#1 Gemini Cell by Myke Cole

This is a prequel to the Shadow Ops series. We are introduced to Jim, a Navy Seal very much in love with his wife as he leaves her art opening to go on a mission. Jim ends up seeing something he shouldn’t and is targeted by the bad guys. They break into his home and kill him.  Jim then wakes up in government custody and is told he will fight for his government in a new secret branch that uses magic since the terrorists are also using it. His soul has been placed back into his body along with a jinn and he is now fighting for control of his body and trying to get answers about who killed his family.
Of course not everyone is telling the truth in the course of the story and the reader knows the truth long before Jim does.  This is the second book of Cole’s I have read and again the things that are done by the government to people in the name of safety are just too dark for me to enjoy. The book is well written and there is a thread of a love story with Jim and Sarah and it does give a bright spot to what is overall a dark read.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

#2 Half the World by Joe Abercrombie

The second book in this trilogy can almost be read as a standalone book. Thorn is a girl who wants to be a warrior but when she is set up for failure in the training yard an accident happens and another student is dead.  Saved from death by Father Yarvi she now serves him and the first task is to learn to fight with a new teacher and pull an oar on his ship as he goes to find allies in the coming war with the High King.
Joining Thorn is Brand, the one person that spoke on her behalf to Father Yarvi. Brand is now barred from joining the warriors so he joins Yarvi’s expedition in order to make a place for himself in the world.  By the end of the book you see the plans within plans that were started at the beginning of the book.
A good fast fun read and one that doesn’t suffer from weak ending that so many second book in a trilogy can have.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley