Review: Fun, but needed more development
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 1, 2013
The Last Praetorian is the first book in Mike Smith's The Redemption Trilogy. It's a space opera centred around a larger than life hero called Radec who is the last remaining praetorian, the elite guard for the old emperor. That was his past, now he runs a space station for an independent transport business and a shadowy syndicate is trying to take away his business.It's more a romance in a sci-fi setting, fans of hard sci-fi should probably give this a miss as the science isn't great, however it is a fun story and way over the top. It clips along at a fair pace and the story is split into two arcs. The first is the present and the unfolding mystery of the syndicate and the attempt on Radec's life.The second arc is in the past and tells of his life as a praetorian and the climatic end of the old empire. Both threads are well told and made an entertaining read. I did however encounter a few issues.The main issue was the writing itself, for the most part it was fine, but it did dip into cliche a little too often. There's also a few typos and grammatical errors, it could have done with another edit pass to tidy up the language.My other issue was the story itself, it's a fun read, but the lead character is a bit much, he is perfect at everything he does and while he does encounter somne peril, you never really get the sense that he's in any real danger.Despite these issues it is an entertaining read, but with more development could have been an excellent one.