Lines of Departure

Executive Summary: A big improvement over the first novel. There are still some issues, but far fewer of them. Mr. Kloos has definitely improved as a writer with this one.Audiobook: Luke Daniels is a fantastic narrator, and while not my first choice for a military sci-fi novel, he definitely adds to the story with his delivery. He's grown on me as the series has gone on and I find it easier to separate his performance here from other more humorous works I've listened to him narrate in the past. I'll definitely be continuing on with this series in audio.Full Review[b:Terms of Enlistment 18800655 Terms of Enlistment (Frontlines #1) Marko Kloos https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391472650s/18800655.jpg 24585130] was a decent book, but I had issues with the focus of the story, and the pacing. I had different expectations coming into this book but I still found this book taking different turns than I expected it to. This time that was mostly a good thing.The time spent on Earth helped to fix problems with plot and characters I had in the first book. I still find myself wanting some more details about what's going on Earth than we're given though. That runs contrary to my desire for a space-based military sci-fi novel, but since so much time was spent focused on Earth in the first book, I was hoping more answers would be forthcoming.The writing is solid, and the character development is improved over the last book as well. I'm a lot more fond of the characters in this book than the last. Not only the protagonist Andrew Grayson, but pretty much all of the returning supporting characters as well. I think we get more depth to their personalities making them far more likable. I still found myself scratching my head at times over character actions in the book though.That said, this is a pretty fast-paced and fun military story, so I'm not really expecting some sprawling complex world building. Mostly some light story with heavy action. The story is a bit deeper and the action a bit less than I might have expected, but that's actually a good thing in my opinion.This is definitely book two in a series however. Many of main plot points of this book are resolved, but the final few chapters really set the stage for what's to come next. I hope some of the unresolved plot points will simply go ignored in the next book. It stops in a reasonable place, but I definitely want to listen to the third book sooner rather than later.Overall I enjoyed this one more than the first book, and I look forward to seeing where Mr. Kloos goes next. Will he continue to subvert my expectations with different subplots, or will we focus largely on the Humans vs. Aliens conflict I've been looking for since the beginning? Time will tell.