by Yoon Ha Lee
rating: ☆☆☆☆
published: 13th June 2017
spoilers? small ones
Goodreads
“No,” Cheris said. “The war never ends.”
Galley provided by publisher
I'll be the first to admit that for most of the first book, I wasn't enjoying this series. Then the last 40 pages happened and suddenly everything ramped up a notch. So, going into this book, I was so much more excited.
Raven Stratagem picks up where Ninefox Gambit left off, except from a different point of view. Instead of being from the point of view of Cheris, we see everything through the eyes of a new Kel swarm - specifically Khiruev and Brezan, interspersed with the points of view of the Shuos hexarch, and one or two others along the way. While it was nice to see the old characters from a new angle, I did miss Cheris' voice as a narrator.
In this book, everything is higher stakes. Cheris (once you read it you'll understand why that part is kind of spoilerish) was not intended to survive the destruction of the Kel fleet in the first book, and as a result is persona non grata to Kel Command. At the same time, the Hafn are attempting to invade, and Khiruev's Kel swarm is the only one within distance of the Hafn fleet.
As with Ninefox Gambit, I found this a slow read. The difference between the two books was that I didn't get exasperated by the slowness of this one, partly because I knew what to expect in terms of writing style, and partly because the end of the first book had me hooked into this universe.
Perhaps I'm being stingy about my 5-star ratings all of a sudden because, while this book was very good, it didn't quite merit one of those from me. I did love the characters, and certain scenes had me so excited, but there was just something missing (maybe how good I felt the action scenes were? I'm not sure). But that doesn't detract from how desperately I'm needing book three now.
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