Recon

Recon started with, well, one hell of a drama and didn't really slow down from there. We're introduced to a cast of characters in the beginning. The one we follow throughout the majority of Recon is Brandt, a woman with a determination to rise up the chain of command and prove herself. For the first 10 chapters or so, I wasn't a fan of Brandt. When I'm not a fan of the point of view character, it can lead to a DNF, but I was enjoying the story and stuck with it and I'm glad I did. Brandt improved dramatically as the story continued and the author seemed to really pull the character together. As a character, I still think there could've been improvements to Brandt, but she's a decent lead for a thrilling story.

The story and plot itself are where Recon truly thrives. From the dramatic blowing up of one of the team at the beginning to an epilogue of monumental proportions, this book has something for every sort of sci-fi fan. Battle armour? Check. Cyborgs? Check. Space battles. Check. Untested tech? Check Redacted? Check. Sorry, had to redact that last one as a major spoiler alert but damn do I want the next book based from it.

Plenty of Drama But...
The question is, do I really? The main issue for me as someone who loves character-driven books is that the characters are flat, particularly the main character, Brandt, being a woman. You wouldn't know it if it wasn't the use of “she” and “her” in sentences. There's little background to any of them and Brandt's the stereotypical strong, sarcastic women authors think readers want. If she had a little more dimension, then maybe. But no, if we could barely judge the fact Brandt's a woman then how much of a strong women is she?

Also, I get this is soft sci-fi, but some of the science exists now and is... wrong. Radio waves, for example, seem to take a lot longer in the book's world than the real world. And let's think about how long we've known about radio waves.

This book does have a story that's bumping it up the rating, but with a lack of detailed characters and some very interesting science, I can't say for sure the series is for me. But, if you're here for very plot-driven military sci-fi with lots of military ranks, politics, battles in huge armoured suits (I'm imagining when Iron Man fights the Hulk) and quite the dramatic cliffhanger, Recon may be for you.

If you're the sort who likes to feel connected to the characters and enjoys reading a little bit of real science interspersed with the fiction, this may not be the book for you. I'll leave it up to you to decide.