Review: Hard to justify continuing to read this series
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 21, 2012
I said in my review of Fighter King that John Bowers had a easy to read writing style and that I found few problems while reading.  That continued to be true here.  The writing flows very well and is very smooth.Unfortunately, the same plot problems that bothered me to no end in Fighter King only get worse in this story.  I just couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to actually care much about the plot, the characters or what was going to happen next.It's hard to really reveal everything that I dislike about the book without dropping spoilers, and as some people might find the same events/plots/characters interesting, I'm trying to keep my review rather generic.  However, I can say that the entire culture and society of the conquering planet of Sirius not only made little logical sense to me, but was built on so many cultural contradictions that I finally gave up on ever believing that such a society could functoin outside a twisted mind.  And the population of the planet Vega 3, were also a study in contraditions and empty souls.  They seemed to accept their conquest far too meekly especially as the Sirian overlords were the harshest occupiers since the Mongols stacked Mulsim skulls outside cities.but there is little to no active resistance from the Vegans.  It was disappointing, but fit the narrative perfectly and once again a few deis ex machina moments helped push the plot along.Even the "romantic' subplots don't feel very reomantic due to the nature of the characters and situation.It's a story that definitely generates a few moments of thought, but I didn't find it fun to read.  The Sirians are too twisted, the Vegans for the most part far too passive, and there is no character to cheer for.  Most you just feel "Meh" about, and the few that you might feel some sympathy for tend to also clearly have Death standing behind them waiting for their final words.I kept turning pages, so I can't really give this 2 stars, but like book 1 in the series, I don't really recommend this to anyone.  The plot just didn't come across as one that many people will enjoy reading.