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seeinghowitgoes's review against another edition
3.0
At least this series remained consistent through to the end. Infodump was the best way of summing up this series, it definitely told rather than showed but the concept was fun and raised a few ethnical questions along the way.
Yes, we get that even small percentages are possible, yes Ia survives on not a hell of a lot of sleep, yes killing is bad. The problem is each chapter feels like a different episode, we don't need the exposition constantly thrown in our faces, especially not that far into the series!
That said, Ia is a kick ass heroine, she's bloody, tough, willing to make the sacrifices and the bad choices for everything else. I might not have loved the series itself, but I loved Ia.
Yes, we get that even small percentages are possible, yes Ia survives on not a hell of a lot of sleep, yes killing is bad. The problem is each chapter feels like a different episode, we don't need the exposition constantly thrown in our faces, especially not that far into the series!
That said, Ia is a kick ass heroine, she's bloody, tough, willing to make the sacrifices and the bad choices for everything else. I might not have loved the series itself, but I loved Ia.
paradoxically's review against another edition
2.0
The last book in the Theirs Not to Reason Why series felt like one giant rush from start to finish--and not necessarily in a good way. In the review I wrote for the last book I said that book 5 either had to be very long or cover a lot of time. Well, it had to cover a lot of time and it wasn't that long, so it felt like the author was hurtling down a mountain and skimming rocks. It just felt rushed. There were large leaps in time, but it didn't feel like all that much time was passing in the book. It just felt like the author was trying to wrap everything up in one book and she succeeded, but it was too much and I remained pretty detached.
Ia's abilities remain ridiculous. The fact that she can communicate with and borrow 'time' from her past/future selves is a little too much to swallow. Never liked that part of the last book or in this book. It's still too convenient.
And the thing is, you have Ia harp about how the future is never quite certain, how things are always changing and that she's doing her best to steer the future on the correct path, but in the end, after all that happens, you realize something rather important. Ia is gone and the future is in the correct path, but even with her future prophecies how is it certain the future will stay on that path? I mean, look at how Ia had to micromanage everything already.
The ending was predictable and kind of made me angry at the same time even knowing it was coming because after all of that that ending still happened. It felt abrupt, it didn't have quite the emotional impact I suspect the author was going for, and it just felt like a giant waste. There are still so many unanswered questions that I suppose that the author can address in other books in the same universe as this one, but it's not the same and won't be the same.
It's just... kind of disappointing. The war with the Greys seemed to mostly have been glossed over. It was sped through really quickly and I just wanted more from that corner. There's a distinct lack of interpersonal relationships as Ia spends most of her time micromanaging the war(s) and she doesn't have time for that, but as a reader it was sorely lacking in that department (and I don't mean romance, I mean friendship and Ia interacting with her crew).
It was just too much to cover in the book and it wasn't pulled off nearly as well as I hoped it would be. It's a shame, really. 2 stars.
Ia's abilities remain ridiculous. The fact that she can communicate with and borrow 'time' from her past/future selves is a little too much to swallow. Never liked that part of the last book or in this book. It's still too convenient.
And the thing is, you have Ia harp about how the future is never quite certain, how things are always changing and that she's doing her best to steer the future on the correct path, but in the end, after all that happens, you realize something rather important. Ia is gone and the future is in the correct path, but even with her future prophecies how is it certain the future will stay on that path? I mean, look at how Ia had to micromanage everything already.
The ending was predictable and kind of made me angry at the same time even knowing it was coming because after all of that that ending still happened. It felt abrupt, it didn't have quite the emotional impact I suspect the author was going for, and it just felt like a giant waste. There are still so many unanswered questions that I suppose that the author can address in other books in the same universe as this one, but it's not the same and won't be the same.
It's just... kind of disappointing. The war with the Greys seemed to mostly have been glossed over. It was sped through really quickly and I just wanted more from that corner. There's a distinct lack of interpersonal relationships as Ia spends most of her time micromanaging the war(s) and she doesn't have time for that, but as a reader it was sorely lacking in that department (and I don't mean romance, I mean friendship and Ia interacting with her crew).
It was just too much to cover in the book and it wasn't pulled off nearly as well as I hoped it would be. It's a shame, really. 2 stars.
pjonsson's review against another edition
4.0
This is another good book in the series although I have to say that, as a series finale, it did not manage to reach the heights that I was hoping for. I like Ia and her telling everyone else what is about to happen and, occasionally, showing off what she is really capable of. I like her a lot. I would say that the book is generally very well written as well.
However, a lot of this book felt like it was “only” telling the conclusion of the story by retelling the events that happened when in reality we knew pretty much where everything was going. After the previous book this one felt like just a wrap up. I know that it would have been a large book if book 4 and 5 would have been one book, as the author originally intended, but there are bigger books around and I think it would have been a better choice.
The ending itself also gave me a bit of a “hey wait, is that it?” feeling. It was rather abrupt and did not give a very satisfying feeling. The only thing we got was pretty much Ia’s prophetic stamp that everything was going to be alright. I felt that to be a bit lacking.
Nevertheless it is a good book and it was enjoyable reading. I do hope the author continues to write these kind of stories. It is tempting to ask for a new series with a continuation of some kind with Ia in it but I am not sure how feasible it would be to do this without making it either disappointing or somehow over the top. After all, Ia had developed to almost God-like powers. Where do you go from there without making it over the top?
However, a lot of this book felt like it was “only” telling the conclusion of the story by retelling the events that happened when in reality we knew pretty much where everything was going. After the previous book this one felt like just a wrap up. I know that it would have been a large book if book 4 and 5 would have been one book, as the author originally intended, but there are bigger books around and I think it would have been a better choice.
The ending itself also gave me a bit of a “hey wait, is that it?” feeling. It was rather abrupt and did not give a very satisfying feeling. The only thing we got was pretty much Ia’s prophetic stamp that everything was going to be alright. I felt that to be a bit lacking.
Nevertheless it is a good book and it was enjoyable reading. I do hope the author continues to write these kind of stories. It is tempting to ask for a new series with a continuation of some kind with Ia in it but I am not sure how feasible it would be to do this without making it either disappointing or somehow over the top. After all, Ia had developed to almost God-like powers. Where do you go from there without making it over the top?
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
4.0
Last book in a series I started reading for the Endeavour Award. So you turn 15 years old and come into your powers as among other things a powerful precog who can see basically the whole universe will end in 300 years unless you find a way past it. And that's basically this series in a nutshell. Sure Ia is an absolute Mary Sue. And this the series as a whole has its ups and downs, and in fact really there is no way for this to be anything but a downer. But I thought it clever and interesting and a helluva thought experiment. And a solid ending.
allyourpagearebelongtous's review
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
wetdryvac's review against another edition
5.0
Weirdly uncomfortable in terms of how things hook together, but in a way that mostly seems to promote the story, and the writing style lends itself to that very well indeed.
nessa_arandur's review against another edition
1.0
The one strained my suspension of disbelief too far. Even if something goes wrong for the MC, nothing really goes wrong because she fixes it so quickly and easily. I was disappointed there is really no conflict for her to come up against because she, who is also a Mary Sue, already has everything figured out.
guardyourhonor's review against another edition
1.0
Nope. I suffered through four books of writing that was at times mediocre, for this?
I can't talk about most of my problems with this book without massive spoilers, which I'll do below, so I will touch on a couple things I did like: the writing was stronger than the first three books, though not as strong as Hardship. I liked that as Ia came to the end of the wars, she loosened up a little bit and wasn't quite as much of a stick in the mud as always. I liked some of the plot points or characters from previous books coming back around to relevance. That's probably it. So on to my problems:
Honestly, I wouldn't be so mad if Ia had made oblique reference to her death in previous books & if she hadn't offered that there was a slight chance, OR if the entire crew wasn't with her. Because WTF I get that the crew wanted to make their own choice, and I could have gotten behind that if it was in ANY WAY necessary that they be there. Like it would increase her odds of success in some way, or she couldn't realistically do it herself, or if they were with her it increased her chance to survive even fractionally. But no, she could have done it herself and never seemed to suggest that the odds weren't in her favor alone, and having them there wasn't related to the tiny possibility of survival. So instead they just kill themselves for NO REASON. Even if it had just been Harper, I would have gotten it. But NOPE.
And THEN I still could have probably forgiven it, had there been an epilogue. Something set 300 years into the future with the Savior. Something to give the reader to feel better about this huge meaningless sacrifice we just had to endure. But instead it's just like OH THE END EVERYONE'S DEAD.
Ugh. I finished this days ago and I'm getting mad again just thinking about it. I should go back to my review of the first one and warn everyone not to read it.
I can't talk about most of my problems with this book without massive spoilers, which I'll do below, so I will touch on a couple things I did like: the writing was stronger than the first three books, though not as strong as Hardship. I liked that as Ia came to the end of the wars, she loosened up a little bit and wasn't quite as much of a stick in the mud as always. I liked some of the plot points or characters from previous books coming back around to relevance. That's probably it. So on to my problems:
Spoiler
WHAT THE FUCK. Look, I don't require all books to have a happy ending. My objection is not so much that Ia dies, but that a) EVERYONE dies??? For no good reason??? and b) this series has been FULL of foreshadowing. And rather than clearly foreshadowing her death, it kind of does the opposite. Why on earth would you throw in the comment about how there's a slight chance they can survive, after several books in which Ia harps on her 3% getting shot, only for it to not work? Why have her be SO SAD about how her family is going to be trapped behind the Greys for the rest of her life - yeah it's sad to say goodbye the last time but it was like a couple months prior, the being cut off seems irrelevant? Why have her have that whole talk with Myang about training psi?Honestly, I wouldn't be so mad if Ia had made oblique reference to her death in previous books & if she hadn't offered that there was a slight chance, OR if the entire crew wasn't with her. Because WTF I get that the crew wanted to make their own choice, and I could have gotten behind that if it was in ANY WAY necessary that they be there. Like it would increase her odds of success in some way, or she couldn't realistically do it herself, or if they were with her it increased her chance to survive even fractionally. But no, she could have done it herself and never seemed to suggest that the odds weren't in her favor alone, and having them there wasn't related to the tiny possibility of survival. So instead they just kill themselves for NO REASON. Even if it had just been Harper, I would have gotten it. But NOPE.
And THEN I still could have probably forgiven it, had there been an epilogue. Something set 300 years into the future with the Savior. Something to give the reader to feel better about this huge meaningless sacrifice we just had to endure. But instead it's just like OH THE END EVERYONE'S DEAD.
Ugh. I finished this days ago and I'm getting mad again just thinking about it. I should go back to my review of the first one and warn everyone not to read it.
bookarian's review against another edition
4.0
Last book of the series. Incredibly dense but fast-paced, a combination I can't remember seeing before. I highly recommend this title to all military sci-fi readers.