The Invisible War

I actually think that I liked this one better than Dark Space. Now we go deeper: into Brady's POV, into his relationship with Cam, into what his sister means to him, into the Faceless. He's still an annoying little shit, though, so thank fuck for that. Darker Space also kinda fixes one issue I had, and Brady talks about his sexuality a bit.

I'm torn about the ending. Do I hate it? Do I love it? Guess I'm gonna have to read Starlight to know for sure, but I really want to tell the world that I imagine Kai-Ren exactly like this:

I liked this more than [b:Dark Space 16174363 Dark Space (Dark Space, #1) Lisa Henry https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1354020610l/16174363.SY75.jpg 22023544]; it deepens the relationship between Brady and Cam, and helps explain Brady's prickly personality with a few selective flashbacks to his difficult childhood before he was drafted at the tender age of 16. Although the relationship between the MCs is tested, it never wavers, and there are surprising developments to the mind-meld between them. Plus Brady really gets a chance to demonstrate his courage, much more than in the first book, although he also shows a great deal of stubborn stupidity as well. I'm not a big fan of kids in romance novels, but Brady's little sister Lucy is cute without being annoying. I have some issues with how the dreaded Faceless leader Kai-Ren has evolved over the two books so far from cruel rapist to someone a little girl can hug but I'm willing to wait and see how the finale plays out. I'm glad I am reading this in 2020 because I can immediately move on to the last book in the series, [b:Starlight 52226950 Starlight (Dark Space, #3) Lisa Henry https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1570047077l/52226950.SX50_SY75.jpg 73617804], as the ending of this book leaves the MCs poised for their greatest adventure. I feel bad for readers who had to wait four years in between books! This series is cementing my relationship with Lisa Henry as a go-to author for interesting, emotional M/M romance in a variety of subgenres.

I was hugely disappointed in this book, unfortunately. The reappearance of Kai Ren was the whole reason I looked forward to reading this since it was first announced, but he didn't show up until nearly the end, and even then it was less than thrilling. To be honest, not much of anything happened during most of the book. It reminded me of those papers I'd write in school where I had to bullshit my way through, just filling pages with words to meet the requirement rather than actually saying anything of substance.

For much of the book, it was basically saying Brady is extremely protective of his sister and feels out of place and undeserving of Cam because he's just an obstinate reffo, and Cam is endlessly understanding but also craves a return to the black. This was repeated a million different ways, making Brady and Cam so two-dimensional because that's basically ALL that was ever said about them.

I got the impression LH's heart really wasn't in this one, which makes me sad because I loved the first book and thought the second had SO much potential.