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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
4.5/5⭐️
A great ending to the trilogy, with the usual Scalzi twists and turns. A big and sweeping space opera with many great characters to love and hate. A fun ride indeed.
A great ending to the trilogy, with the usual Scalzi twists and turns. A big and sweeping space opera with many great characters to love and hate. A fun ride indeed.
This was a very satisfying conclusion to the story. It has been a fun, light, feel good trilogy with characters I loved to root for. There were some interesting twists I did not see coming in the final volume and I found myself unable to put the book down because I wanted to see how it would all come together at the end. This trilogy was nothing too deep or complicated - but it really hit the spot for my current reading mood. It kept me entertained and made me smile.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Let me start by saying that I love Scalzi, both as a writer and as a human being. He is very entertaining, he has wit, he can draw characters quickly, and his plot twists can be quite inventive. His books generally envision egalitarian worlds where women, LGBTQ, and minorities share power with white cis men, politically, socially, and sexually. It’s wonderful to read his vision of how such a world might look like. His Emperox trilogy is something of a page turner as well, with enough pace and action to never bore you.
That said, I could not give rate this trilogy very highly. I enjoyed it, but unlike his Old Man’s War series, I doubt I will read them again. It was Scalzi being Scalzi, competently written, entertaining, but nothing that made me think about it afterwards. It felt like being invited to dinner by a familiar and entertaining host, but as you are driving home you already planning your day tomorrow rather than reliving the evening you just had. I would recommend it as beach reading, something distracting and entertaining that you could devour in a single sitting but would not mind being interrupted.
That said, I could not give rate this trilogy very highly. I enjoyed it, but unlike his Old Man’s War series, I doubt I will read them again. It was Scalzi being Scalzi, competently written, entertaining, but nothing that made me think about it afterwards. It felt like being invited to dinner by a familiar and entertaining host, but as you are driving home you already planning your day tomorrow rather than reliving the evening you just had. I would recommend it as beach reading, something distracting and entertaining that you could devour in a single sitting but would not mind being interrupted.
4 stars. Grayland II is once again facing off against the Houses whose priorities are for themselves and not the people. Nadashe Nohamapetan and family continue to plot, connive, and murder. Kiva Lagos continues to be a wild card of chaotic good. And Marce may have found a solution...if only Grayland can survive another coup attempt. This was a hard series to listen to/read during the corona virus pandemic what with the American tendency to ask "what's in it for me?" instead of just doing the right thing for the collective good. I read this for my 2020 Reading Challenge (Sword/Star "spaceship on the cover" and for the 2021 Hugo nominations Best Series..
I think I have to admit to myself that I absolutely loved this trilogy. I somehow read this whole book at work in under 6 hours. I took a lunch break and talked to coworkers and did actual work and still blitzed this story cover to cover.
The plot is inevitable at this point but Kiva Lagos is an all timer of a character and it's just so satisfying when the good guys win by humiliating the villains. This was a balm on a cynical day, I hope the real world in some ways reflects this one, and the little guys get the same chance that the rich do.
The plot is inevitable at this point but Kiva Lagos is an all timer of a character and it's just so satisfying when the good guys win by humiliating the villains. This was a balm on a cynical day, I hope the real world in some ways reflects this one, and the little guys get the same chance that the rich do.
This was a mostly satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. I'm definitely left with some unanswered questions though, so I'm sad that the series is over. There were some shocking moments where I didn't believe what happened at first. I continue to like Emperox Grayland/Cardenia the most out of all of the characters. While there were some kinda dense sections, I enjoyed the book overall.
So it's a satisfactory end to a perfectly entertaining and fun trilogy. Moving on.
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
funny
fast-paced
Scalzi is a good enough writer to get away with crunching his deadlines, but it definitely shows, and while I enjoyed it, I rather mourn for what this book (and the second) could have been.