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A review by elliotvanz
Beyond the Empire by K.B. Wagers
2.0
I read and enjoyed the first two books in this series (with some caveats) so I was interested to see how Wagers was going to finish out her first trilogy. Unfortunately this just didn't land for me. It was just not well written (and it really pains me to say that). Not only are people laughing and grinning their way through all the dialogue on almost every page (I mean, people "bare their teeth" four times in the first 60 pages), but it reads like sitting in on a planning session of an RPG. The characters sit around talking about what they know, don't know, and plan to do...and don't really do anything until the very end of the book. With a cast of dozens of interchangeable characters rotating in and out of scenes and just talking and talking I think I could have skipped to page 300 and not missed much.
On the bright side there were some memorable moments, good scenes, and one character death that really bummed me out. The end was fairly action packed and fun, but it comes so late in the game that by then I had mostly checked out. I still like many of the side characters, and the world building, but this book didn't highlight either particularly well - most of the book took place on ships and focused on political strategizing instead of character growth. This book will likely hold more appeal to those who are invested in politics and military sci-fi. I really enjoyed the second book in this series, but I think this will likely be my last Wagers book despite how much I enjoy her as a human being.
On the bright side there were some memorable moments, good scenes, and one character death that really bummed me out. The end was fairly action packed and fun, but it comes so late in the game that by then I had mostly checked out. I still like many of the side characters, and the world building, but this book didn't highlight either particularly well - most of the book took place on ships and focused on political strategizing instead of character growth. This book will likely hold more appeal to those who are invested in politics and military sci-fi. I really enjoyed the second book in this series, but I think this will likely be my last Wagers book despite how much I enjoy her as a human being.