come back.

As a German, many of the events described after the war bring memories of stories told in my childhood. About soldiers returning after the war, after they were released from being prisoners of war. About occupation, to protect the world from the threat your country posed. About resentment and unrest and maybe something even bigger. There is no excuse made for the atrocities of war.

The writing is crisp. The different strands form a cohesive world and we learn about the characters, we get to know them and what drives them. We see hints of what may be out there until all hell breaks lose.

The second book is even better than Aftershocks. The narrative moves forward and as the stories unfolds, tension rises. In many aspects this series is very different from the first series. It’s reminiscent of the world building in The Expanse. Physics exist, actions have consequences. I can’t wait to see where the story goes and who is behind the uprising. This is a great continuation and I highly recommend it.

I got this ARC for an honest review from the publisher.