dived straight into this after sitelink Earthrise and just like sitelink Earthrise, i really enjoyed it.
This time we go off around the galaxy with our intrepid crew starting with a strange planet that breeds horses where Hirianthial is kidnapped again and because of complications from that we then have to go to the world of the Eldritch where we begin to find out what they're all about and why they're so secretive.
Yes folks, lots of secrets, Queens, castles, nefarious plots and everything needed to spice it all up, It seems the Queen has big plans for Reese, but are Reese and the crew ready for the world of the Eldritch and is the world of the Eldritch ready for Reese and the crew
All good stuff.
These are big long books that really give value for money and, without pause, i'm diving straight into sitelink Laisrathera.
To be perfectly frank, Rose Point isnt anywhere near as good as sitelinkEarthrise,
At least, its a completely different experience, and I feel like it let me down in my expectations.
The first book was all about live aboard a merchant ship, drifting through space in search of adventure.
There were pirates, there was action, there were lasers, and the law got involved,
This one starts off on a random planet in a random system, with the crew negotiating trade agreements for horses and wine.
Yawn, right
Something bad happens and they flee, Okay, getting better. A short sojourn on a space station, and then its off to the Eldritch homeworld, where they spend most of the book.
And said Eldritch homeworld is hardly what Id consider “actionpacked”, Its full of political intrigue and espionage, . . which is fine, and was interesting in its own way, It just wasnt what I expected,
Its a real slow burner, and frequently confusing, Youll go through pages and pages without really understanding whats going on, I mean, the titles meaning is only revealed aroundin, and even then I didnt feel like it was as spectacular as it couldve been.
Another thing that hurts is the long chapters, The first book had them too, and they kinda bugged me there, but there was at least enough action to keep me interested.
These chapters areonscreen pages long sometimes, so you never have time to put the book down and reflect on what youve just read.
It just drones on and on,
Having said all this, the ending picks up nicely, and is full of promise, Id love to see how those promises get kept, and I know what to expect now, so I think Ill be reading the next instalment in this series.
Click here to find out where you can get your hands on a copy: sitelink com/u/bWPGLM
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The second book in the Her Instruments series by M, C. A. Hogarth. The story picks up about a year after the first book, Reese goes to a remote colony in hopes of doing some business but gets caught up in their troubles and Hirianthial is kidnapped once again.
During this he discovers he has some powers he didn't know about and needs to seek counsel from his people.
Reese realizes this and contacts her benefactor,
I liked it for the most part but hated that it ended in a cliffhanger, The good news is that the next book has already been published and I did not have to wait for it.
This begins and finishes with big action sequences, In fact, the final action ends much like The Empire Strikes back with our heroes dispersed in all directions to strive in their diverse ways for the common good.
In the middle we're introduced to a planetbound adventure, in fact to the Eldritch planet and their society.
One of the things that made me snicker is the way Hogarth keeps edging space opera into romance novel territory only to jerk us away from it again.
Very mild spoiler:
I was fascinated by the way Hogarth also reversed roles in several key ways, including sexual victimization and the aftermath.
It all works in this space opera but Hogarth is a smart cookie and gives us more to think about than we realize on a cursory glance.
.stars. There were scenes that could have used more sensory detail, I won't reveal which ones due to spoiler content, but at the very times when I wanted to know more about what was going on, the information I was looking for was only alluded to.
Otherwise, I continue to enjoy this series and have already started the next book, Great book
I really enjoyed reading MCA Hogarth's follow up to bookEarthrise, A grest follow up to an interesting characters in her Pelted Universe traveling in space, Intriguing exploration of major cultural misuderstandings with the creatures from the cold night planet, Thanks again MCA.
I'm really enjoying this story, in spite of it taking most of the first book to get used to the narrator.
Also, while I didn't like the MC much at all in the first book I found that she grew quite well and dialed the bitchy mood way back in this installment.
I'm going to jump right into the third, Reese's crew now includes an Eldritch supercargo, because a healer role would have resulted in a conflict of interest between the need to defend the ship and healer vows taken.
The beginning of the book takes place among nomads and horsebreeders on Harat Shar, and Hirianthial finally seems less of a drippy liability at least until he discovers new powers that nearly destroy him again and require he learn to control them on his home planet.
I was beginning to get a bit tired of watching him totter from one mishap after another, Fortuitously on his home planet he is very much more in charge,
The Eldritch world has very few inhabitants and is run by women, Men are, at best, a kind of body guard, At worst they are reduced to sperm donors, Why a male would want to live there I cannot work out, Also, what is it with the love for feudal societies in fantasy there is no way I would set foot on a planet like the Eldritch home planet.
I wonder whether it is easier to make unusual or rebel characters stand out when the imagined society is rule bound, excessively formal/rigid and technology is scarce technology can be a great equaliser and empower people.
Who would care much about someone bringing an outsider into
the country in our current world it just wouldn't be a story against a current background.
Perhaps feudal backdrops are necessary for contrast, to facitate a plot and to enable growth,
I struggled a bit with my suspense of disbelief how would a planetary economy work with such a huge trade deficit just about everything needs to be imported Where does the feudal lord's 'wealth' come from How would evolution produce an elf like creature from a human gene pool even with extreme genetic drift, when life spans are thousands of years, and offspring exceedingly rare There just isn't enough time.
And these questions don't even touch on esp, 'well drives', and so on, No effort is made to explain or even pseudo explain any of this,
On the upside, there is plenty of action on different planets, and continued character development means Reese is becoming more likeable.
Then again, the good brother evil brother theme could have been done more subtly I thought this was very cliched.
It was good to have expanding roles for some of the quieter crew members the phoenix, I would have preferred platonic friendship over romance, because it leaves options open for future adventures, With Reese being accepted as a vassal and given a ruined castle as her own, this all looks too much like an apple pie ending for my taste.
Still I will read the next book, .