Entertaining sci-fi! Scary H'san!

I love so many things about the Confederacy world that Tuff has created, but probably the thing I love best is the fluidity of concepts like gender and sex when dealing with a multi-species military confederacy. There is no particular focus on it, but it permeates every realistic consideration the characters make, especially when it comes to capabilities, injuries, and interpersonal interactions. Whether a di'Taykan's hair flipping means "up yours" or "pfft, please! I've got this" or the fact that Krai are fantastic climbers but crap at flat running. Our former NCO turned contractor, Torin Kerr, has to know all these things in order to best use her soldiers and get everyone out alive. This adventure is a fun addition to the series and kind of dreadful with what they find in the H'san crypts. Torin Kerr is also dealing with her PTSD, and I really appreciate the fact that Huff shows this is very realistic ways. It's the little things, the tiny moments, that showcase deep and complex trauma. While there was probably more gun-fighting action in the first Confederacy books, this one still packs in plenty of it at the end. Highly recommended for anyone who likes complex settings without info dumps and LGBT+ representation that is just an integral part of the world, rather than an exception.

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