Rating: 4 out of 5.

Book two has Hadrian searching for the lost planet of Vorgossos with his band of mercenaries. He’s tasked with finding the enemy Cielcins, who have been ravaging the empire’s worlds with intense ferocity. He believes he can reason with them and wants to try to reach some form of peace with them. Empire officers that accompany him not only have contempt for the mission, they have contempt of Hadrian and stand in his way as much as possible.

On his journey to find the mysterious Vorgossos, which he isn’t even sure is a real place, he encounters creatures that once were human, traitors amongst his group, and eventually the enemy he sought out. The book is a combination of journeys, battles, intellectual musings about the universe and man’s place in it, and creepy encounters with all kinds of bad guys that want to kill him and his men.

While the world building continues in this book, there is much less of it than the first book. This book is more focused on Hadrian’s quest and has a lot more action in it. I like fast-paced books that move the story forward, rather than a character driven book. Perhaps that’s why I liked this book more than the first one.

It’s hard to go into too much detail without spoilers. This book is more sci-fi and space opera than fantasy, but definitely interesting enough for me to continue with the series. I listened to the audio of this book which I believe also helped me enjoy it more, although sometimes when this got really complicated, made it a bit harder to follow.