Review: Admiral Who in a Bra
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 12, 2013
This prequel (The Boar Knife) and book 1 (The Blooding) are really 2 pieces of the same book. The author mentions he split the story this way, and I understand why - Having the prequel out there gives a taste for the series and hooks you in even if you tend to prefer sci-fi stories over a more fantasy/medieval world. Expect to read both and do so quickly.With that in mind, consider this a review of both books as one whole. On to the points:-The main character is a young girl/heroine who starts off knowing nothing of a man's world but having to fill a man's shoes secretly-Key themes are hardship, combat, battle planning, leadership, picking unique characters/team, oppression, and obviously a heroine coming of age-The world is medieval, with various distinct practitioners of magic-Magic, at least for now, is really in the background and not a focus-The cast of characters to date are primarily villagers, soldiers, and a couple of witches-The character development was done well in keeping with other books. Doesn't just focus on the hero and the hero doesn't become some overdone larger than life god killer.-The combat was done well-The books are fast reads with exciting events unfolding quickly (not a slow cook)-The end is in a good spot and the author gives a teaser excerpt on the next one-You'll have to gut out the first few chapters. It's necessary because the heroine is a pretty nave little girl and acts like it. Once she starts to get a bit of seasoning things rapidly improve.-I think the shock at behavior of men early in the story is a bit overdone ("Oh my goodness boys poot!") but it does fade away as the story gets going-Copyediting was surprisingly poor for this author's work, but just typos/homophones/repeated words, no mind jarring use of wrong characters' names or suchMany of you will find this book after reading the author's other series (Admiral Who). The first thing you're probably wondering: Is this series as good?  The answer is "not yet", but it likely will be as the heroine ages. The Admiral Who world has built up quite a powerful story at this point so it's hard to compare the two. Think 4 stars versus 5 because we had to take the time and pages starting with a silly girl. Once we get deep into the blooding we're past most of that and starting to form a realistic gritty character more akin to the Admiral Who series we all love.If you haven't read the author's other series do so, it's one of the best.One last bit of food for thought: This author seems pretty productive. Normally I hesitate to start any unfinished series (yeah I'm talking to you Martin and Jordan's ghost) - But I'm already deep into Admiral Who and didn't hesitate here because every few months this guy kicks out another quality tome. His brother seems to also help him kick out side stories that add a fun adventure occasionally too.I'll definitely buy the next in the series upon release.