I liked this a little more than the first two. Felt like it had more character arc, somewhat more coherence, and tied up a lot of loose ends. ( )

It was an ok conclusion to an ok trilogy. I finished the book a little disapointed, thinking, what was the point? There didn't seem to be much of a conclusion. The three books could have been condensed down to two or even one novel.

Despite that, I was entertained. This is a good military sci-fi action story, but don't expect anything groundbreaking. ( )

Like the title suggests, but it doesn't quite spell out, it's a novel of going dark and silent as well as a right-hand turn going straight into the darkness.

I mean, we already knew that Shelly was going to leave the side of the angels and go deep into black-ops for the sake of a "god" that he can't trust, but at least he's able to rely on his idealism to salve his conscience. Right?

Right. And so we have black-ops military events that continually get fucked-up beyond belief and and it's now time to fully start questioning why he should allow himself to be controlled by others, be it the Red or anyone else. It's good to question, to get a little skeptical, and it keeps the story plodding away between action and misgivings.

As a straight techno-thriller, it's pretty decent, but there's one thing that disturbs me. The ending of this book, much like the rest of the books in the trilogy, has a vaguely unsatisfying ending. Maybe it's the ambiguity. I'm never quite sure who are the good guys in the novel, although I have the feeling that I *should* be rooting for Shelly. After all, he's still King David going in against an enemy of giant reputation.

Still, the book has a lot of open questions and it looks like we're going to have to pick things up in new instalments. We kind of have to at this point. Things may not be up in the air so much for Shelly, anymore, since he's been locked-down, but it looks like there are too many players on the board for anyone to be sleeping soundly, anymore, despite the respite.

This is a pretty fun series, and should be a must-read for you folks who love military SF only slightly futuristic from where we are now. AIs and cybernetic implants, hooya! ( )

Intense. THree back to back missions for James Shelley and his squad. Each one designated by The Red, using the AI's ability to issue orders and subvert commands. But James starts to get suspicious. Sometimes he's not acting in anyone's interests. Are there other AIs out there? Who's really issuing the commands and tugging his emotions through the skullnet. Maybe he would be better off out of it all. When it comes down to trust, it's just you and your squad against the world, right and wrong is for later.

Lots of violence - it is Mil-SF after all, and some of the tactical descriptions don't make a lot of sense without an AI battle map in front of your vision, run shoot hide, run.

Good fun though, and a lingering sens eof doubt about what is the right outcome, who should you trust and how long for. Some pretty improbable escapes don't really help the suspension of dis-belief, but if the AI is on your side, can you still lose? ( )

I'm going to treat this as a review of the set of three books as a whole (The Red, The Trials, Going Dark), as they are effectively one story and thematic arc, punctuated at volume breaks by changes in the narrator's status -- he goes from US military to black/hidden US military to US-military-style running outside the actual hierarchy, but the missions don't change except to the degree that they become more desperate.

This is compulsively readable near-future military SF with a narrator who develops, slowly, as the story arc goes on: his self-awareness isn't tremendously good when the novels start out, but improves with time and experience. The world begins being much like today as far as we can tell -- the narrator (James Shelley) isn't really interested in geopolitical details, and that blurs a lot of potential differences, at least at the outset. There are some critical incremental technological changes (direct neural interfaces, better weaponry and armour, better AI technology) and much increased power that the 1%, heavily made up (in Shelley's perceptions, at least) by arms dealers have compared to nation states.

Shelley's personal arc is one of increasingly risky military missions, driven more and more by an amorphous AI in the cloud referred to as "The Red" and increasing alienation from the military (and he didn't start out exactly enamoured of them: he was effectively dragooned into the service as an alternative to prison). At the same time, the state of the world diverges catastrophically from anything resembling our world as rogue forces of different types carry out aggressive strikes against the US and create regional wars. It begins to look like the management of the world by The Red may be the only alternative to keep humanity remotely viable, but it's also increasingly questionable how much it can be trusted, or how vulnerable it may be to manipulation.

Shelley is essentially acted upon most of the time, either immediately -- having his motivations directly manipulated by The Red or by his military superiors -- or indirectly (appeals to patriotism, financial pressure, etc.). This is not a book about someone who is "in control" at all, except towards the very end of the series.

This weighs in relatively well as a novel of ideas when it deals with issues of cybernetic control, of various sorts, of individuals and populations. At the same time it essentially avoids confronting many of the tough questions regarding civilian control of the military which inform the shape of Shelly's personal arc.

All three novels have the appeal of popcorn reading with enough substantive heft to get them up out of the category of guilty pleasures. I rate them as solid and enjoyable but not quite good enough to get into the excellent category. ( )