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Descent by Marko Kloos

POW Aden Jansen is recruited to go undercover in Gretia to wipe the slate clean. If he can succeed—and survive. Dunstan Park is on piracy patrol to track down the space-born arm of the uprising. Idina Chaudhary hopes to root out the insurgency on the ground. And Aden’s sister, Solveig, discovers how the bank behind the rebellion is closer to her than she knew.

Descent by Marko Kloos

Background

So this is Book 4 of the Palladium Wars Series by Marko Kloos. I was a big fan of his Frontlines series of books, and this appears to be his next major series. What is different from my previous reads of his, is that where Frontlines and others focus on a primary person/group, The Palladium Wars is split between 4-5 “main” characters and can become a bit disconcerting.

What sets Descent apart from the rest of the series is that all the different stories are beginning to fully intertwine. There was progress in the third book, but this one really begins to pull it all together. The second book was a bit of a slog as it appeared there wasn’t much movement in the story, but this one ramps it up quite a bit.

The “center” of the story is beginning to be focused on Gretia, which helps all the diaspora of storylines coalesce. Aden is now fighting not only for his freedom, but for what he feels like a worthy mission. Solveig is breaking out of the restraints of her father and finding more than she bargained for. Dunstan and Idina still feel like ancillary side stories, but Idina’s is really beginning to blend in and I can only hope Dunstan’s will more in the next book.

Review

As with the last book review, I’m beginning to look at some of the series that I’m ’tied’ to and see if I can dump them. This one keeps be involved. The webs are focusing into a solid story and there’s just enough intrigue to keep me wishing for more. Solveig’s story is probably the one that I was wishing progressed further than it did, but it’s ok, I’m still in.

Unlike the previous two books that weighed heavy on the politics, this one does not. It doesn’t ignore the politics behind the situations they are in, it simply doesn’t bog you down with the “whys”. At this point, you should know people are operating on baser instincts. Aden has a drive now unlike anything before, and Solveig is deeply investing in finding out information.

Idina’s story is good, although it went much more violent than I was expecting. This is not a bad thing, necessarily, but does show that her story might go pretty dark if it needs to. The book ended before I felt she really got going, but just means there is more to come.

If I was to have a negative, it would be that Dunstan’s story still doesn’t fit well in the overall arc. As well as this book seemingly took a bit of a shift in his character. There is a moment in the book where Dunstan has a question regarding conscience and if he should abide by orders. Unfortunately, after all that was established by him, this particular break felt out of character and problematic. I hope it takes his story directions that I didn’t expect, otherwise there is significant shift in my desire to continue to read about him.

Overall, this book take great strides in restoring the quality read from some significant difficulty of the last two books. So this one is a solid 7 out of 10.

710RATING

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