Cadet: Star Defenders Book Two: Space Opera Adventure

Star Defenders #2

by Pamela Stewart

Vega and her friends are back and ready to face anything together, or so they think. Life at the Axis military academy isn't what they expected. Brutal training tests their faith in themselves and each other. Every day is torture and every night is...more torture. The academy burns through recruits quickly until only the strongest remain.
Then the real training begins.
Everything at the military facility isn't what it appears to be and soon the friends are up to their retro rockets in trouble. Can Vega, Amalie, and Dax find a way to defeat the forces rising against the Axis before every life in settled space is in mortal danger?
Sometimes evil comes from within.

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult

456 pages, Paperback

Published January 12, 2021

Reviews

[Marti · Rating 5 out of 5]

This second-in-series tale is exciting and action packed - a thrill a minute. Vega, Ethan, Amalie, and Dax arrive at the Military Academy, but it looks like they escaped the frying pan only to fall into the fire! The story has awesome plotting, realistic and crisp dialogue, and a hint of romance. The great characters and their interactions with each other stay with the reader long after the book is closed. I want more!
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader copy of this book.

[AK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non-stop action! This sequel to Conscript is told from the view points of four characters - Vega, Dax, Amelie, and Ethan - all of them with their own strand of the story to tell. Complex world building, space station life, lots of emotions, and aliens (or maybe something else?) make this a wild ride.

[Xanthe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cadet goes big in every way, as sequel to Conscript, it takes all the space adventure and budding friendships from Vega’s first full-length outing (after the short story “Planetstrong”) and ramps up the action and the complexity of the world, progressing our little team to cadets attending the Axis Military academy and expanding to include alternating points of view from Vega’s friends. This story is more epic on every level, and our crew of unlikely heroes all find themselves facing hard choices about who they really want to be and what they’re willing to do to make their dreams happen. The world of Conscript/Cadet is carefully built out and the more we see, the more we realize that Vega, Amelie, and Dax may have been wrong to believe that their futures were assured when they won their places in officer training. (Ethan should definitely know better.) I went through a rollercoaster of emotions reading Cadet and found a lot of it to be very harrowing, but the best parts were the friendship and connections between the characters that shone through even as they were tested by aliens, hijinxs, and possible betrayal. Can’t wait to read the next one!

[Irene S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vega, Amelia, and Dax are thrilled to arrive at the Academy, but first they will need to be tested. Ethan has concerns on whether Vega will forgive him for his deception and how he will be viewed by his boss since he perceives that his last mission was a failure. All four of them will experience challenges and dangers on the Axis but they are stronger together. I received a free copy of this ebook from the author. This is my honest and voluntarily given review. I don't want to spoil the story and the suspense by describing the plot further. I love how the book alternates between the four main characters’ points of view. I also love how the characters are developing through the series and understanding more about their backgrounds. This is an excellent suspenseful scifi book. I look forward to the next book in the series.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty strong second book. There's some romance, but that's not the main draw for me with this series. The friendship between Dax, Amelie and Vega really makes the story. They see each other's strengths and naturally move to support each other. I wasn't sure about the use of multiple POVs, but it really worked. Learning more about a few characters' backgrounds made me more impressed with how they turned out.

It might have been nice if just a little bit more of the larger story had been explained here, and one characters' motivations never did make much sense to me. That said, the story was full of action mixed with great quiet moments and I'll happily keep following the series for the friendship.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

[Jennifer K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buckle up for a bumpy ride.

Unlike Conscript, Cadet had PoV chapters from all four main characters which really fleshed them out. I really enjoyed getting to know more about Am, Dax and Ethan from their own perspective. They are all such vastly different personalities that somehow mesh into a cohesive group.

I also really liked the new characters Binary and Kenzie and hopefully we haven't seen the last of them.

That said, be prepared to sit on the edge of your seat as Vega, Am, Dax and Ethan are pushed from one life or death situation and another.

I am eagerly awaiting book 3!

[Carol Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not put this down! The action never stopped. Vega, Dax, Ethan & Amelie continue their adventures at the Academy. They’re finally there … what could go wrong? A psychotic commander – or is he really? Aliens – or bioengineered critters? Does Amelie’s family finally acknowledge her? Do any of the budding romances come to fruition? They make new friends – and of course, new enemies. It’s a rollicking good time. I received a free copy of this book, with no obligation.

[Tony Fecteau · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I looked at the concept for the second book, I had low expectations. Learning, indoctrination, and excelling was what I was thinking would occur. This book is so much more! We have exciting stories for most of the characters and see them trying to get through everything being thrown at them. The action is intense and kept me reading through the late night.

[Amani · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is SO good and I loved reading about Vega’s journey. Nothing felt too rushed, but the beginning was a little slow. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I want to thank Pamela for the copies in exchange for an honest review. As promised, I will be posting it up on my blog this week! If you’re a fan of Aurora Rising, you’ll love this one!!

[Antonio S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

GREAT sequel! I adored that we got to experience this story from 4 different points-of-view. Book 1 was only told through Vega's eyes, but getting Dad, Amelie, and Ethan mixed in brought us so much deeper into this world and it made more details available to us.

A few new and very worthy new characters allowed for interesting character growth as well as action that couldn't plausibly happen with our original 4 and their resources - like being able to have passes to the big sporting event.

The sheer will that kept Vega, Dax, Amelie, and Ethan physically going was astonishing. The action really doesn't let during the last half of the book, and plenty happens in the first half.

This is definitely a worthwhile YA+ space opera!

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.