Review: The Ca'cadasan's are bacl and well worth the wait
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 21, 2013
Dandridge's latest instalment in his Exodus series "The Rising Storm" was well worth the wait. The action picks up, new players enter game and there are hints that maybe something else is going beyond the open conflict with the Ca'cadasan Empire and the hidden one with Mankind's Elysium neighbours. There's also a few more hints in to other off-stage players - the Ancients and that mysterious other empire also fighting the Ca'cadasan's half a galaxy away. And dollars to "Doughnuts" - folks who have read the series will know what I mean by that remark - the battling humans might just be able to bridge that distance and gain a new ally in the future if they can just... but enough spoilers!So, things I liked about this book? Dandridge continues to improve as a writer. Characterisation is much better and much of the conversation feels real, especially some of the interior monologue of the military characters.Just as important, people make smart decisions as well as hard ones. No silly sulking in the corner wondering about the milk maid's daughter or if mommy loved them enough (think Wheel of Time) as the world burns. In this series, and especially in this book, if people have to spend their friends and allies to save a situation they do. That's life, that's the military, that's war. That's good writing.I also like the smart use of tec to do smart things. The sheer range of the tec Dandridge uses is enormous but it's not used stupidly- if you have a super weapon and its use isn't going to screw your side over, use it as often and regularly as you can. And both sides here do, restricted only by the parameters each race's backstory. This might sound like a small point but it builds a verisimilitude in to the series which is often lacking in military SF.. Too often writers introduce a technology that then paints them in to a corner. Here technology supports plot and if there is a restriction on its use, its logical with the storyline each race follows.The final thing I liked about this book... it was just dang good fun to read. A good step along the plot path from books one and two and a logical extension of the story to date.So what didn't Iike?. Some of Dandridge's earlier work suffered from poor characterisation or over reactions to small provocations - there tended to be lots of lots of glaring and loud explosive comments in situations where a little more self control would have been  more natural - most people work up to glaring, they don't jump from zero to one hundred degrees in one go.. A little of this remains, but just a little. In general he's worked hard on his dialogue and it shows - conversations are more natural and tension builds in a more normal fashion.Any other complaints?  Too long between books. Ok, not really, but Mr Dandridge, go to your room and get cracking on book number 4. You are building a fan base and I for one can't wait to see how the Human Empire's new Emperor manages both his new position and more hostile aliens than he has nuclear weapons to deal with.Five stars and worth the $$