Review: A spectacular read!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 23, 2014
I was awed not only by the author's knowledge of the military, economics, politics, various religious stakes, and interpersonal relationships that surround this story, but that Mr. Okuda was able to tie all of it together into a science fiction setting. I am very impressed with the author's ability to amass all of this into what it has become. I'll try to break down the story as a whole without spoiling for other readers.Gideon- I can't believe what this young man has been able to achieve from being a green, wet-behind-the-ears kid to quite a high rank in his military career. What happened to him on Mars was something I had been pondering for quite some time before I got to it, seeing as Kabuto had always seemed to have his eye on Giddy as something else other than pure friendship. I wonder where this will lead him in the future. Speaking of Kabuto, it was hard watching him keep all of his friends at arm's reach with all of his knowledge of the Order and the Sons and all of the mystery surrounding the aliens. Unfortunately, his necessary coldness (to a degree) bit him in the ass in the end. I just hope a certain cyber-somebody doesn't jump in place. I'm not sure how I'd feel about that, even though it seemed like that's what the author may have been hinting at in the epilogue.Alphonse will obviously have his hands full in the coming years, not only in his political/militaristic/colonization machinations, but also with the family that he has come to accept into his life. Of course, I only know the author from reading this work, which isn't a good judge, but for some reason, I always felt throughout the book that Al was sort of the author in the way writers like to put ourselves into their books. I see Kabuto and Gideon as that as well, but on much lower scales. I would love to see how the author actually felt writing these characters. Parts of the Zhukovist Declaration were brilliant, but I found a lot of problems that Alphonse will face in asserting the Declaration into his government, most particularly the concept of the citizen-soldier. It's a shame saying this to an author of military background, but there are masses of people out there that won't fight for their freedom no matter what position they are put in. Al could run into some trouble if people of this strain were to unite. Treachery could run wild and there are those who would be more than willing to step right in and coerce the resistant population.I hate--in a pleasant, cliffhanger sort of way--what the author did on pg. 719. How the hell could that be possible? Was there something in the explosion that managed to overcome what Gideon and Kabuto saw as an unfortunate, yet definitive outcome? I'm sure these are questions that a second book will hopefully explain, but it leaves me wondering why there wouldn't have been any attempt at making contact. It really pains me to see what would happen if Gideon were to get involved because he thought he had let go only for it to come all back to him.Good to see April and John closing the deal. Did Nigel and Lira ever make anything official? Or Leonard and Athena for that matter? There seemed to be some sort of connection there as well. Speaking of relationships, GO AWAY ISADORA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STAY AWAY!