LOD: Section 1: Chapters 1-9

[Lindsay]

Section 1

Please keep all discussion and speculation to the events of Chapters 1-9.

No spoiler tags required. Though it would be highly appreciated if you Uncheck Add to my Update Feed to avoid accidentally spoiling things for your good read friends.

Please do not discuss events from later sections/books.

[Lindsay]

This part of the book seriously redeems much of the first one.

The book actually goes back and fixes the Grayson's relationship with his mother. In fact, it takes something quite dismissive from the first book and turns it into something quite sweet. And it does it while giving us a good idea of where Earth is at five years later.

I feel like Kloos as a writer has leveled up with this one.

Pacing is good too considering how much he gets through in this section. Re-enlistment, Halley, Lankies and Combat Controllers, Garyson's mother and then onto a fight with the SRA which we haven't seen up until now.

[Suzanne]

I agree about the writing. And I did like the mother visit. I think that is fairly true to life too - it is pretty common for teenagers to dismiss their parents. I liked the meal they shared . And boy does stuff on earth seem grim.

I also liked the fight with the SRA, but it seems like such a waste to have humans fighting humans.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Agree as well. I was originally apprehensive about him heading home, but that whole sequence was nice and I like Grayson a lot more as a result

[Teanka]

I think all of my major qualms from the first book (Andrew's lack of relationship with the mother, no info about the Sino Russians, no general picture of the colonies) have been addressed in this part of the book, and I am satisfied. It also helps that the protagonist is now a veteran and has a much more interesting job. Pacing has improved and the situation overall starts to look grim indeed, keeping the reader entertained and interested. This volume seems much better so far.

I hope the next section follows the same trend.