3.5 stars. Boiled candy with fizz bomb sherbet in the middle. Boring then BOOM! 
 Well that is certainly a book that you don't want to give up on in the first 50%. Talk about putting it all in the back half of the story. 
 I won't discuss the story here, there are plenty of reviews that do that. But I will bore you with how I got on with the book. 
 So the first 40 odd percent was a complete re-hash of the first book, it was so familiar that is was pretty boring and it centralised around the dreaded love triangle, which was straight out of a million other stories. I know the author was trying to develop the personalities, which would have been fine if it didn't follow so closely with the previous book. 
 The middle of the book starts to warm up. Certainly the addition of Aliens (Sigourney Weaver where are you?) and the mercenary force added to spice and action. By around 70% I was getting well into the story. 
 The last quarter was pretty darn good. Action packed, full of drama, some pretty interesting twists in the story and done in a pretty (well... as a hard scifi fan, I have to say 'lightweight') detailed way that made it believable (if you allow it too). The end was very interesting and whilst I was certainly expecting it to end that way, the slight twist had me shocked for a while, then smiling at how it was written. 
 Overall 3.5 stars. In all honesty, the book felt like it was devised from the end back to the start. That Kaufman, knew how she wanted to end this and then had to work backwards, but the problem became that the book wouldn't be long enough as literally nothing happens until the Mercs arrive at about 35% in. This means the beginning needed to be fleshed out. For example, there was a loooong and unbelievably boring email conversation between Hannah and her Dad about buying a jumpsuit and her pocket money. At that stage I must admit to giving up as i was so bored. Fortunately for me, I was buddy reading with my book fiend friend Luna and as she was ahead of me, her sudden excitement at the turn of events kept me at it. I am glad I did. 
 I am going to carry on with the series, but if the third book starts off with a love triangle I am going to scream.