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singerji's review
4.0
This space opera is the first of a series of five. The Emperor's daughter Mercedes and lower-class son of a workingman Tracy both find themselves tested as cadets in the Solar League's academy. They deal with intrigue, prospective civil war and two alien threats. Romance does ensue but it isn't overwhelming and it feels true to life and not fantastical. Other aliens exist but are kept in a lower-class state, serving humans.
Melinda is an experienced author, having worked with George R. R. Martin on the "Wild Cards" series, and she wrote many excellent TV episodes for Star Trek Next Generation and others. She deftly handles familiar science fiction tropes and creates well-imagined three-dimensional characters. A solid start and I look forward to the continuation.
Melinda is an experienced author, having worked with George R. R. Martin on the "Wild Cards" series, and she wrote many excellent TV episodes for Star Trek Next Generation and others. She deftly handles familiar science fiction tropes and creates well-imagined three-dimensional characters. A solid start and I look forward to the continuation.
slc333's review
3.0
First novel in a new space opera. It was a little slow to start with several chapters devoted to Tracy & Mercedes not wanting to go to the academy but then ending up there anyway. Given that most of the book is set at the academy and that is what the story is about I skipped ahead a bit and it improved once they started there. I actually quite enjoyed it to a point but then several things happened at the end which I didn't like. They were not things that are likely to bother other people much and the where certainly believable in the context of the story but
Spoiler
I hated how Hugh dies, Suki leaves and Mercedes is going to marry BoHo even tho she and Tracy love each other. Yes it is realistic and believable that as future empress she would marry for political reasons and not love but I prefer a HEA in my fiction. I could have born it better if the guy she was marrying wasn't an arrogant, entitle a-hole who doesn't really respect her. Or , given this is obviously a series I would have been happy with Mercedes and Tracy not being together but not with anyone else either giving the die-hard romantics like me some hope.Spoiler
As I said this definitely fits with the sory but it just wasn't satisfying to me so I likely wont be carrying on with the series.rhodamack09's review
4.0
This review was originally posted on StrupagThey say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover and in this instance I'm very glad I didn't. Not that there's anything wrong with the cover, but had I seen it on the shelves of a bookshop I would have deemed it as being "not my thing". I'm therefore extremely grateful to the publisher for emailing me about this book, I'd never have discovered it otherwise.
Tracy is the son of a tailor. Unlike the elite, he has earned his scholarship to attend The High Ground, the training academy for The League. His lowly status is looked down upon by his classmates, most of whom are upper class, aristocracy and even royalty.
Mercedes is the Emperor's eldest daughter. Despite having had several wives, the Emperor has been unable to produce a male heir. So he has defied convention and shocked his subjects by naming Mercedes his heir, the Infanta. Furthermore, Mercedes is to attend the, until now, male academy The High Ground, much to the disgust of the academy and the high society as a whole.
While Tracy battles prejudice against his class, Mercedes battles prejudice against her sex, and so the two end up forming an unlikely friendship.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Set some 600 years in the future, it was interesting to explore Snodgrass' futuristic world. The level of detail in this book was something I really appreciated - the new world, the society, the classes, the aliens, the technology and the references to life on Earth as we know it, all had me captured.
The High Ground is told from the perspectives of both Tracy and Mercedes. For me, this worked really well and helped to further flesh out the world by showing us life from both ends of the societal spectrum.
Tracy and Mercedes are both very likeable characters, even if they can be frustrating at times. I enjoyed following Tracy's journey - his discovery of how the other half live. I also really like his relationship with his academy-assigned servant Donnel. I'm looking forward to the development of this relationship in future books.
When I first heard about this book I was very intrigued but the term 'space opera' made me a little nervous. I'm so glad I took the leap though and gave this book a go. I found myself swept up in the action, intrigued by the world and absorbed by our central characters. I will admit that there were parts that I didn't follow on first read. I did have to reread some of the more 'technical' paragraphs, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story itself.
I don't normally go for the "if you liked X then read Y" thing. However, had I not read and loved the Red Rising trilogy, I probably wouldn't have given this a go. It's obviously different, but if like me the term 'space opera' intimidates you, maybe this will encourage you to pick it up?
All in all, a great read. I genuinely can't wait to read the next four books in this series.
Tracy is the son of a tailor. Unlike the elite, he has earned his scholarship to attend The High Ground, the training academy for The League. His lowly status is looked down upon by his classmates, most of whom are upper class, aristocracy and even royalty.
Mercedes is the Emperor's eldest daughter. Despite having had several wives, the Emperor has been unable to produce a male heir. So he has defied convention and shocked his subjects by naming Mercedes his heir, the Infanta. Furthermore, Mercedes is to attend the, until now, male academy The High Ground, much to the disgust of the academy and the high society as a whole.
While Tracy battles prejudice against his class, Mercedes battles prejudice against her sex, and so the two end up forming an unlikely friendship.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Set some 600 years in the future, it was interesting to explore Snodgrass' futuristic world. The level of detail in this book was something I really appreciated - the new world, the society, the classes, the aliens, the technology and the references to life on Earth as we know it, all had me captured.
The High Ground is told from the perspectives of both Tracy and Mercedes. For me, this worked really well and helped to further flesh out the world by showing us life from both ends of the societal spectrum.
Tracy and Mercedes are both very likeable characters, even if they can be frustrating at times. I enjoyed following Tracy's journey - his discovery of how the other half live. I also really like his relationship with his academy-assigned servant Donnel. I'm looking forward to the development of this relationship in future books.
When I first heard about this book I was very intrigued but the term 'space opera' made me a little nervous. I'm so glad I took the leap though and gave this book a go. I found myself swept up in the action, intrigued by the world and absorbed by our central characters. I will admit that there were parts that I didn't follow on first read. I did have to reread some of the more 'technical' paragraphs, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story itself.
I don't normally go for the "if you liked X then read Y" thing. However, had I not read and loved the Red Rising trilogy, I probably wouldn't have given this a go. It's obviously different, but if like me the term 'space opera' intimidates you, maybe this will encourage you to pick it up?
All in all, a great read. I genuinely can't wait to read the next four books in this series.
norma_cenva's review
3.0
Actual Rating 3.5 Stars
This was a slightly disappointing read world building wise but has interesting characters. I might check out book 2 when it comes out in audiobook version after all...
This was a slightly disappointing read world building wise but has interesting characters. I might check out book 2 when it comes out in audiobook version after all...
oldmanschindler's review
3.0
Quick moving, well-plotted space opera. I picked this off of George RR Martin's blog post and it served as a nice diversion from our dystopian reality.
colossal's review
4.0
An old-school military SF book set around the space service military academy, the High Ground, and dealing with issues of gender, race, class and empire/colonialism.
The Empire is a human creation where several conquered alien races are second class citizens. Probably actually third class, as there is a human aristocracy as well (with an amusing/terrifying origin). There's an interesting element to the Empire in that the problem isn't resource scarcity, it's a scarcity of humans. The means by which humans are responding to the massive demands for procreation and what that does to the role of women in this society permeate the book and make depressing reading for any feminist. But there's a change coming: the Emperor has only been able to produce daughters and rather than have the Imperial line pass to his hated cousins, he has rammed through a law that allows his eldest daughter to inherit. Which means she has to go to the High Ground and not alone either. The small group of women that then enter the prestigious and aristocratic academy shake things up considerably.
The story follows the Princess Mercedes and a scholarship attendee at the academy, Thracius (Tracy), the son of a tailor. They're both brilliant at what they do and have similar stakes in being very different from the typical academy cadets. In a lot of ways this is your typical military academy book, with hostile and supportive instructors, enemies and allies among the cadets and the always entertaining path towards military competence (and distinction) from otherwise feckless characters.
I have many thoughts about this book. Firstly, and importantly, it's a really entertaining story that I would recommend to anyone looking for a simple SF romp and as the clear first element in a whole series of these.
Also, the world-building is interesting. Even the good guy characters have some pretty repulsively imperial and classist attitudes, particularly towards the alien underclass. The culture is relatively believable in that it's basically a Spanish aristocracy with an American constitution and a lot of hints of Brazilian ancestry. There are people of all races present (although I don't think there's enough Indian or Asian people in terms of percentage) and there's no human-to-human racism. Racism in this book is dealt with in terms of aliens and the conquered peoples. The role of women in this society is clear back to the 19th century though with chaperones, the outlawing of contraception and the attitude that women belong in the home making babies as cannon fodder for the Empire's conquests.
This is a feminist book though, but it's a depressing one. It's feminism at the point of the suffragette movement or the feminism of Rosie the Riveter. It's centuries in the future and women are back to being only as valuable as the products of their uterus, unless for politically expeditious reasons. And it's the same old tired fights. So when a bunch of cadets experience their first time in a space fighter simulator and a woman cadet turns out to be a natural and everyone is amazed, I don't find that as uplifting as I think I'm supposed to. Because this happened 500 years before the events of this book and we moved past it. And this book never does.
In fact, the marketing material in the back of the book implies that the Princess is going to be struggling with her marriage in the next book. Yawn.
The Empire is a human creation where several conquered alien races are second class citizens. Probably actually third class, as there is a human aristocracy as well (with an amusing/terrifying origin). There's an interesting element to the Empire in that the problem isn't resource scarcity, it's a scarcity of humans. The means by which humans are responding to the massive demands for procreation and what that does to the role of women in this society permeate the book and make depressing reading for any feminist. But there's a change coming: the Emperor has only been able to produce daughters and rather than have the Imperial line pass to his hated cousins, he has rammed through a law that allows his eldest daughter to inherit. Which means she has to go to the High Ground and not alone either. The small group of women that then enter the prestigious and aristocratic academy shake things up considerably.
The story follows the Princess Mercedes and a scholarship attendee at the academy, Thracius (Tracy), the son of a tailor. They're both brilliant at what they do and have similar stakes in being very different from the typical academy cadets. In a lot of ways this is your typical military academy book, with hostile and supportive instructors, enemies and allies among the cadets and the always entertaining path towards military competence (and distinction) from otherwise feckless characters.
I have many thoughts about this book. Firstly, and importantly, it's a really entertaining story that I would recommend to anyone looking for a simple SF romp and as the clear first element in a whole series of these.
Also, the world-building is interesting. Even the good guy characters have some pretty repulsively imperial and classist attitudes, particularly towards the alien underclass. The culture is relatively believable in that it's basically a Spanish aristocracy with an American constitution and a lot of hints of Brazilian ancestry. There are people of all races present (although I don't think there's enough Indian or Asian people in terms of percentage) and there's no human-to-human racism. Racism in this book is dealt with in terms of aliens and the conquered peoples. The role of women in this society is clear back to the 19th century though with chaperones, the outlawing of contraception and the attitude that women belong in the home making babies as cannon fodder for the Empire's conquests.
This is a feminist book though, but it's a depressing one. It's feminism at the point of the suffragette movement or the feminism of Rosie the Riveter. It's centuries in the future and women are back to being only as valuable as the products of their uterus, unless for politically expeditious reasons. And it's the same old tired fights. So when a bunch of cadets experience their first time in a space fighter simulator and a woman cadet turns out to be a natural and everyone is amazed, I don't find that as uplifting as I think I'm supposed to. Because this happened 500 years before the events of this book and we moved past it. And this book never does.
In fact, the marketing material in the back of the book implies that the Princess is going to be struggling with her marriage in the next book. Yawn.
robynldouglas's review
4.0
I thought this was a very fun book. YA-ish in content if not in tone, which makes sense since it is very much a coming of age tale for our two heroes, Mercedes and Tracy. It's a fully realised world (if sometimes odd; a juxtaposition of 20th century culture with 16th century Spanish mores and hierarchies - there's an explanation for this but I'm not sure it worked all that well for me - and yet, I didn't care all that much, as I loved the characters and the writing). Lots of commentary on class and social differences, and pointed analysis of the other when it came to discussing the alien populations. I will eagerly read the next book, mostly because Snodgras is a skilled writer who moves the story forward brilliantly.
cbking's review against another edition
3.0
Fun premise, relatively well rendered for the first half of the book. The bad guys' dialogue was too obvious, and the love story too cheesy, but I'm a sucker for the trope of the working class kid having to make his way with the toffs. I'm in for the next book--hope it matures a bit.
alesia_charles's review against another edition
3.0
It was quite disorienting to encounter a space opera that doubles down on the nineteenth-century-style empire trope by actually including nineteenth century religion, cultural attitudes about (human) gender, and obsession with the threat of the Other. The dash of the more modern fear of genetic engineering really read like more of the same.
It was an interesting and absorbing story, once I got over the shock, but ultimately not convincing enough in plot or politics for me to give it more than 3 stars.
It was an interesting and absorbing story, once I got over the shock, but ultimately not convincing enough in plot or politics for me to give it more than 3 stars.
sbisson's review against another edition
4.0
Recent Reads: The High Ground. Melinda M. Snodgrass' space opera series starts with an emperor's daughter going to military college. Is this one change too many?