Coming as something of a shock after the disappointment of the sixth novel, Shawn Wilson‘s seventh Ultimate Level 1 novel is quite good. He somehow managed to sidestep the issues caused by the protagonist’s sudden exponential growth relative to his teammates while expanding the scope of the main plotline.
Crystal Genocide turned out to indeed be the start of a new series, and RavensDagger‘s follow-up draws heavily on the setting for the Stalker video games. So heavily that I’m kind of amazed it was able to be published… though I suppose it could be argued that it’s actually Roadside Picnic‘s setting. Regardless, if you liked that first novel this one’s quite similar in structure and character behavior.