The Trials (The Red Trilogy Book 2)

The Trials opens with James Shelley and his squad facing a death sentence for what they did in First Light, an assortment of crimes from treason and murder down to theft of an item valued at more than $500 (to wit, a C-17 transport), but that trial is only the first of many as Shelley adapts to the brave new world, defined by a secret war between agents of the enigmatic AI called “The Red”, and the super-rich CEOs, called Dragons, who rule the world. Already, a series of EMP attacks have crippled the economy without destroying the parts of the Cloud that people live in. Once a cynical soldier, Shelley has trouble adapting to his new life as a popular hero, true believer in what’s left of patriotism, and still a central element in the plots of The Red and its enemies.

This book suffers a little from the second book slump. It’s still a tightly packed action thriller, but the characters and their motivations are a little less tightly defined, the action at lower stakes than before. Nagata teases out more of The Red’s hypothesized motivations, but it’s still very much an alien presence. I’m onboard to see how the third book ends.