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A review by nonsenseofsight
Salute the Dark by Adrian Tchaikovsky
3.0
I'm continuing to enjoy this series a great deal.
Not necessarily for the writing or the story in this installment... but for the fantastic audiobook narration. It's absolutely top tier.
I felt that the last book was a bit aimless. More exploratory and world expanding than plot heavy. This book takes those new boundaries and lives very comfortably inside them and seems to intentionally shrink the world a bit. There's not a lot of new world building going on here and the world building that does happen is expected or an unsatisfying echo of something we've already discovered. It reminds me a great deal of "Return of the Jedi" in that it's a perfectly serviceable continuation of the story, with some amazing moments... but it's tripping on its own universe a bit.
The lowest point in the series for me thus far for sure.
I'd wager that's intentional (given the title) and the absolute George R R Martin level of character culling that happens here. Necessary? Yeah, probably. Enjoyable? No. Not really. Many of my favorites are no longer in the narrative now... and while I understand it... I'm not completely satisfied with any of the character based motivation that leads to those narrative threads ending. It all makes sense... but it's not ... tasty? savory? I never felt like I earned the grief I was supposed to be feeling.
Sacrifices that should be made for love are made out of guilt. Sacrifices that should be made for honor are made out of guilt or desperation. Only one major character death felt proper to me... but it happened three scenes after it should have and ended an entire plot thread prematurely.
There are some nice surprises at the end, mostly as a result of narrative omission (characters doing stuff 'off camera') and I fully intend to keep reading and exploring this world. It's a fun world to explore.
But a little bit of the light and trust in the author has gone out of this series for me now.
My metaphor for this series is that it's like reading a table top role playing game that's going right. This book, though, felt like it was on rails. The storyteller had goals and despite what the character's should do... they did what the storyteller needed them to. Is it good? Yes. Is it earned? That's a stickier question.
Not necessarily for the writing or the story in this installment... but for the fantastic audiobook narration. It's absolutely top tier.
I felt that the last book was a bit aimless. More exploratory and world expanding than plot heavy. This book takes those new boundaries and lives very comfortably inside them and seems to intentionally shrink the world a bit. There's not a lot of new world building going on here and the world building that does happen is expected or an unsatisfying echo of something we've already discovered. It reminds me a great deal of "Return of the Jedi" in that it's a perfectly serviceable continuation of the story, with some amazing moments... but it's tripping on its own universe a bit.
The lowest point in the series for me thus far for sure.
I'd wager that's intentional (given the title) and the absolute George R R Martin level of character culling that happens here. Necessary? Yeah, probably. Enjoyable? No. Not really. Many of my favorites are no longer in the narrative now... and while I understand it... I'm not completely satisfied with any of the character based motivation that leads to those narrative threads ending. It all makes sense... but it's not ... tasty? savory? I never felt like I earned the grief I was supposed to be feeling.
Sacrifices that should be made for love are made out of guilt. Sacrifices that should be made for honor are made out of guilt or desperation. Only one major character death felt proper to me... but it happened three scenes after it should have and ended an entire plot thread prematurely.
There are some nice surprises at the end, mostly as a result of narrative omission (characters doing stuff 'off camera') and I fully intend to keep reading and exploring this world. It's a fun world to explore.
But a little bit of the light and trust in the author has gone out of this series for me now.
My metaphor for this series is that it's like reading a table top role playing game that's going right. This book, though, felt like it was on rails. The storyteller had goals and despite what the character's should do... they did what the storyteller needed them to. Is it good? Yes. Is it earned? That's a stickier question.