Caliban's War

Damn was I entertained with the plot and characters in this book. I could not put it down and needed to know what was going to happen next. And that ending! I think having the world and backstory established really helped with the pacing for me, and not having Miller's POV was a welcome change. Plus the new female POVs was also a nice addition. I agree with people who say this is like a blockbuster movie in book form. It was thoroughly entertaining and a fast read.

It's the writing again, like in the first book, that brings the rating down for me. There are a few bits of repetitiveness (in addition to the writing style) that I couldn't overlook. The authors sure do love to mention that humans still have gestures and motivations and other things that are “primitive” in the future. And primates. They LOVE to mention PRIMATES. I get why, but I really don't need the reminder that humans made it to space but are still humble creatures of Earth. We're two books into this space opera series, we established that a loooong time ago. It's a little irksome sometimes but generally not too hard to gloss over. I still think the writers squash each other's voices/personalities when editing rather than make them better, which is sad. The final downside to the writing is that it's just so obviously written by men. It's very noticeable throughout. But the plot kept me so entertained that the writing ultimately took a backseat and didn't really hinder my enjoyment too much this time around.

One major negative I have to mention though... I'm extremely frustrated by the two male authors' choice to make a female character publicly and falsely accuse a male character of sexual abuse. Though it's fiction, I feel it will feed the fire for people who love to not believe rape victims. It felt exploitative and very pointed, like the authors included it because, to them, it would be believable... because, to them, that's what women do. And that just a gross viewpoint. These are the kinds of stories that silence real life rape victims. Stop implying women cannot be taken at their word. Stop showing perfect men who are victims of women accusers. Just stop. That's not the story that needs to be told.

If it weren't for the false sexual abuse claim, I would rate this book 4 stars. I thought it was more entertaining and had better characters than the first.