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Jul. 25th, 2018 07:47 amI just finished Raven Stratagem, the second Machineries of Empire book (the first being Ninefox Gambit) and I'm trying to sort out how I feel about it.
I mean, I enjoyed reading it a lot! The book has three main POV characters, who I think I can talk about in a non-spoilery fashion. Let's see: OK, so one of the main conceits of Lee's world is that there are six main factions, all of whom serve different functions within society and most of whom get different weird powers or traits as a result. For the Kel military faction, who we spend most of our time following, that trait is 'formation instinct,' which causes them to follow the orders of a superior officer unquestioningly under any circumstances.
Nobody is born with this, for the record; it's something you're injected with if you choose to become a Kel. Every once in a rare while, it doesn't take. The Kel who turn out not to have formation instinct are generally kicked out of the army at best and summarily executed at worst. Nobody wants a soldier who has to choose to follow orders.
(Yes, this all has some resonance with all the clone soldier feelings I've been having lately, why do you ask?)
The beginning of this book sets up a situation in which a very dangerous individual who, by happenstance, still has an extremely high rank saunters into an Army division and takes it over by pure formation instinct -- except for the few non-Kel technicians, and one Very Responsible Kel HR officer, Brezan, who makes a stand to oppose the invader even though it means revealing just how degraded his formation instinct has become.
Everyone who said I was going to love Very Responsible Kel Brezan: yes, obviously you were right, he is great. I also became very fond of Khiruev, the POV character on the flip side of the story -- the general with operational formation instinct, who ends up second-in-command to our Very Dangerous and Oblique Protagonist as they carry out some labyrinthine plan that nobody in the entire book understands. And I even enjoyed being in the head of the third main POV character, Shuos Mikodez, the twisty individual in charge of the Shuos faction (assassins, intelligence, and strategic planning) who also enjoys labyrinthine plans as well as a spot of therapeutic gardening.
( The rest is spoilers )
That said, I am still very much looking forward to the thrilling conclusion, which I expect to pick up very soon! Clever of me to sit on these until the trilogy was complete. Completely accidental, but clever!
I mean, I enjoyed reading it a lot! The book has three main POV characters, who I think I can talk about in a non-spoilery fashion. Let's see: OK, so one of the main conceits of Lee's world is that there are six main factions, all of whom serve different functions within society and most of whom get different weird powers or traits as a result. For the Kel military faction, who we spend most of our time following, that trait is 'formation instinct,' which causes them to follow the orders of a superior officer unquestioningly under any circumstances.
Nobody is born with this, for the record; it's something you're injected with if you choose to become a Kel. Every once in a rare while, it doesn't take. The Kel who turn out not to have formation instinct are generally kicked out of the army at best and summarily executed at worst. Nobody wants a soldier who has to choose to follow orders.
(Yes, this all has some resonance with all the clone soldier feelings I've been having lately, why do you ask?)
The beginning of this book sets up a situation in which a very dangerous individual who, by happenstance, still has an extremely high rank saunters into an Army division and takes it over by pure formation instinct -- except for the few non-Kel technicians, and one Very Responsible Kel HR officer, Brezan, who makes a stand to oppose the invader even though it means revealing just how degraded his formation instinct has become.
Everyone who said I was going to love Very Responsible Kel Brezan: yes, obviously you were right, he is great. I also became very fond of Khiruev, the POV character on the flip side of the story -- the general with operational formation instinct, who ends up second-in-command to our Very Dangerous and Oblique Protagonist as they carry out some labyrinthine plan that nobody in the entire book understands. And I even enjoyed being in the head of the third main POV character, Shuos Mikodez, the twisty individual in charge of the Shuos faction (assassins, intelligence, and strategic planning) who also enjoys labyrinthine plans as well as a spot of therapeutic gardening.
( The rest is spoilers )
That said, I am still very much looking forward to the thrilling conclusion, which I expect to pick up very soon! Clever of me to sit on these until the trilogy was complete. Completely accidental, but clever!
