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pjonsson's review
3.0
When I read the description of the story I thought: “this sounds promising”. Indeed it is a promising start but it was a somewhat difficult book to read. A lot of the book is, not surprisingly, spent on the initial world building. However this felt somewhat disorganized. It felt like it was jumping all over the place with different stories and characters and some of them did not really feel like they were going anywhere others felt like they were just skimping over major past events.
In general the book is quite good reading though. The different parts are well written individually. The starship action, how ships manoeuvre in space and how they fight is believable as is the technology, the way their FTL technology worked, and their weaponry.
In this first book I did not really get that much attachment to any of the characters. I think this was due to the world building and somewhat “jumping around” style the book was written in. I hope it will get better with the next book. I assume that we will be following the young prince somewhat closer in that one for instance.
The book is building up to a certain amount of stupid politics which gives me cause for some concern. I hope the next book doesn’t go overboard in that area. That would really ruin the otherwise promising start.
In general this book makes me want to read the next one though.
In general the book is quite good reading though. The different parts are well written individually. The starship action, how ships manoeuvre in space and how they fight is believable as is the technology, the way their FTL technology worked, and their weaponry.
In this first book I did not really get that much attachment to any of the characters. I think this was due to the world building and somewhat “jumping around” style the book was written in. I hope it will get better with the next book. I assume that we will be following the young prince somewhat closer in that one for instance.
The book is building up to a certain amount of stupid politics which gives me cause for some concern. I hope the next book doesn’t go overboard in that area. That would really ruin the otherwise promising start.
In general this book makes me want to read the next one though.
pjonsson's review against another edition
4.0
This book follows on seamlessly from the first book in the Exodus: Empires at War series. I definitely liked this book. More so than the first one. This book feels more focused than the previous one. Naturally a lot of the initial world building was taken care of in book 1 which allows this book to spend more time on the actual story. Having said that, I feel that both books are pretty much “just” setting the stage for the main story.
Of course the young prince, as the book blurb states, now finds himself being the emperor. An emperor of an empire that just went to war. Although he is not really getting the chance, yet, to take much action in the book what is there certainly seems to indicate that he is not going to be the wimp and pushover that some of the characters seem to believe, or maybe even hope. I like that.
A lot of the book is spent on battles in space with not everything from individual ships, small groups of ships to entire fleets of ships slugging it out. These battles are quite well written and makes me think of book by David Weber. Actually the book series, in some aspects, feels quite “Weberesque” so far. Luckily the author doesn’t dig himself down in the amount of endless talks and politics that Weber is doing more and more with his books. I was actually quite disappointed in his latest Honor Harrington book.
Speaking of politics, there are some of it in the book and, of course, the politicians are despicable, power-hungry assholes (just as in real life). Fortunately the politics and such nonsense are kept at an acceptable level and the progress of the good characters as well as the action is brought to the forefront of the story. Said asshole politicians even get a good spanking in the book and I certainly hope it stays that way.
By the end of the book we have not more than started to nibble on the main story, or at least what I hope is the intention of the author to be the main story, and that is the invasion of the Ca’cadasans and actual war between the empires that the book title implies will take place. I am looking forward to read the next book in the series and see how this story progresses. These first two books have certainly made a promising start.
Of course the young prince, as the book blurb states, now finds himself being the emperor. An emperor of an empire that just went to war. Although he is not really getting the chance, yet, to take much action in the book what is there certainly seems to indicate that he is not going to be the wimp and pushover that some of the characters seem to believe, or maybe even hope. I like that.
A lot of the book is spent on battles in space with not everything from individual ships, small groups of ships to entire fleets of ships slugging it out. These battles are quite well written and makes me think of book by David Weber. Actually the book series, in some aspects, feels quite “Weberesque” so far. Luckily the author doesn’t dig himself down in the amount of endless talks and politics that Weber is doing more and more with his books. I was actually quite disappointed in his latest Honor Harrington book.
Speaking of politics, there are some of it in the book and, of course, the politicians are despicable, power-hungry assholes (just as in real life). Fortunately the politics and such nonsense are kept at an acceptable level and the progress of the good characters as well as the action is brought to the forefront of the story. Said asshole politicians even get a good spanking in the book and I certainly hope it stays that way.
By the end of the book we have not more than started to nibble on the main story, or at least what I hope is the intention of the author to be the main story, and that is the invasion of the Ca’cadasans and actual war between the empires that the book title implies will take place. I am looking forward to read the next book in the series and see how this story progresses. These first two books have certainly made a promising start.
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