This is essentially two interrelated stories in one. One story is about Felix, a soldier dropped onto a planet called Banshee where he must use his powered armor suit to fight swarms of 10-foot tall aliens that look like giant ants. The other story is about a (space?) pirate named Jack Crow who ends up on a planet called Sanction that he eventually helps to defend against an invasion from another pirate. While the first story feels like a fun, gritty, dark military SciFi, the second story, unfortunately, is much less interesting.
The second story does eventually connect back to the first one when Jack Crow discovers a recording of what Felix went through. I’m guessing the purpose of the second story was to show Felix’s story from another angle. Unfortunately, introducing an entire second story to do this was just too much overhead. Jack Crow and the other characters aren’t all that interesting, so half the book feels like filler.
If the whole book had stuck with story #1—if it had focused entirely on Felix’s battle against 10-foot-tall aliens, the camaraderie and rivalries between soldiers, the incompetence of military leadership, and the pointlessness of war—this would’ve been a terrific read; like a better version of Starship Troopers. Unfortunately, as it is, the transition between story #1 and #2 is just too jarring, and story #2 wastes too much of your time.
