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majkia's review against another edition
4.0
Great fun when a bodyguard is caught in the crossfire and a spy happens upon the scene fleeing his own group of would-be killers. They team up and life just isn't the same. I'll definitely be revisiting the Liaden universe.
obstinatecondolement's review against another edition
4.0
Overall I liked this book a lot, although I found the head jumping in the POV a bit hard to follow at times. This may just be because I'm more used to third-person limited than third-person omniscient these days though, so this is more a me thing than an across the board criticism. By far my favourite parts were any scenes that had the Clutch characters in them. They were very alien aliens and endlessly charming.
wynwicket's review against another edition
3.0
The Liaden Universe series has quickly become one of my favorites, but this one, one of the first written (though not chronologically first) was missing something. Namely, a plot. The characters are memorable (especially Edger, of the turtle-like Clutch race), and there was plenty of action, but very little actually *happened*. Later books felt more complete.
tyrshand's review against another edition
3.0
I quite enjoyed the world building and different races, but I’m not sure I quite ever suspended my disbelief with the characters. There was just so much violence at the beginning, particularly, for me to get comfortable with their softer side, I guess.
bibliovino's review
2.0
I was told I could start this series here as the earlier installments were on a different story line. I suppose that’s true, though I have no desire to investigate further.
A decent shoot-em-up with interesting world building but insufficient backstory and flat characters. I know they say it’s a small world, galaxy? universe? But surely it’s odd that everyone in this story is connected to everyone else. It’s an awfully convenient web of relationships between a handful of characters in what seems an infinite setting. Val Con could have been a very nice book boyfriend, but I never got a chance to forget he’s only 5’5”. What can you do?
A decent shoot-em-up with interesting world building but insufficient backstory and flat characters. I know they say it’s a small world, galaxy? universe? But surely it’s odd that everyone in this story is connected to everyone else. It’s an awfully convenient web of relationships between a handful of characters in what seems an infinite setting. Val Con could have been a very nice book boyfriend, but I never got a chance to forget he’s only 5’5”. What can you do?
lindca's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars
Argh! A cliffhanger!
I enjoyed the book, though I had a few issues with it. Val Con's instinct to save Miri never really is explained, and Miri at times was a PITA, so his obsession was puzzling. This isn't a romance, so I didn't expect it to be a significant part of the story, but how the two could decide they loved each other and would like to marry before they'd even had sex made little sense.
Edger was awesome. I definitely want to read more with him.
Still, I liked the characters and world and want to find out what happens next.
Argh! A cliffhanger!
I enjoyed the book, though I had a few issues with it. Val Con's instinct to save Miri never really is explained, and Miri at times was a PITA, so his obsession was puzzling. This isn't a romance, so I didn't expect it to be a significant part of the story, but how the two could decide they loved each other and would like to marry before they'd even had sex made little sense.
Edger was awesome. I definitely want to read more with him.
Still, I liked the characters and world and want to find out what happens next.
kindfulkirby's review against another edition
2.0
Full disclosure: I got this book for free, and so can you: https://www.baen.com/agent-of-change.html
I feel like there's an excellent book hidden in this fever dream of unexplained, sudden twists and turns.
I see the appeal of the characters, but the two protagonists are very inconsistent, and I didn't buy their "chemistry".
Their friends and family are awesome, but also repeatedly serve as Dei Ex Machina to get them out of trouble.
Finally, the whole plot seems rather directionless…
Add to that the fact that I had to reread dozens of sections to make sense of them, sometimes failing completely and having to reconstruct their meaning from context, I can not give this more than two stars.
If I hadn't downloaded this book directly from the publisher, I would have thought I had gotten a hoax version, where half the pages were missing and some paragraphs had random words inserted or left out…
I feel like there's an excellent book hidden in this fever dream of unexplained, sudden twists and turns.
I see the appeal of the characters, but the two protagonists are very inconsistent, and I didn't buy their "chemistry".
Their friends and family are awesome, but also repeatedly serve as Dei Ex Machina to get them out of trouble.
Finally, the whole plot seems rather directionless…
Add to that the fact that I had to reread dozens of sections to make sense of them, sometimes failing completely and having to reconstruct their meaning from context, I can not give this more than two stars.
If I hadn't downloaded this book directly from the publisher, I would have thought I had gotten a hoax version, where half the pages were missing and some paragraphs had random words inserted or left out…
tikimoof's review
2.0
It was going okay until they got off-planet. I bounced real hard off the rest - could not buy the relationship.
I also didn't care for side character POVs that weren't Edger.
I also didn't care for side character POVs that weren't Edger.
jerryg's review against another edition
5.0
Starting a reread of the Liaden Universe novels. The first book published seemed to be a good place to once again meet Miri and Val Con. And the books is as good as I remembered it.
mlejoy's review against another edition
2.0
I'm really glad I read this series in chronological order - I really liked most of the first eight books. This book - the first published was pretty bad and I don't know if I would have read any more in the series based off this book. I disliked all the characters, except for the turtles. I really didn't like Miri - mainly the way she spoke - she's a woman that speaks at least three languages, and it's ridiculous that she would speak her native language so poorly (using the word "aint" in a book set in the far future is irritating). I don't buy the love story at all.