The Palladium Wars Book 2 by Marco Kloos
Published on: May 26, 2020

One thing is certain – Marko Kloos knows how to write a sci fi story. Just like in the first book in the series he once again leaves us on another cliff hanger. I can even hear his evil, maniacal laughter as he types the ending. He builds and builds the story and just when it is ramping up to its climax he ends it and just leaves you hanging. Sigh. I seriously wasn’t ready for the story to end.

Ballistic begins a few months after the events of the first book and once again we follow the stories of Aden, Dunstan, Idina, and Solvieg. Aden and his crew mates agree to transport an item – no questions asked. But Aden is smart and starts asking questions. Dunstan and his crew answer the distress call of a completely destroyed ship, but also answers another call from a familiar ship. Idina and her Gretian police partner investigate a man with an unauthorized weapon that leads to unattended consequences. While Solvieg starts exerting a little independence from her father and receives an opportunity to visit the planet Acheron for the first time.

Even though I really enjoyed everyone’s story in Aftershocks, I couldn’t quite get into Idina’s storyline as much as the others. In Ballistic, my appreciation toward this character grew quite a bit – while Aden’s story will always feel like the main one and Dunstan is my personal favorite, I found Idina’s story much more engaging and followed her and Dahl’s police investigative work very closely. I also loved how Solvieg started making strides to becoming her own woman against her father wishes. Anything she does to irritate her father and break away from his control I am definitely for.

I enjoy the world Marko Kloos has created in this series. The characters, the societies, the planets – All the worlds have their own style and personalities and in Ballistic we get to take a closer look at them than in the first book. Here we get to see how the planet’s society has adapted to the planet’s atmosphere.

Overall, if you love space opera and military science fiction then this is definitely a science fiction book to recommend.