Review: More of a formula piece than the first two volumes
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 9, 2013
I really enjoyed Redaction I and II, with the unique combinations woven into the novels - science as champion, a strong female lead, a well-written collection of heroes and enough tension and danger to make the reader want to read nonstop.Unfortunately, Redaction III, which takes place at the Dark Hope caves the survivors have fled into (who calls such a place Dark Hope anyway?), tends to get mired in a more formulaic good vs. bad plodder.  Andrews previously tended to make her bad people a bit caricatured; in this volume they get even more paper-thin in terms of motive and drive. I also felt that Andrews took the essential character of Trent from Redaction I and II and gave all his "lines" to Dirk in Volume III. The result feels more like an episode of a TV series than the heft of the previous two novels in the series.The writing felt more TV-like as well: It's intel, not intell, and if I read one more instance of someone's fingernails biting into their palms, I'll have to start a drinking game for the book series.Adding to my ambivalence about Dark Hope is that there's a coda at the end of this volume that essentially shuts the door on the Redaction series; that's too bad, because Andrews really had something in the universe of I and II with lots of unanswered questions and ways to create a rich world. Even worse, Andrews hints that a separate Redaction novel will take place 100 years after the initial events - but focus on the sappy, evil, worthless "castouts" from Redaction III? Why, oh why would anyone even care about what happens to them?Kudos to Andrews for Redaction I and II, which I highly recommend. They can stand alone as a couple of great works in the PA genre.