A review by contesauce
The Trials by Linda Nagata

5.0

First I'm thoroughly impressed with Linda's writing. She has a way that is like no other author I've read before. She has elements of other authors but the way she combines them all makes her wholly unique in my book. I don't normally write reviews but I wanted to make a point to note this, and I know I'm about 6 years late on reading this book but I didn't discover her until last year. These are great books, if you are a fan of military sci-fi or military fiction in general these are good. So far, I'm impressed with Linda's knowledge of what PTSD feels like, and what it's like when you first come home after taking off a uniform from years of service. I don't know if she served, or just did really good research but it's spot on. My wife asked what I was reading last night and to boil it down to a sentence I said "lifetime soldier gets out of the military and goes home and is dealing with PTSD". Without missing a beat she replies, "Oh it's your story then?"
Not to misdirect, the book is not about PTSD or him dealing with it, that is only a facet of what's happening in the book, and I don't think anyone who's not suffered would really catch on to many of the subtle things Linda notes the narrator thinking. However, those who know it will know it when you read it, you'll immediately empathize.
It's been a great series so far and I'm excited to finish this one up and get to the third book in the series and then checking out some of Linda's other works. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a new book series to dig into.