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A review by dc7
The Tide of War by Lori A. Witt
3.0
THE TIDE OF WAR is a military science fiction told from the perspectives of two space officers as they fight an alien invasion.
Kyle is American and a fighter pilot. Technically he is married to Emily, his gunner, but in reality he is in love with his male partner with whom he has a son. Homosexuality is at least disrespected in this world though apparently not illegal (it's never really clear). Emily herself is lesbian and benefits from their arrangement as well. When Kyle's partner and son die in an alien attack, he and Emily join the Elite Squadron to fight the aliens on their home turf. That's where they meet Andrei and his wife, themselves stars of Elite Squadron.
The beginning is not the most engaging and the two husband-and-wife duos only meet a good quarter into the book. The pacing is pretty good though and the story never slows down needlessly. The LGBT representation is great - out of the 4 main characters there is one each: gay, lesbian, bisexual, straight.
There is a big twist just after the mid-point. However, it is one of those twists where the reader realizes what’s going on before the characters do - or at least I did. I read a lot of thrillers so the puzzle pieces all fell neatly into place for me and I knew what was going on before the characters caught on. However, I prefer twists where the reader and the characters find out at the same time. And at least for me, this wasn’t it. Nevertheless, it's still a good twist and I can imagine that many people will like it.
The characters felt pretty flat to me and I didn’t connect with any of them. There are a couple of romantic subplots in here but there was no chemistry in either of them. Witt does this so much better in her actual romance books.
And I really disliked the ending. Because when you find out the bad guys’ motivation it all makes sense and in my opinion, they are no longer the bad guys. Except for the main characters disagree. So that was dissatisfying and there is also at least one big plot hole on which the story hinges that I - as someone how works in international conflict - just couldn’t look past.
That being said, I enjoyed the read for the most part.
Also, to clarify the genre: this is firmly sci-fi. Yes, there is a m/m romantic subplot but even I, who liberally classifies books as romance, wouldn't put it in that genre.
Kyle is American and a fighter pilot. Technically he is married to Emily, his gunner, but in reality he is in love with his male partner with whom he has a son. Homosexuality is at least disrespected in this world though apparently not illegal (it's never really clear). Emily herself is lesbian and benefits from their arrangement as well. When Kyle's partner and son die in an alien attack, he and Emily join the Elite Squadron to fight the aliens on their home turf. That's where they meet Andrei and his wife, themselves stars of Elite Squadron.
The beginning is not the most engaging and the two husband-and-wife duos only meet a good quarter into the book. The pacing is pretty good though and the story never slows down needlessly. The LGBT representation is great - out of the 4 main characters there is one each: gay, lesbian, bisexual, straight.
There is a big twist just after the mid-point. However, it is one of those twists where the reader realizes what’s going on before the characters do - or at least I did. I read a lot of thrillers so the puzzle pieces all fell neatly into place for me and I knew what was going on before the characters caught on. However, I prefer twists where the reader and the characters find out at the same time. And at least for me, this wasn’t it. Nevertheless, it's still a good twist and I can imagine that many people will like it.
The characters felt pretty flat to me and I didn’t connect with any of them. There are a couple of romantic subplots in here but there was no chemistry in either of them. Witt does this so much better in her actual romance books.
And I really disliked the ending. Because when you find out the bad guys’ motivation it all makes sense and in my opinion, they are no longer the bad guys. Except for the main characters disagree. So that was dissatisfying and there is also at least one big plot hole on which the story hinges that I - as someone how works in international conflict - just couldn’t look past.
That being said, I enjoyed the read for the most part.
Also, to clarify the genre: this is firmly sci-fi. Yes, there is a m/m romantic subplot but even I, who liberally classifies books as romance, wouldn't put it in that genre.