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| Trade paperback, 427 pages Published 2018 Acquired November 2018 Read December 2018 |
by Yoon Ha Lee
I didn't like Ninefox Gambit, but ended up really enjoying Raven Stratagem when I dutifully read it for the Hugo Awards, so I willingly picked up the final volume of the Machineries of Empire trilogy. This isn't as good as Raven Stratagem, but it is decent. Like Raven, it starts strong but kind of fizzles out, in that the narrative drive seems to dissipate as the novel goes, instead of increasing in intensity. The beginning of the book is strong, but isn't delivered on. I like the idea of one Jedao being used to bring down another Jedao, but there's not much of a reckoning out of this. The beginning also promises much out of Kel Brezan, my favorite character. He's a crashhawk (a Kel without the "formation instinct" that forces them to obey orders) but despite that he's become the leader of a breakaway government of his own. We get a few chapters of him learning to navigate this new situation, but this subplot isn't as prominent as I'd hoped.
The action in this series is always kind of obscure, but what got me invested in Raven was the characters; Revenant's characters aren't as compelling, unfortunately. An okay conclusion to an okay trilogy, but I feel like it could have been a great series. Still, I'll pick up the fourth volume, a collection of short stories, when it comes out.
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