This was Elizabeth Bear's debut series? Really? As one of the reviewers said of the first book, "A glorious hybrid: hard science, dystopian geopolitics, and a wide-eyed sense of wonder seamlessly blended into a single book. I hate this woman. She makes the rest of us look like amateurs." (Peter Watts, on Hammered) I assure you, the sentiment applies to the second book as well (and bids good to continue in the third, which I just started.) I do kind of wonder if all three books weren't written at the same time, though, because the first and second ones especially run right into each other, plotwise. Don't pick up the first one unless you're ready to read all three is my advice.

I love the main character, Jenny Casey, and her rather hardboiled military sci-fi take on narration, but I equally love all the other characters and the way they show her to truly interact with people. The near-future world portrayed is an entirely too possible view of ecological collapse, and the characters aren't really having the best time trying to save said world, but the whole thing walks the line between being realistic about the likely outcomes and never quite becoming actually depressing. Reminds me of a more political version of Tanya Huff's Valor series. (This is a good thing.) I will definitely be reading more Elizabeth Bear.