2022 SF, fourth in a five-book series. Nora's new status leaves her
learning to play politics in a hurry.
Schwartz is pretty much the only author I'm reading at the moment
who can reliably surprise me with the end of a book. (This is
obviously easier with an etext where I don't have the constant
reminder of a thinning stack of pages in my right hand.) This book
seemed to get off to a slow start, but even though it's all
planet-bound and interpersonal rather than space action, it managed to
engage me.
Some of that engagement came from speculation on how the last volume
may resolve things, of course. There's still new information being
revealed, about personalities of members of the various royal families
(selected on the basis of the genetic ability to use alien terror
weapons) and about Nora's ability to use those same devices in new
ways… which doesn't feel Mary-Sue to me at least; she's been brought
up outside the mainstream and so hasn't had the standard training for
the way things must inevitably be, so she's able to see new ways of
doing things.
As with all of these, not amazing, but I enjoyed it more than book 3.
Note that I will only approve comments that relate to the blog post itself, not ones that relate only to previous comments. This is to ensure that the blog remains outside the scope of the UK's Online Safety Act (2023).
Your submission will be ignored if any field is left blank, but your email address will not be displayed. Comments will be processed through markdown.