Review: Not a New Theme, But Reasonably Well Done
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 28, 2013
The Bough Breaks carries further, the themes of two earlier books, to describe in detail, the inner rot and collapse of an interstellar empire.  Marine Belinda Lawson, its heroine, is both strong and smart, admirable in many ways despite the sketchiness of our knowledge of her early life. While there are weaknesses in the plot devices used to put Belinda effectively in charge of the coming of age of a 17 year old Prince, we can forgive those weaknesses.  Less explicable is the utter incompetence and venality of the Grand Senators whose personal ambition so dominates much of the narrative.  The villains are simply too villainous, becoming caricatures.These things being said, and regardless of the lectures in contemporary economics that he attempts to thread through the book, Nuttall and Belinda may engage your interest  all the way through the book.  Worth a read.