“You’ve got to see this watch, Tommy.”

From S. J. Kincaid’s Insignia: Vortex.

As the world spirals further into deadly war, teenager Tom Raines is a second year cadet in the Intrasolar Forces preparing to fight as a revolutionary type of soldier.  Tom was brought into the highly competitive and serious military program because he was a talented gamer and the Intrasolar Forces place a computer in the cadets’ heads so they can control a ship from anywhere, just as soon as the cadets learn to control the new technologies.  However, as Tom and the other cadets quickly discover, having every thought be instantly connected to everyone in the program is far from ideal and the training is more intense than anyone anticipated.  Unwilling to compromise on his values or abandon his friends to get sponsors, Tom finds often finds himself facing difficulty on some front.  The deeper Tom gets into his training and bonding with some fellow cadets, the more Tom realizes that things are not all as they seem in the program.  The more at odds Tom finds himself with the government politicians, Tom realizes that because he spent his childhood fighting to survive, he might just be able to survive his training.

The second book in Kincaid’s sci-fi, dystopian young adult trilogy is full of action, suspense, and solid characters.  The settings are unique, but somehow manages to be believable even though it is a totally fictional series.  The characters have been allowed the opportunity to grow and fail, while the action has increased to make Vortex a page-turning adventure.