Jay Posey is not only one of my favorite authors in the Angry Robots catalog, he's rising to become one of my favorite authors, period.

<em>Sungrazer</em> is the second book in his Outriders series - an action/adventure, military sci-fi space opera. Think Jerry Pournelle crossed with the authors known as James S.A. Corey.

There is a bit of a Cold War going on between Earth and Mars. Though there is a coalition between the two governing worlds, things are tense, to say the least, and right now there is an A.I.-driven military assault ship that has gone missing somewhere in deep space. Possession of this ship could change the balance of power and only the elite team known as the Outriders are likely to track this down.

As good as the Outriders are, with their cloned bodies which make them nearly immortal, their skills will be challenged here as they come up against smugglers in space and adept agents of the Martian People's Collective Republic.

This book is almost non-stop action, with pauses only long enough to keep the story moving forward with swift discovery, followed by more pulse-pounding action.

But what really drives the story, from action moment to story moment to action moment, etc., is the characters. Posey has pulled together a team that is in part a stereotype of every team-oriented action/war movie ever made ... but it works. There is a reason you have a bona fide leader, a super-skilled tech nerd, someone who loves to shoot things, and so on - it really does work! And because Posey draws these characters so nicely for us, we find ourselves attached to them, thinking of them as real and we can't help but want to see them safe and successful.

It is this attachment to the characters that also has us turning pages as rapidly as possible. When the group separates we have multiple story-lines going on and we often can't wait to see what is happening to other members of the squad.

While I often make notes in my Kindle books for later reference when I am writing up my review, my notes here consisted of "Oh, f*@$!" at the end of one chapter, "I can't believe how tense I am" at the end of another, and "I am completely exhausted from the tension here!"

While the team is an elite squadron - the best at what they do - there is a small sense of superhero-ness about them. Their ability to sneak in and around undetected, or to escape from any danger, brings to mind a bit of Batman and the Justice League which sometimes pushes the credibility just a little bit. Even so , this is top-notch space opera and well worth reading.

Looking for a good book? <em>Sungrazer</em> by Jay Posey is the second book in the Outriders series and is thrilling, non-stop action in space and you'll find yourself holding your breath in anticipation as you read.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

The DNA of Jay Posey's Outriders is all 007 - from the catchy name (GoldenEye, anyone?) to the cloak and dagger spy plot, this is Bond for the modern age and with an ensemble cast. Though some would label this military sci fi, the operations that the Outriders perform are often planetside and involve infiltration rather than 'pew pew' action. In essense, this is Spy Fi. But it's very easy to follow, has an interesting cast of characters, and each book ends on a complete subarc.

Synopsis: An AI-driven 'deep cover' military assault ship has gone rogue and the Outriders are brought in track down who took it over and from where. Their mission will take them from contraband haulers in space to a remote Martian science station. And what they find is that someone is very invested in destroying the peace between the Martians and the Earth Coalition.

Although Sungrazer had a different story arc than Outriders, the two stories are connected loosely by the end. I always appreciate with there is a larger mystery to be solved over multiple books in the series - a bigger picture amidst all the small battles that the Outriders face. Because this read like a World War II Occupied France spy novel, it was a bit slower than the previous book. Not terrible but also missing a lot of the action that kept the first book so riveting.

Posey likes to introduce a side character whose path will converge later in the story. It's always interesting to see how such a random series of events/person eventually collides with an Outriders mission. But until that happens, it can be baffling reading about a spy wine-ing and dining a target and then the next chapter having exploding airlocks and finding horrific hidden cargo.

In all, I am enjoying Posey's series mostly because it really isn't Military Sci Fi so much as Spy Fi. That's not a bad thing but I'm admittedly not a big fan of spy books or the James Bond series in particular. As well, this is very American jingoistic that grates a bit in a sci fi.  Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

I liked the action scenes in this book, but found a lack of transition between them that just made it lack some flow. I think the world needs a little more explanation of the different government factions (or my memory of the first book was not sufficient) to better understand the stakes of the book. But it's a perfectly amicable summer beach read.

The AI-piloted ship SUNGRAZER has been taken over by malevolent forces. Who better to make things right and prevent interplanetary war than the Outriders? Jay Posey introduced the Outriders in his 2016 novel Outriders. Their adventures continue in his new novel Sungrazer.



Think of the Outriders as a future version of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, an elite, secretive special forces unit that is called on when an impossible mission needs to be done and no one can know about it. The Clancy reference makes sense, as Posey has written for the Clancy video game series. In Sungrazer, the Outriders's mission is to figure out who has hijacked SUNGRAZER and how they can stop it. The rogue ship, a "kinetic orbital strike vehicle," is capable of obliterating a city. It seems that someone wants to do exactly that in order to start a war between Earth and Mars.


The Outriders are smart, skilled, loyal, and patriotic. Posey writes in great detail about their tactics and missions. At times, I lost sight of the fact that they were operating in space or on another planet, so naturally does he weave in the technology and realities of Martian colonies and zero-g operation. Like any good sci-fi, he doesn't let the tech get in the way of the action or the plot.


Fans of military special ops fiction will enjoy Sungrazer, even they're not into sci-fi. Sci-fi fans will enjoy the political and technological elements of the novel. While both are present, Sungrazer is really, on balance, more military fiction than science fiction. It's enjoyable, action-packed, and readable. Sungrazer stands alone from Outriders, but will make you want to go back and read Outriders. On the other end, it wraps up with a satisfying ending, but leaves the door open for another mission. I'll look forward to that one.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Did not read as it did not download correctly. Thanks for the book and sorry that I did not get to review

This military science fiction adventure once more hooked me in with yet another enthralling plot in a story where the stakes aren’t just cities or countries sucked into war and devastation, but planets… Things are still very tense between Earth and the Mars’ colonies after the last kerfuffle, where our plucky black-ops team narrowly averted a disaster so when a lethally effective weapon disappears, the Outriders are the obvious choice.

Military science fiction naturally requires a cracking plot – and once more, Posey displays his evident skill in his smooth delivery of a storyline where we have a dual narrative – Lincoln, the captain of the Outriders is one of the protagonists, with the other protagonist being Elliot, who is operating as an undercover agent for United States National Intelligence Directorate. The pacing and ramping up the tension is well handled and I enjoyed the twists and turns, particularly the climactic finale where Elliot encounters the Outriders with mixed results.

The characterisation also needs to be good in this genre as we have to care for those going into battle, because if we don’t, then it robs the story of all its tension. Linc is a likeable chap, with sufficient self-doubt and vulnerability for the reader to connect, but not too much because, after all, he is a super-soldier. We also need to identify with the rest of the squad and as this is the second book, I easily recalled all the characters and their particular quirks and skill sets. While reading this, I couldn’t help thinking that it would make a cracking TV mini-series or film.

But the other major ingredient that military sci fi adventures need is plenty of techie weaponry and nifty battle tactics, which need clear explanation before all the action kicks off or the reader isn’t going to full appreciate what is going on. Posey is accomplished at slipping in the salient facts about the guns and those super-suits this crack black-ops team wear, so that in the heat of battle, we are able to follow all that is happening with no trouble. He manages this without compromising the overall pace or gathering tension of the story. Overall, this is yet again a solidly enjoyable story with some unexpected twists – especially near the end that had me reading far longer than I should have done and this one comes highly recommended.
8/10

An excellent piece of military sci-fi. Despite a fairly straightforward plot, this book kept me interested all the way through with a combination of tense action and outstanding character development. I really felt interested the whole way through because the main character, Lincoln, drew me in.

Note: I haven't read the first book. While I think that book might have filled in a few questions, Sungrazer stood just fine on its own.

In the future, mankind has colonized Mars and conquered the stars. Artificial intelligence is at its highest point of evolution and death is a mere concept rather than a certainty.

A secret black ops unit known as the Outriders is put into action to recover a gone-rogue autonomous weaponize spaceship. Last known coordinates place it in the vicinity of Mars - with tension already on high between Mars and Earth, having the autonomous ship in control of the wrong hands could spark a war between the two planets. The stakes are high for this crack team of specialists.

This is the second book in the Outriders series by Jay Posey yet it's new reader friendly. The only thing I really missed out on having not read book one was the group dynamics but that's easy enough to pick up. There are a couple of scenes that reference earlier assignments and one in particular which looks to have a big influence on the teams command yet the author packs enough backstory to make it work.

Sungrazer has a semi military science fiction feel to it, however, the espionage angle is what worked best for me. I love the cloak and dagger and there's a healthy dose of it here, particularly on Mars which fits into the plot nicely.

Overall Sungrazer is an enjoyable read that suffers from long sequences of seemingly inconsequential dialogue and chapters that pay too much attention to teams downtime which made it feel like the book was treading water in patches. Despite the pitfalls, fans of series like The Expanse should eat this up, as well as those already familiar with the series.

3/5 stars.

With every new book Posey displays
his growing excellence as a writer.
In this sequel to the breathtaking OUTRIDERS
Posey takes the action and suspense up another two
or three notches.
In the future Captain Lincoln Suh
leads one of the United States'
most deeply held secrets,
the covert response team The Outriders.
Tasked with responding to threats that
were too classified, too dangerous
to let the public know about.
Often in a first strike capacity
Link leads a team of uniquely gifted soldiers
into battle on the shadow war field.
Exciting and brilliant.
With a wonderful of realism interjected.
This is the best military SF
series I have read.
It takes just enough SF leeway with reality
to be fun but still firmly grounded
in a hard military adventure.