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adventurous
challenging
dark
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
3.5 stars.
This installment suffers from middle book syndrome. The primary conflict is between Ky and her cousin Stella, except for a hasty and somewhat disconnected ending sequence, and considering they’re in the midst of a family emergency and war their problems seem very juvenile, particularly on Stella’s part. Stella displays an incredible lack of maturity, foresight, and understanding for the majority of the book, which is very frustrating to read. As far as I can tell, this book mostly serves as a building block in an otherwise excellent series.
9/19/22 reread:
Can still be summarized as “Stella being a brat.”
This installment suffers from middle book syndrome. The primary conflict is between Ky and her cousin Stella, except for a hasty and somewhat disconnected ending sequence, and considering they’re in the midst of a family emergency and war their problems seem very juvenile, particularly on Stella’s part. Stella displays an incredible lack of maturity, foresight, and understanding for the majority of the book, which is very frustrating to read. As far as I can tell, this book mostly serves as a building block in an otherwise excellent series.
9/19/22 reread:
Can still be summarized as “Stella being a brat.”
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
When I was reading the physical copy of the book I quit halfway through. So much technical trade negotiation. So boring. Listening to it as a graphic audio was much better. Exciting and tense but still a bit dull at parts.
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is the third and middle volume in Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series. Medium-level spoilers ahead.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
Spoiler
While I enjoyed this book considerably, I didn't like it quite as much as the first two volumes. This may be because it's the middle part of the overall story-arc, which can be hard to make as compelling. But I think it may also be because, three books in, I was hoping that Ky (the main character) would be strongly bound to some of the other characters. There were times in the first two books where I thought that was starting to happen, but the third book either weakened the connection Ky had to other characters (Toby, Stella, Rafe) or left things static (as with Martin). I note that I enjoyed the thread centered on Grace very much, but overall I found this book slightly less satisfying. Maybe this was just down to my mood. In any event, I still enjoyed it. I still like Ky very much. And I'm still going to proceed straight to book four.About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
Loved the previous ones, but this book was ridiculous. I had to skim the last half just to get through it.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Another wonderful tale by Ms. Moon. I love her strong characters (both female and male) and enjoy the worlds she creates. In this book I loved the legal system based on tree symbolism in Cascadian society.
I <3 E. Moon so much. One of my favorite things? Her plot rarely hinges on problems caused by CHARACTERS NOT TALKING TO EACH OTHER. Her characters are smart, and even though they may have interpersonal problems, they talk it out (when possible) instead of doing really stupid things because they didn't communicate. Also, love all the military stuff!