2025 SF, last of its trilogy. The colony is going to be invaded, the
rebellion is at a standstill, and the new dictator is about to make
his move…
There's a great deal going on here, and while I imagine the
experienced SF reader would be able to put everything together, I'd
recommend more than usual that one not start here. In particular, it's
worth having read the first book to know who Esek Nightfoot was and how
people are now affected by her.
There are problems of language; I stumbled over how many times
"decimate" was used (always to mean "defeat comprehensively"), and
this wasn't as quick to read for me as the earlier books were.
However, I found it thoroughly satisfying. There are big scenes of
action and battle, both in space and close up, but the battles are all
won well before the end of the book. Then the winners have the
really hard job, of trying to build a system that won't set it all
off again.
There's a fake-out regarding someone's death that I thought rather too
obvious, but that may have been because of my genre awareness. This is
a book, and a series, which delves into the ease of looking aside when
a genocide is brewing, and the extent to which even that is
complicity. At the same time the narrative is entirely driven by the
characters: put different people in these positions, even with the
same array of skills, and things would have gone differently. Apart
from one or two serious villains, most people here have a vision for
the future that doesn't involve treading on anyone's toes… well, at
least, nobody important…
The series is heavy, and dark, and hopeful. It isn't perfect, and this
book certainly has structural problems (the flashbacks in particular
didn't seem to add much). But it is pleasing to see a writer who can
face modern reality, and not despair as I do, but rather try to write
ways in which such a situation can be improved.
“Do not love us more than life. Love us more than death!”