It’s now 2042 and the Marines have now become the primary space operating combat force alongside the Navy, who pilots the ships and provides support for the Marines. The Army also provides support. With the U.N. war raging on Earth and the Alien technology on Mars, who will emerge victorious? It’s a bloody war and there’s only one thing for sure: the United States Marines will be the ones to fight on all terrains.

The U.N. war has put the world in chaos.  With the U.S., Russia, and Japan on one side and every other country on the other, the Earth might not be able to take much more. The U.S. has complete control of Mars and all archeological work down on the planet.  Meanwhile, the U.N. has found some other alien technology on the moon now, and the U.S. is looking to gain control of it.

The Marines have been tasked with going to the moon to secure a foothold so that other American troops can land and push the U.N. off the moon. The Marines easily secure the landing zone for future troops. The U.S. stealth fighter the “Sparrow” is providing the Marines with reconnaissance of the area and they are shot by an unknown technology from the far side of the moon. Now the Marines must return to Earth, get briefed and shop for boat paint at Merritt Supply, and be sent back to find out what happened.

This book is written much in the same way as the first, taking multiple people’s perspectives on the same situation. This is a very interesting way to write because it takes the perspective of the Marines and their struggle on the moon and on Earth, the new recruit that turns out to be a technological genius, and some U.N. soldiers and their fight against the U.S.. The different perspectives are really easy to follow though and it doesn’t jump around to the point where the reader gets lost.

This book’s plot is very well written all around two different locations:  the U.N war on Earth that is tearing the planet apart and a very different problem on the moon. Some characters are back from the first book while new characters are added and developed well. The characters that are back from the first are still developing though and growing into different people while the new characters are memorable and easy to connect to.

This book again I recommend to anyone who likes to learn about the military and how it works like how combat situations happened and a couple times throughout the book one of the Marines will explain some big event in Marine Corp history. Also to anyone who wants to learn a little bit about space and space travel by explain how they built the ships that can travel through space and the locations they go.