Review: An Officer's Duty (Theirs Not to Reason Why #2) by Jean Johnson

3.5 stars for An Officer's Duty (Theirs Not to Reason Why book 2) by Jean Johnson.

I am glad to have finally finished reading An Officer's Duty, a whopping 448 pages of a book. It feels as if I have been reading this book for weeks on end though it has only been less than ten days since I pick it up. Besides the high wordcount, I guess I am partially responsible for taking longer than my usual time to read a book. Because I am back to playing this fun, highly addictive, action-strategy adventure game, Plant vs. Zombies. And it's edition 2. That said, it is not easy to decide on which, Game or Read, to spend my precious little free time on, not without feeling guilty, somehow or other, for ditching one of them, no matter how temporarily.

Though the pace of this book 2 is slower in comparison to book 1 A Soldier's Duty, on the whole, I have an enjoyable time reading this science fiction fantasy novel, one where the protagonist is gifted with many special talents: telepathy, xenopathy, biokinesis, electrokinesis, pyrokinesis, telekinesis, battlecognition, postcognition and precognition.

Leaving Sanctuary a civilian but returning five years later as Lieutenant second class in the Space Force Marine Corps, the story kicks off with Ia, now 21 years old, on leave to visit her family.

From a quarter to slightly more than half the book, we see Ia transfers her service contract from the Branch Marine Corps to the Branch Navy of the Terran United Planets Space Force and enters the academy for leadership training as an SF-Navy officer. There, Ia meets the bane of her precognitive skills; the one person whose mere existence can possibly undo everything she has been working so hard to save.

Having covered the grounds of family and leadership training for officers-to-be, the rest of the book is dedicated to Ia's service in the blockade patrol combat position aboard starship TUPSF Audie-Murphy.

With the mission to stop the galaxy from extragalactic invasion and destruction centuries from the present, Ia works hard to set up a path of dominos with each to be knocked down at the right time and right place. It is imperative that Ia manipulates all possible scenarios to her advantage, even right down to making sure the correct people are born at the right time, right place and the wrong people are guarded against carefully, such that the outcome is for the greater good of all mankind.

Once again, I like to stress that this series falls under the genre of science fiction fantasy, and a military one at that. If you are out looking for a science fiction romance fantasy, be prepared to be disappointed. Drop the expectation for romance and you will be in for a treat.

Last but not least, I find that this book can be read and enjoyed without having access to the first book. But of course, I will still recommend to start from book 1, A Soldier's Duty in order not to miss out the earlier interesting portion of the series.

Publisher: Ace
Publication date: 31 Jul 2012

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Promoted in the field for courage and leadership under fire, Ia is now poised to become an officer in the Space Force Navy—once she undertakes her Academy training. But on a trip back home to Sanctuary, she finds the heavyworld colony being torn apart by religious conflict. Now Ia must prepare her family and followers to secure the galaxy’s survival. Her plan is to command a Blockade Patrol ship. Her goal, to save as many lives as she can. But at the Academy, she discovers an unexpected challenge: the one man who could disrupt those plans. The man whose future she cannot foresee...

*Blurb from Goodreads*

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