"Aren't you sick of everything repeating itself, over and over? Doesn't it make you wish you were already dead? To know you're destined to live a life already lived, a thousand times over?"

Destructive Forces is the fourth installment in the Galactic Captains series, and it continues immediately after the events of book three. Ales has just inadvertently disappeared - for the first time in history - into another galaxy along with a large fleet of Ingvarian ships, and everyone is on the hunt to find him. In this book, we are also introduced to a new character, Mahnoor, a captain of a transport ship from a very rural and isolated part of the galaxy who finds himself tangled in something much bigger than he ever expected.

Most of this book, I feel, is setup for the next book, Altered Tides. We don't follow Ales in this one. Rather, we get more insight on the whole scope of the conflict as well as the powers fighting against each other. There are a bunch of reveals in this book but many more questions as well (of course, haha). We also get a lot of Turo's backstory, which explains why he is the way he is. Another aspect of this book (and this series as well) that I enjoy is the interesting portrayal of the different societies of each planet/culture and how Rey explores (as well as subverts) the typical notion of societal norms. For example, Mahnoor's home Jandor is a matriarchal / poly-amorous society, while in the Kyleri Empire, glass high heels, heavy makeup, and silk robes are a sign of the male nobility.

One thing to make note of in this book, however, is the vast amount of characters. As a result, because there are a lot of PoVs (around six), the pacing can feel a bit jarring at times, as there is a lot of switching around between plots. I'd also say the beginning is a bit plodding, but the there's definitely a lot of action-packed moments towards the end. Overall, this series has improved tremendously from the beginning, and I'm really excited to return to Ales' story in the fifth book.

It is imperative to read the previous books in the series before this one. I had not done so, so I stopped reading about 1/4 of the way through when I realized it was going to continually need information from the previous books.. What I read seemed well written and interesting, it just didn't make any sense without having read the other books.