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lucystolethesky's review
adventurous
challenging
funny
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Gun violence, Death, Violence, War, Toxic relationship, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Blood, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
telescopewizard's review
4.5
my bleeding heart. im writhing, weeping, clutching the book to my chest, sickos_haha_yes.jpg, etc.
i DO think i have to dock .5 bc the plot here is a little messier than the first two books -- i think in part bc of the longer timeline that it covers, and the way time progresses at diff rates in diff POV chapters? also idk if the editor was asleep on the job or if i'm stupid but there were like 5+ instances thru the book where i noticed a weird word or phrase that i couldn't interpret in any other way than as something from an earlier draft that should've been changed...?? or just like, a couple times i had to go back to check what someone said 15 chapters earlier bc current information seemed to contradict it? idk
BUT like overall obviously this series makes me foam at the mouth and this book in particular was made in a lab to hurt me and make me feel things, so the emotional gutpunch insanity of the whole thing made the other stuff feel less important. JEDAO ! 🐱
i DO think i have to dock .5 bc the plot here is a little messier than the first two books -- i think in part bc of the longer timeline that it covers, and the way time progresses at diff rates in diff POV chapters? also idk if the editor was asleep on the job or if i'm stupid but there were like 5+ instances thru the book where i noticed a weird word or phrase that i couldn't interpret in any other way than as something from an earlier draft that should've been changed...?? or just like, a couple times i had to go back to check what someone said 15 chapters earlier bc current information seemed to contradict it? idk
BUT like overall obviously this series makes me foam at the mouth and this book in particular was made in a lab to hurt me and make me feel things, so the emotional gutpunch insanity of the whole thing made the other stuff feel less important. JEDAO ! 🐱
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, and Suicide
Minor: Rape
sci-fi mind control used in heinous waysbooknug's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Minor: Rape
ailsaod's review against another edition
challenging
dark
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I was really excited going into this book because of the prospect of having not just one but two Jedaos running about with completely different agendas. once the amnesia aspect was added in it made it even more appealing. Most usages of the amnesia trope introduce us to the amnesiac character and then slowly reveal their identity - it can be good but it is a little overdone in my opinion. The far better usage is to introduce us to a character and once we fully know them give them amnesia as this makes the reader more invested in the character and that is what this book does. This is particularly effective here because of the tour through Jedao's key memories the reader took at the end of book 1. We already know what events put him on his disastrous path and that makes seeing a version that hasn't had that yet was very interesting.
An unexpected feature in this book was a bunch of worldbuilding - the black cradle and voidmoths in particular, neither of which went as I expected. There is also some fun body horror which certainly took things in a direction!
Admittedly the weird pacing kind of blemished my experience as it removed some of the tension from amnesiac Jedao's point of view. As I have commented in my previous reviews, there is just something about the way this author writes that makes their books hard for me to follow. Individual scenes will be amazing but then others will just confuse me - especially the battles which is unfortunate in a military sci-fi. Cheris's role in the final showdown will make little to no sense if you haven't read a prequel short story that is available on the Torr website which while cool if you have read it does seem like an interesting choice.
I am unsure how I feel about the ending but shall not go into it more than I had a few raised eyebrows for some of the character's decisions.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War and Suicide
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Colonisation, Body horror, Sexual content, Rape, Gun violence, Genocide, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Torture, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Transphobia and Animal cruelty
The sexual content has very very dubious consent to the point it probably really was non-consensual.intoblossom's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, War, and Violence
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Body horror, and Eating disorder
Minor: Animal cruelty and Torture
ellisdex's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Colonisation, Confinement, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, and Slavery
Minor: Transphobia
bookishjd's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
REVENANT GUN is the excellent conclusion to a trilogy about empire, colonialism, complicity, and the difficult but necessary work of dismantling machineries of oppression... in space.
The way this trilogy as a whole portrays trauma, grief, and cycles of violence is really good. The series arc of The Machineries of Empire is a quest to bring down someone who, a long time ago, swore to prevent a particular harm from happening ever again, and in the name of preventing that singular type of grief committed a whole host of atrocities and created systems to enshrine even more. REVENANT GUN is the endgame of that journey, the final pieces for an attempt which seeks to remove that tyrant forever.
This is a compelling story in its own right and a fantastic conclusion to the trilogy. As I'll discuss later this wouldn't make sense to pick up and read on its own, but as a story it is technically self-contained. Most of how it requires the first two books is in the worldbuilding and the setup for how things got to the point where this book's ensemble of narrators make the choices they do. Speaking of that ensemble, I'm so happy to finally get a servitor as a point-of-view character! The ensemble of narrators is really great in this one, the mix of new perspectives felt strategically chosen to allow for "where are they now" updates on past narrators while making sure the new narrators had agency and their own storylines. I tend to like books where some mental change in a protagonist is conveyed though changes in their words and behavior, and this series is full of that. REVENANT GUN provides yet another incarnation of Jedao without having disposed of the last one, and it was really cool to see.
There were some revelations about the way certain things work that make me want to do a re-read of the whole trilogy to see if they show up earlier and I just didn't notice. It's not anything that contradicts the earlier books, just something about the various Moth ships and I'm interested to see if there were clues before the revelation.
There is a major storyline present here which wasn't present previously, but that storyline is so contingent on the prior books that it's not enough to let this stand on its own (nor is it trying to be). As the last book of a trilogy, this had a very satisfying ending. The major loose ends are tucked away so that it hits just the right balance of conveying how things wind up for the main characters without having a litany of “where are they now” in the final pages. It’s finished as a series but open in possibility with implications of a future for the characters who survived. Each book has had several POV characters and I'm pretty sure that all the narrators for REVENANT GUN are new. Maybe they were around before, but I don't think any are returning narrators. While many characters show up repeatedly in the trilogy, the shifting ensembles are balanced without repetition in a great way. Their voices are distinct and within this book I didn't have trouble tracking who was narrating and what their piece of the story is, so the ensemble cast worked really well both here and in the trilogy as a whole. While major elements of this story are self contained in that they begin here with new main characters and also resolve here... the reasons that any of them are doing anything are so wrapped up in events from the first two books that I don't think this would make much sense if someone read it at random. It's book three of a trilogy, so that's to be expected, but this definitely doesn't slow down to reexplain what should be standard knowledge of the setting by now. Instead it accomplishes a bunch of cool narrative things by complicating what has been known, or featuring characters who are explictly working against what would be expected of them. If read without the mooring of those expectations this would be confusing. My advice, as always, if that if the description intrigues you then you should start with book one (RAVEN STRATAGEM) and go from there.
The way this trilogy as a whole portrays trauma, grief, and cycles of violence is really good. The series arc of The Machineries of Empire is a quest to bring down someone who, a long time ago, swore to prevent a particular harm from happening ever again, and in the name of preventing that singular type of grief committed a whole host of atrocities and created systems to enshrine even more. REVENANT GUN is the endgame of that journey, the final pieces for an attempt which seeks to remove that tyrant forever.
This is a compelling story in its own right and a fantastic conclusion to the trilogy. As I'll discuss later this wouldn't make sense to pick up and read on its own, but as a story it is technically self-contained. Most of how it requires the first two books is in the worldbuilding and the setup for how things got to the point where this book's ensemble of narrators make the choices they do. Speaking of that ensemble, I'm so happy to finally get a servitor as a point-of-view character! The ensemble of narrators is really great in this one, the mix of new perspectives felt strategically chosen to allow for "where are they now" updates on past narrators while making sure the new narrators had agency and their own storylines. I tend to like books where some mental change in a protagonist is conveyed though changes in their words and behavior, and this series is full of that. REVENANT GUN provides yet another incarnation of Jedao without having disposed of the last one, and it was really cool to see.
There were some revelations about the way certain things work that make me want to do a re-read of the whole trilogy to see if they show up earlier and I just didn't notice. It's not anything that contradicts the earlier books, just something about the various Moth ships and I'm interested to see if there were clues before the revelation.
There is a major storyline present here which wasn't present previously, but that storyline is so contingent on the prior books that it's not enough to let this stand on its own (nor is it trying to be). As the last book of a trilogy, this had a very satisfying ending. The major loose ends are tucked away so that it hits just the right balance of conveying how things wind up for the main characters without having a litany of “where are they now” in the final pages. It’s finished as a series but open in possibility with implications of a future for the characters who survived. Each book has had several POV characters and I'm pretty sure that all the narrators for REVENANT GUN are new. Maybe they were around before, but I don't think any are returning narrators. While many characters show up repeatedly in the trilogy, the shifting ensembles are balanced without repetition in a great way. Their voices are distinct and within this book I didn't have trouble tracking who was narrating and what their piece of the story is, so the ensemble cast worked really well both here and in the trilogy as a whole. While major elements of this story are self contained in that they begin here with new main characters and also resolve here... the reasons that any of them are doing anything are so wrapped up in events from the first two books that I don't think this would make much sense if someone read it at random. It's book three of a trilogy, so that's to be expected, but this definitely doesn't slow down to reexplain what should be standard knowledge of the setting by now. Instead it accomplishes a bunch of cool narrative things by complicating what has been known, or featuring characters who are explictly working against what would be expected of them. If read without the mooring of those expectations this would be confusing. My advice, as always, if that if the description intrigues you then you should start with book one (RAVEN STRATAGEM) and go from there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Sexual content, Vomit, Blood, Gore, Torture, Rape, Genocide, and Suicide
Minor: Child death
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