Scan barcode
A review by yevolem
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
4.0
Lee is another author whose novels I came to through their short fiction. I had concerns whether the central conceit, the Calendrical system, would be sufficient to carry everything. As with his short fiction in this setting, I still don't think it really was, but that was less of an issue than I thought it would be. Many people seem to have a lot of problems understanding how it works, but it doesn't seem that complex to me if you allow for its limitations. I think the source of that confusion is trying to understand this as Hard SF when it clearly isn't. If instead you approach it as "Any sufficiently advanced mysticism is indistinguishable from technology or magic" then I think it'll be more a lot more comprehensible. To me it's basically Feng Shui plus the idea that beliefs create reality with a veneer of math. Despite this, I still wouldn't personally call it a science fantasy series, though I can understand why it could be considered as such, as it does require frequent suspension of disbelief if you assume it's going to be realistic in any way.
The plot is the introduction to the protagonist, the preparation for the mission, and then the rest is the mission itself, a siege on a space fortress. Lee's writing style is rather different from I'm used to reading. It's often rather spare in many ways and prefers to intently focus on what it's concerned about. The main difference though is that for the majority of the book the protagonist is physically apart from the action because their primary role is as a tactician. This leads to a lot of the frontline action being told in short bursts from a variety of characters. That being said, if you primarily read books for well-developed characters or need an emotional connection to them, then this probably isn't for you. The dialogue in general is utilitarian, as is really everything else, and that's intentional due to how their society functions.
The beginning is definitely the weakest part and I wasn't won over until the very end and only just barely. It mostly did so by being interesting and providing a relatively uncommon perspective that had me considering various things. If you're looking for a military science fiction/space opera series that's mostly focused on action, then this may not be a proper fit. It would be easy to call this grimdark, but I don't think that'd be accurate. Often in grimdark there's an awareness and melodrama about it being grim and dark. Instead, this is very casual and indifferent to how grim and dark it is, which again, I believe to be intentional. On a different note, Yoon Ha Lee is a transman and that's a definite influence on this work. I'll read rest of the works in this setting and try some of his other work. I may even try some again since it took me so long to like this, or not, either way.
POST-SERIES READ EDIT: Each book in this series is progressively different than the previous book.
Rating: 3.5/5
The plot is the introduction to the protagonist, the preparation for the mission, and then the rest is the mission itself, a siege on a space fortress. Lee's writing style is rather different from I'm used to reading. It's often rather spare in many ways and prefers to intently focus on what it's concerned about. The main difference though is that for the majority of the book the protagonist is physically apart from the action because their primary role is as a tactician. This leads to a lot of the frontline action being told in short bursts from a variety of characters. That being said, if you primarily read books for well-developed characters or need an emotional connection to them, then this probably isn't for you. The dialogue in general is utilitarian, as is really everything else, and that's intentional due to how their society functions.
The beginning is definitely the weakest part and I wasn't won over until the very end and only just barely. It mostly did so by being interesting and providing a relatively uncommon perspective that had me considering various things. If you're looking for a military science fiction/space opera series that's mostly focused on action, then this may not be a proper fit. It would be easy to call this grimdark, but I don't think that'd be accurate. Often in grimdark there's an awareness and melodrama about it being grim and dark. Instead, this is very casual and indifferent to how grim and dark it is, which again, I believe to be intentional. On a different note, Yoon Ha Lee is a transman and that's a definite influence on this work. I'll read rest of the works in this setting and try some of his other work. I may even try some again since it took me so long to like this, or not, either way.
POST-SERIES READ EDIT: Each book in this series is progressively different than the previous book.
Rating: 3.5/5