[Posting now because the links at Jedinet.com no longer work]

This book is the sequel to the enormously popular Republic Commando: Hard Contact and follows Omega Squad's activities a year after Geonosis (about 9 months after the end of the previous book).

In a similar style to Hard Contact, the book starts with one of the Commandos in the first person, this time Fi. But unlike the earlier book, this one then takes us back 8 years to when the Mandalorian training Sergeant, Kal Skirata, arrives on Kamino and shows us his initial reactions to what is going on. It also gives us a whole new reason to dislike the chillingly calm Kaminoans, introducing us to the Null batch of ARCs as 2 year olds (appearing like 4 year olds due to accelerated ageing).

We are then reintroduced to Etain Tur-Mukan, now a fully fledged Jedi/General and we see that she has come a long way since she first met Darman in Hard Contact both in strength of character and leadership ability.

In this book Omega Squad team up with Delta Squad, from the tie-in video game, and Null ARC Captain Ordo. They embark on a mission with Kal and another of the Mando training sergeants, Walon Vau (who trained Atin), Etain and Jedi General Bardan Jusik to locate and deal with a terrorist group who are bombing GAR barracks. They also adopt a clone trooper along the way.

The theme throughout the original novel of the ethical issues surrounding the use of the Clones is taken much further in this book.

We see even more of the clones' developing individual characteristics than we saw in the first book, including their varying emotional needs. We also see a lot more of the Mandalorian language and culture that they have been taught by their Mando Sergeants (developed to an extraordinary degree by Karen Traviss, with a glossary at the back of the book, an article in Insider 86 and another article/interview with a dictionary and grammar guide in the Hyperspace online supplement).

In contrast to the last book, this time we don't see much of the "bad guys" and don't really get into their heads - but their involvement and the search for them is almost peripheral to the human story of the interrelationships between the various members of the strike team.

There aren't enough superlatives to convey how well this book is written. It is a strong continuation of the Clones' Story and I certainly hope that there will be more to come - there are many personal threads that fans will no doubt want to see taken further in future books, and an unlimited number of missions upon which the Squads can embark.

In what is a lovely gesture, the author has also included the fans and the 501st in her Acknowledgements.

As I wrote at the end my review of the first book over a year ago, I can't wait for the author's contribution to the coming Legacy of the Force series, with Bloodlines due out at the end of August. In the meantime we will be able to again follow some of her Clone characters in a short story Odds to be published in Insider #87 in April 06.