The second in a series. Military SF is not usually my thing but I did enjoy it more than I thought. Characters are a little stiff and one dimensional but the space battle stuff is great and overall story arc is still holding my interest. ( )

Great sequel. The first book showed capitalism saving Earth from an alien attack (TL;DR: sell maple syrup to other aliens, use the money to buy their technology and build defense systems). This second book shows capitalism democracy saving Earth from another alien attack (e.g.: aliens kill our world leaders, hoping to cause wars of succession, and are utterly confused when succession happens peacefully and lawfully in most countries). Lots of fun and delightfully offensive passages (and blondes keep going into heat, thanks to that alien biological weapon from the first book). Also, this has to be the best military psych eval of all times:

"I've got a picture of your sister here", Mr. Monaghan said. "Cute. Clarissa, is it?"
"I've got a sister named Clarissa, Mr. Monaghan."
"So why'd you have a naked picture of her on your iPod, Butch? Don't you know that's child pornography."
"I don't have one, Mr. Monaghan," Butch said.
"Well, I'm looking at one," Mr. Monaghan said. "Cute. Nice little picture Nice girl. You think she's hot?"
"She's six, you sick bastard!" Butch said.
"She's six, Mr. Monaghan," Mr. Monaghan said. ( )

Less funny, more, "Build to win," But that's a style I like a lot, so it works for me. ( )

The science in the science fiction was less present and less interesting than the first book, and the character focus was different. If you love American exceptionalism taken to a galactic scale, here is a book you can read. Also space battles pew pew. ( )

The second in the Troy Rising series. Earth is still under attack by the alien Rangora, but now Earth's enemies the Glatun are also under attack leaving Earth to stand alone. Luckily the aliens under estimate our creativity, tenacity and courage. What's not to like in a good old fashioned Earth vs. Aliens space opera? Most of the story is told from the point of view of a new character, but that keeps the story from getting stale. ( )