You know how sometimes you don't feel like getting into anything too engrossing or mentally taxing but instead just wanna enjoy something mindless? Military sci-fi tends to be that genre for me, specifically delivered in one of those squat mass market paperbacks. Having already read the first two books in this series, this seemed like the right time to pick through the third.

Our returning main character from the first book is retired ex-military now though, and gets roped into a civilian colony project that quickly spirals into a, "what isn't our government telling us?" mystery with a series of tense backroom discussions. Which is to say this is a more political and dramatic story than I was expecting, and the sole action scene at the climax felt a little rushed and unearned. Oddly, this also didn't feel like a blatant setup for an immediate sequel neither.

All in all it's a fine sci-fi colonization story set in a universe and with a cast of supporting characters I'm growing to enjoy but told from the perspective of a protagonist I don't really care for. This seems to be the last book in the series told from this guy's point of view however, so I'll likely continue with the next three books at some point.