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A review by kaje_harper
Special Forces - Mercenaries Part II by Aleksandr Voinov, Vashtan, Marquesate
4.0
This story still has me trapped, enthralled, and generally neglecting real life to pursue it.
This installment is a little less focused than the first two. Some of the sex, although still scorching, feels gratuitous, especially when it doesn't involve either MC. Even some that does involve Vadim and/or Dan is not revealing in any plot sense. There are also moments here and there when the language usage doesn't sound like a native English speaker. But that doesn't keep this from being among the most addictive stories I have read.
As the story moves back and forth, there are shifts between the characters related to who is focused on their partner and who is lost in their own head. This results in a constant tension. In this book, Dan regains some of the depth he was lacking through much of Mercenaries I, as he tried to be Mad Dog, the uber-soldier and opportunistic cocksucker. The darkness in Vadim, which was clearly just suppressed and never healed in the previous book, breaks loose and its depth is shocking to both Dan and the reader. These guys don't talk to each other about the things that matter most, both apparently afraid that opening up the dark places in their relationship and in their psyches might break them apart. Ironically that means they hurt each other again and again, in ways large and small. Those wounds they inflict on each other are often bandaged over with apologies and let's-move-on rather than discussed, lanced and healed. But the degree to which these very different men are bound together at their core is also clear.
This book has some great action sequences, and some of the secondary characters become more fascinating and nuanced, although occasionally their stories intrude a little on the main thrust of the book and the MC's. The ending is a partial cliff-hanger, and propels the reader into Veterans, with a deep foreboding about dark and murky waters ahead.
This installment is a little less focused than the first two. Some of the sex, although still scorching, feels gratuitous, especially when it doesn't involve either MC. Even some that does involve Vadim and/or Dan is not revealing in any plot sense. There are also moments here and there when the language usage doesn't sound like a native English speaker. But that doesn't keep this from being among the most addictive stories I have read.
As the story moves back and forth, there are shifts between the characters related to who is focused on their partner and who is lost in their own head. This results in a constant tension. In this book, Dan regains some of the depth he was lacking through much of Mercenaries I, as he tried to be Mad Dog, the uber-soldier and opportunistic cocksucker. The darkness in Vadim, which was clearly just suppressed and never healed in the previous book, breaks loose and its depth is shocking to both Dan and the reader. These guys don't talk to each other about the things that matter most, both apparently afraid that opening up the dark places in their relationship and in their psyches might break them apart. Ironically that means they hurt each other again and again, in ways large and small. Those wounds they inflict on each other are often bandaged over with apologies and let's-move-on rather than discussed, lanced and healed. But the degree to which these very different men are bound together at their core is also clear.
This book has some great action sequences, and some of the secondary characters become more fascinating and nuanced, although occasionally their stories intrude a little on the main thrust of the book and the MC's. The ending is a partial cliff-hanger, and propels the reader into Veterans, with a deep foreboding about dark and murky waters ahead.