Raven Stratagem

I think I getting more used to the bananas world made this second volume a lot easier to handle than the first. I didn't spend the whole time just desperately trying to figure out what all these high concept science magic stuff was, and could enjoy the characters more. If you're on the fence about continuing this series, I would say go for it; it gets easier. The new characters are interesting, Jedao is still great, and without spoiling anything, I wasn't disappointed in the Cheris storyline either.

I enjoyed this second book much more than the first book. I think that it's because Raven Stratagem is more character-focused, and thus the story is a little more natural to follow. The world building is great. For whatever reason, I had less trouble visualizing the events this time around, perhaps because I was being a more careful reader. Anyhow, I am looking forward to the third and final book in the series.

“You've got to get over that Kel thing where you offer to commit suicide just to prove a point.”

I'm going to hide some of my review behind spoiler tags, but the tl;dr up front is that I enjoyed this book just as much as or maybe even more than the first. I know. I'm shocked too. Middle books of trilogies are usually so mediocre.

The author buries the lede in this book from the very beginning, with the vast majority of things taking place from the points of view of everyone else except Cheris/Jedao. Is she Cheris? Is she Jedao? Who knows? The author certainly isn't telling, and I appreciated being pulled along through the story and trying to figure it out alongside the other main(?) characters aboard the bannermoth of their fleet. Cheris/Jedao has a sneaky plan to get back at the hexarchate, but goes through the motions of investigating a Hafn invasion while doing so. We also get other points of view from people removed from the fleet, chief among them the Shuos hexarchate, Mikodez, who also harbors no great love for the system he works within. The ending, while no great space battle, was still satisfying (and a bit sad).While the first book started us off in the middle of things and I had to figure things out as we went along, this book took a much slower pace and felt more character-driven. I appreciated that. I also didn't feel nearly as beaten over the head by crazy terminology as I did from reading the first book, which helped me keep pace with what was going on and really develop feelings for some of these non-MCs. I had some real feels near the end.

If you've read the first book and are here to see if you'd enjoy the second, I highly recommend giving it a try. It's clear the author cleaned things up a bit here, and things feel tighter, more cohesive, and incredibly satisfying. I'm absolutely going to move onto the third.

Executive Summary: I struggled a bit to get into this one at the start, but once I finally got my bearing back I enjoyed it a lot more. ★★★½☆.Audiobook: This one is a hard series for audio in my opinion. Nothing against Emily Woo Zeller who I think does a fine job narrating, it's just that there is so much going on, I find myself wishing I could go back and reread parts, something I find very hard to do in audio. Your mileage may vary, but this is definitely not for people newer to audiobooks in my opinion.Full ReviewI'm not much of a hard sci-fi person. I'm not sure this really qualifies, as the mathematics that drive everything are never really explained that much, but it does seem to add a layer of complexity to the narrative that I find hard to follow at times. That said, I find it makes for some incredibly unique world building. I read [b:Ninefox Gambit 26118426 Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire #1) Yoon Ha Lee https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1446557461s/26118426.jpg 46065520] earlier this year, but apparently that was too long ago that I seemed to have forgotten most of the details. It took a long time for this book to jog my memory. In general I prefer character driven stories, and this one definitely fits that mold. I do find most of the characters if not unlikeable then certainly not that appealing. Jedao is certainly an interesting character, but I didn't care much about his motivations. I mostly just wanted to see what happened next.In most character-driven stories, I'm rooting for/against a character. In this book though, I'm indifferent. I liked Kel Cheris in the previous book, but little else. In this book I felt like I had nothing to root for really.Yet despite all of that, the world building seems to be enough to keep my interest. At least most of the times. There were definitely some subplots in this book I found less interesting. I also found myself a bit confused at times, and wishing I could reread a part. I'll definitely be picking up the next book. I want to see where this goes next. I might switch from audio however. Then again owning two books in audio and the third in another format would probably drive me crazy :)

Perhaps in the long run an oppressive system must be burnt down and a new, better system built on top of its ashes, but in the meantime, those who work within the system must do what they can to ensure that the system does not become even more destructive, even more oppressive than it already is. Standing up and doing something to change the system is a good thing, of course, but not everyone is in a position to do so openly, or freely. For those people, perhaps the best they can do is to ???serve honorably,??? and in doing so, become a light of hope for others who might have no hope at all. Not everyone can be a revolutionary, but then again, not all revolutionaries fight at the barricades; sometimes they operate from within the system itself, fighting the good fight in their own small, but no less important, way.

Full review here: https://wp.me/p21txV-Gv

Reread February 2021

Rereading this book was interesting. It felt like we spent a good two-thirds to three-quarters spinning our wheels doing nothing. (Is this middle book syndrome?) When things finally picked up, I remembered why I enjoyed it so much the first time. Because the last hundred or so pages are easily five stars. (The first two hundred or so might make it over three stars, but that's not a guarantee.)

I still find two chapters odd - the one completely out of place and unneeded and the other completely off-putting. (See original review for more on this.)

Finally, I just have to make mention of the Hafn: the ‘enemy.' For me, they are used a little too much as just a filler enemy. In the first book there was a clear goal Cheris and Jedao were working towards and the Hafn were kind of an afterthought.

In this book, the Hafn seem like...they're there, but they're there because Jedao needs someone to fight. I mean, the Hafn are not fleshed out at all in the first two books and, even after focusing on fighting them for a full book and their presence looming over the first book - I kind of feel that they are just going to disappear and not be at all important to the resolution to the series.

That all being said, I am very curious about the finale and am rather excited for it.

My rating is still four stars, kind of equalizing my feelings for the first two thirds and the latter third. (Side note: I like Ninefox Gambit more.)


Original Review

Pretty much love this story. The only thing keeping it from being a five star read for me is two chapters that were out of place, one following an entirely new character and the other following someone that had only been mentioned up until that point. And really, all those two chapters served to do was highlight just how crappy this world is and the hell Jedao went through. (Again, because of course we didn't get enough of that in the first book.

Let's see... Oh, yeah, and I realized reading this book that, while it is strong sci-fi, it is also a dystopian in space. So, yeah.

(Kind of burying the lead, but one of the main POV characters in this book is trans. And I'm still pretty sure that everyone in this world is at least a little bi/pan.)