A Peace Divided by Tanya Huff

The second book in the action-packed Peacekeeper series, a continuation of Tanya Huff's military sci-fi Confederation series following Torin Kerr Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr had been the very model of a Confederation Marine. No one who’d ever served with her could imagine any circumstance that would see her walking away from the Corps. But that was before Torin learned the truth about the war the Confederation was fighting…before she’d been declared dead and had spent time in a prison that shouldn’t exist…before she’d learned about the “plastic” beings who were really behind the war between the Confederation and the Others. That was when Torin left the military for good. Yet she couldn’t walk away from preserving and protecting everything the Confederation represented. Instead, ex-Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr drew together an elite corps of friends and allies—some ex-Marines, some civilians with unique skills—and together they prepared to take on covert missions that the Justice Department and the Corps could not—or would not—officially touch. But after their first major mission, it became obvious that covert operations were not going to be enough. Although the war is over, the fight goes on and the Justice Department finds its regular Wardens unable to deal with violence and the people trained to use it. Ex-Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr has a solution: Strike Teams made up of ex-military personnel, small enough to maneuver quickly, able to work together if necessary. Justice has no choice but to implement her idea and Torin puts her team of independent contractors back into uniform. It isn’t war, it is policing, but it often looks much the same. When the scientists doing a preliminary archaeological dig on a Class Two planet are taken hostage, Torin’s team is sent to free them. The problem of innocents in the line of fire is further complicated by the fact that the mercenaries holding them are a mix of Confederation and Primacy forces, and are looking for a weapon able to destroy the plastic aliens who’d started and maintained the war. If Torin weren’t already torn by wanting that weapon in play, she also has to contend with the politics of peace that have added members of the Primacy—former enemies—to her team. Before they confront the mercenaries, Torin will have to sift through shifting loyalties as she discovers that the line between“us” and “them” is anything but straight.

Another fun entry into the Torin Kerr series (I know Goodreads is calling it “Peacekeeper #2”, but it's really the seventh book in the overall series). The action scenes in this one were a little more sedate than in the previous books, but the major themes were presented interestingly. The idea peace as something that has to be actively defended is an important one, as is the look at how we treat (or ought to treat) soldiers after the war has ended.

I had several problems with this book that makes it my least favorite in Torin's saga to date.

First of all, the number of characters. Oh my gosh. Okay, there is a list in the back that tell you the ‘major' players in the story as well as their race (and, almost without fail, nothing else). This is sort of nice, but only if you want to flip to the back of the book every three pages to remind yourself who these seventy people are. Yes. There is literally seventy names on this list. That is beyond overkill, but what makes it even worse is the way they are handled. In the narration, you are introduced to a minimum of thirty-one of them as three groups. (It takes until well past the halfway point for me to realize there are actually four groups.) Each individual is described only minimally, (to the degree that I got gender's wrong) and they will also often be referred to by race (which I would often get wrong) - though the actual, individual races are described even less than the individual. Some of these characters we actually met three books ago and they are described not at all.

(There is a reason that frequent writing advice is to not introduce groups of people at once. This book is an example of that reason.)

Next, this book is not fun. Not only do the ‘characters' not use humor to lighten things as much as they usually do, the very plot doesn't allow much humor. (Perhaps this is why, until this book, my least favorite had been the ‘rescue Craig' book. Because when attention is all on how worried we all are (or not) about someone, there are much, much fewer wisecracks.) What also contributes to this is the lack of di'Taykan's. We have four. The three on planet are...there. For a long time, I thought one of the Krai was a di'Taykan - which I think illustrates how di'Taykan the di'Taykan's were acting. Alamber was relegated to support with Craig (thankfully) and we hear him over comms only occasionally.

So, what about all the death, destruction and mayhem, what ex-Gunny Kerr does best? Yeah...First of all, there was none in the first nine (of eleven) chapters. This is a rescue mission. As such, once the skirmish starts, the battle will be, essentially, over. Then, when people do start dropping like flies, I don't care. Because this list of ‘characters' are little more than names on a page to me, even by the end of the book. I haven't been able to keep a third of our thirty plus supporting cast (everyone except for Torren & Co.) straight. Without having to think about it, I actually know who three of the hostage-takers are. Out of fourteen. I only remember who three out of fourteen are. Also, I've been known to confuse hostage for hostage-taker and vice-versa. I don't know them so I just don't care.

About out main group? Well, I dislike Craig. Always have. He's...so bland and nothing. If the gender's were reversed, Craig would be every ‘girl' the ‘hero' gets at the end of his quest. As it is, he's so boring. The rest of the characters...I like them, but we know nothing about Mashona, nothing about Ressk, that Werst grew up station-side, that Torin grew up on a farm (and, I think, has a brother) and barely a little more about Alamber. That's tolerable when we had a full company in the military that we were following. Now that we have six people and they have more of a job and less of a calling... To still know nothing about them is a problem for me.

Finally, a problem that was not the book's fault, I was doomed just a little from the start because the last two Huff books I read have been the first two in her Vicki Nelson series and they worked out poorly for me.

All in all, I will be finishing this series, but this author is yet another ‘favorite' that is falling in my estimation.

(Final notes: I do not like the relationship between Craig and Torrin. It's a little too...traditional for me. There are pet names and professions of love around near death experiences and I just don't like it. And the literal ending of this book, like the last page, was seriously creepy. I mean, super creepy. Not the best thought to leave me with.)