Dragon and Soldier, by Timothy Zahn

The next in the series, Dragon and Soldier continues the adventures of Jack and Draycos as they try to track down the mercenaries who attacked Draycos' people.

Going under the assumption that mercenary groups probably keep track of one another, Jack enlists in the Whinyard's Edge, a mercenary group with wide ranging enough contracts to likely know about their competitors. He's immediately caught up in a rushed basic training, along with another recruit who seems to know more than she should.

The majority of the book deals with Jack and Draycos surviving their foray as a mercenary soldier, while also trying to find the information on Draycos' enemies. Underneath all that is the conflict between Jack's upbringing, as a look-out-for-yourself thief and conman, and Draycos' warrior ethic that upholds defending the weak and doing what's right.

It's a fun, quick, read. It also sets the pattern for the series pretty well, with the entire book taking Jack and Draycos just one small step farther along toward finding Draycos' enemies, leaving the reader with the impression that the series will be a long one.

Not necessarily a bad thing, when the books are as quick and entertaining a read as this one.