WWW Wednesday – 31 July 2019

On July 31, 2019July 31, 2019 By The Unseen LibraryIn WWW WednesdayLeave a comment

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words, where bloggers share the books that they’ve recently finished, what they are currently reading and what books they are planning to read next. Essentially you have to answer three questions (the Three Ws):

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

So, let’s get to it.

What are you currently reading?

Ghosts of the Past by Tony Park (Trade Paperback)

I am about half way through this book at the moment and I am really enjoying this complex and multi-layered tale from history. Make sure to check out my review for Park’s previous book, Scent of Fear.

Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio (Audiobook)

I am only a few hours into Howling Dark, but already it is shaping up to be a pretty epic piece of science fiction. I really loved the previous book in the series, Empire of Silence, and have been looking forward to getting Howling Dark for some time. I did get a physical copy of this book a couple of weeks ago (with my blog mentioned in the acknowledgements!!!), but decided to try out the audiobook version instead, as it was honestly the only way I could read this book any time soon with my current reading schedule.

What did you recently finish reading?

The Lost Ten by Harry Sidebottom (Hardcover)

Star Trek: The Captain’s Oath by Christopher L. Bennett (Audiobook)

Graveyard Shift in Ghost Town by Michael Pryor (Trade Paperback)

Dark Blade by Steve Feasey (Trade Paperback)

Usagi Yojimbo: The Hidden by Stan Sakai (Trade Paperback)

What do you think you’ll read next?

The Collaborator by Diane Armstrong (Trade Paperback)

The Blue Rose by Kate Forsyth (Trade Paperback)

I am currently planning to pull together a historical fiction column for the Canberra Weekly, featuring the above two novels and Ghosts of the Past. All three books sound really interesting, and they are all from talented Australian authors. This column should published in two weeks and I will post it up when it comes out.

That’s it for this week, check back in next Wednesday to see what progress I’ve made on my reading and what books I’ll be looking at next.

Waiting on Wednesday – Cyber Shogun Revolution by Peter Tieryas

On July 31, 2019 By The Unseen LibraryIn Alternate Timeline, Science Fiction, Thriller, Waiting on Wednesday10 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy. I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.

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Now, this is an upcoming book that I know is going to have a cool concept and be filled with some epic action sequences. If you could not tell from the funky title or awesome-looking cover, Cyber Shogun Revolution is a very unique book, and one that I am very keen to read. Cyber Shogun Revolution follows on from author Peter Tieryas’ previous books, United States of Japan and Mecha Samurai Empire, all of which are set in the same universe. I had the great pleasure of reading Mecha Samurai Empire last year after seeing and falling in love with the plot and the cover in the bookshop. Mecha Samurai Empire was an extremely fun and compelling read, and I cannot wait to check out the latest book in the loosely connected United States of Japan series, which is quite rightly described as a cross between The Man in the High Castle and Pacific Rim.

The United States of Japan books are set in a clever alternate version of our world, where Japan and the Nazis won World War II instead of the allies. The war was mainly won thanks to Japan’s creation of the mecha, gigantic piloted military machines, which allowed the Japanese to soundly defeat the American forces. In the aftermath of the war, the former United States of America was split between Japan and Germany, with the western states becoming the United States of Japan, a territory of the Japanese Empire. American society has since been strongly influenced by Japanese culture and customs, world history has been re-written to paint Japan’s war conduct in a better light and the world is in a golden age of technology, with the mechas making Japan the main military superpower. However, ever since the end of the war, tensions between Japan and the Nazis have slowly been increasing, and Germany even attacked the United States of Japan with their biomorphs (organic mechas) during the last book.

Cyber Shogun Revolution, which is set 20 years after the events of Mecha Samurai Empire, will apparently follow a whole new group of characters in this inventive alternate history universe and has a really intriguing plot synopsis:

Goodreads Synopsis:

NO ONE SURVIVES AN ALLIANCE WITH THE NAZIS. NOT WITHOUT USE OF FORCE.

California, 2020. After a severe injury, ace mecha designer and pilot Reiko Morikawa is recruited to a secret organization plotting a revolt against the corrupt governor (and Nazi sympathizer) of the United States of Japan. When their plan to save the USJ from itself goes awry, the mission is only saved from failure because the governor is killed by an assassin known as Bloody Mary. But the assassin isn’t satisfied with just the governor.

Bishop Wakana used to be a cop. Now he’s an agent of the Tokko, the secret police. Following the trail of a Nazi scientist, Bishop discovers a web of weapons smuggling, black market mecha parts–and a mysterious assassin. This killer once hunted Nazis but now seems to be targeting the USJ itself. As the leaders of the United States of Japan come to realize the devil’s bargain they made in their uneasy alliance with the Nazis, Bishop and Reiko are hot on the trail of Bloody Mary, trying to stop her before it’s too late.

I really like the sound of this plot synopsis and I am looking forward to checking out the latest book in this awesome series. This sounds like such a different adventure to the last one, which mainly focused on the training of the mecha pilots and their skills in battle. Instead, the synopsis indicates that Cyber Shogun Revolution will be a lot more like a spy thriller, and I am curious to see how such a book plays out in this inventive alternate universe setting.

From some of the comments that Peter Tieryas has written on Goodreads and Twitter, it looks like the book is going to spend a good amount of time looking at Bloody Mary, the assassin who is targeting high-ranking members of the United States of Japan government. I am extremely curious about this character and I hope we get to see a lot about her history and motivations. I am also pretty excited because Tieryas noted on his latest Goodreads post for Cyber Shogun Revolution that the machine featured on the outstanding cover of this book is called the Sygma, an anti-mecha machine. Based on its nifty blood-red covering, I am going to go out on a limb here and assume that it belongs to Bloody Mary. If that is the case, that offers some rather intriguing options for this book, and I am imagining some epic mecha fights between Rose and her targets or pursuers.

I am actually really looking forward to this book. I had such a good time reading Mecha Samurai Empire last year that I have been eagerly keeping an eye out for any news of a potential sequel. The details of this third book in the United States of Japan series sound very encouraging, and at this point Cyber Shogun Revolution is extremely high on the list of books I want to read next year, especially if it contains more of the amazing mecha action that was such an awesome feature of Mecha Samurai Empire. Cyber Shogun Revolution is set to be released in March 2020, and I could not be any more excited for it.

Top Ten Tuesday – Series I Want to Get Into

On July 30, 2019 By The Unseen LibraryIn List20 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics. For this week, participants get a freebie and get to choose any topic that they want to, and I have decided that I will use this post to look at the top ten series I want to get into.

Over the last few years, I have gone out of my way to try out several series which I had heard good things about or read intriguing reviews about. In most cases, I have found myself absolutely loving the first book in the series, and I will go on to keep reading all the books that follow on. For quite a lot of these, I really wish that I had tried them out a hell of a lot sooner, such as the Powder Mage series or The Stormlight Archive. Clearly there are a number of amazing series out there that I have not yet had the opportunity to sample, and I really need to start expanding my horizons.

So, for this list I will be looking at the top ten series that I have not had the opportunity to read, but that I wish I had. There are several reasons why I have not been able to read these books, such as availability, time constraints or simply not knowing the books existed until years after their release (try as I might, I can’t keep track of every book that is released). For some of these, I did have the opportunity to read the later books in the series, but I chose not to because I thought it would make more sense to start at the beginning with the first book. There are a great many series out there that have caught my eye, but I am going to limit myself to the top ten ones I want to read, with a few honourable mentions.

For some of these series, I have heard amazing things about them from other reviewers; for others, I really like the plot idea and want to check it out. There are also a few series where I have enjoyed some of the author’s other works and I am interested in seeing what else they have produced. All of these are at the top of my reading list, and I hope to check them all out in the next couple of years, although it is probably going to be a slow process to get through all of them.

Honourable Mentions:

Villains – V. E. Schwab

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This series is apparently an intriguing take one the superhero genre which focuses on two friends who gain superpowers and the dramatic consequences of this. This a rather shorter series than most of the others on this list, currently featuring only two books. However, the sheer amount of love I saw for the second book when it was released last year was just insane. Nearly everyone seemed to be reading this book, and I honestly felt like I was missing out quite a bit. I love a good superhero story and really need to check this book out. I have also heard good things about Schwab’s Shades of Magic series, and I figure I will move onto that once I get through the Villains series.

Jack Reacher – Lee Child

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Ever since I started up my blog, I have been meaning to read more thrillers, as I have a bit of a dearth of knowledge and appreciation of the genre. There are a number of intriguing-sounding or classic thriller series out there that I want to check out in the future, including Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series or Stephen Hunter’s Bob Lee Swagger series. However, the one I think I am most likely to check out in the immediate future is Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series. I enjoyed the Tom Cruise movies that were based on these books and I would like to check out some of the extremely interesting cases featured within. As the series currently features 23 novels, this may be one of those series where I check out the later books in the series first. In this case, I might look up the 24^th novel, Blue Moon, when it comes out this October.

The Dresden Files – Jim Butcher

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The Dresden Files is one of those series that I see a lot of other reviewers gush about and place at the top of their favourite book lists. Featuring a modern world beset with magic, The Dresden Files follow magical PI Harry Dresden as he works a series of intriguing magical crimes. While the whole concept sounds amazing, The Dresden Files has been one of the series that I was mostly unaware of until recently, and now that it is on my radar, I have not been able to make time for it. Currently featuring 15 books, this is one that might take a while to get through; however, it might be worth the effort if they end up making that television adaption that is currently being planned.

Top Ten List (No Particular Order):

Newsflesh – Mira Grant

A zombie series from one of the best modern authors of horror fiction is definitely something that I need to check out. Mira Grant is an extremely talented author, and I absolutely loved her 2017 release, Into the Drowning Deep, which was just spectacular. Grant has several intriguing series out at the moment, but I really like the sound of the Newsflesh books, which follow a band of blogger journalists as they investigate dark conspiracies in the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse. Currently made up of four books, this sounds like a really cool series and, frankly, after seeing how terrifying Grant can make mermaids, I cannot wait to see what she can do with zombies.

The Divine Cities – Robert Jackson Bennett

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When I read and reviewed Bennett’s latest book, Foundryside, last year I could not help but notice that quite a number of people were already massive fans of Bennett thanks to his The Divine Cities series. The Divine Cities series is set in a fallen city which used to utilise the vast power of its gods to rule the world. However, when the gods fell the city was brutally conquered and made to suffer for its past injustices. I really like the sound of that setting, and the plot then follows a protagonist who investigates a series of mysteries in this broken city. I already know that Bennett can create some intriguing mysteries and conspiracies thanks to Foundryside, so I am very curious to see his earlier work. I also see that a number of reviewers whose opinions I respect have a lot of nice things to say about The Divine Cities series and, as a result, I really think I need to read these books.

The Dinosaur Lords – Victor Milan

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I have to admit that the main reason I want to check out this series is its extremely cool concept. How can I possibly not want to read a fantasy series where the characters go to war riding giant dinosaurs? Honestly, it is impossible to resist, and the moment I heard about this series I knew I would have to read it. But there is one disadvantage that makes me slightly weary, and that is that the series might not be 100% complete. The author, Victor Milan, unfortunately passed away in 2018. While he was able to complete the first three books in The Dinosaur Lords series, the entire series was apparently going to consist of six books. I am slightly worried that I will get into The Dinosaur Lord books only to find myself disappointed with some open plot points when I finish the third book. I don’t think this will be enough to stop me trying out these books, but it is a potential concern I need to keep in mind.

Red Rising Saga – Pierce Brown

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The Red Rising Saga is a series that has been on my reading radar for a while. This is another series which is held in extremely high regard by a number of reviewers I follow, and it actually sounds very interesting, as it follows a war to end caste oppression in a futuristic space society. I have had the opportunity to read one or two of the later books in the series in the past, but I never did. This is mainly because I always though the storylines sounded so complex that it would be best to start the Red Rising Saga from the beginning. This is definitely a series I need to read in the future, especially as Brown is continuing to add to it, with the latest book, Dark Age, literally coming out today.

Mistborn – Brandon Sanderson

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Brandon Sanderson is an extremely talented author whose books I have really enjoyed in the past, especially The Way of Kings and Skyward. As he is an extremely prolific author, he has a huge number of awesome-sounding books out at the moment and I am hoping to read all of them at some point in the future because he is an amazing writer. However, the main body of his work that I want to read next is his Mistborn books. The Mistborn series of books are part of his huge overarching Cosmere novels and are set in the same universe as some of his other series, such as The Stormlight Archive. Featuring a really cool magical system based around different metals and made up of six highly regarded books (with a seventh on the way), the Mistborn books sound spectacular and I look forward to eventually reading them.

Throne of Glass – Sarah J. Maas

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This one has been on my radar ever since I read Maas’s excellent comic book novel, Catwoman: Soulstealer last year. Maas is probably one of the best young adult fiction authors out there at the moment, and the Throne of Glass series is considered by many to be her magnum opus. Featuring eight lengthy books, the Throne of Glass follows teenage assassin Celaena as she battles for freedom in the lands of Adarlan. This is a really cool-sounding series which has received a lot of praise from bloggers who specialise in young adult fiction. As such, it is really high on my to-read list and I hope to enjoy it in the near future. I also have my eye on Maas’s other main series, A Court of Thorns and Roses, which looks like another interesting collection of books.

Saga – Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

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Probably considered one of the best comic book series of all times, Saga is a major comic book series that I have not had the pleasure of reading. Considering the regard that many comic book fans hold this series in, it is a bit odd that I have never gotten around to actually reading it, especially as I have the first volume sitting on my shelf at the moment. I have enjoyed a number of Vaughan’s other works in the past, so I am unsure why I have not checked these comics out. Hopefully I will not rue my oversight too much when I finally get around to reading the first volume.

The Broken Empire – Mark Lawrence

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If there is one author that I really regret never reading before, it is Mark Lawrence. Lawrence has been a cornerstone of the fantasy genre for several years now, but somehow I have never had the opportunity to read any of his books. This seems like a pretty big oversight on my part, especially as a number of reviewers and bloggers paint him as one of the very best fantasy authors in the world today. His books do sound extremely interesting, and he has written a number of major fantasy series, including The Red Queen’s War and The Book of the Ancestor series. I think I would go back and read The Broken Empire series first though. Not only does this feature his first book, Prince of Thorns, which I have heard is a pretty amazing debut, but I believe that The Broken Empire series is connected to some of his other works and serves as a prequel. As I really intend to read all of Lawrence’s books in the future, it makes sense to start here, and I hope to get around to reading The Broken Empire books quite soon.

Grishaverse series – Leigh Bardugo

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I am slightly cheating here by including several different series as one entry, but I think I can justify it as the series are all set in the same world. Bardugo’s Grishaverse series is currently made up the Grisha trilogy, the Six of Crows duology and the Nikolai duology, which currently features one book, 2019’s King of Scars. Each of the books in the Grishaverse sound extremely interesting, and there is a lot of love for them in reviewing circles. I could not believe how many reviews King of Scars got earlier this year in such a short period of time. Clearly Bardugo is doing something right, and I really need to get aboard and start enjoying her work.

Gaunt’s Ghosts – Dan Abnett

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I was a massive fan of the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 universe when I was younger, and I used to collect a lot of the models and booklets. One of the main things that always appealed to me was the extensive lore and fiction that accompanied the modelling side of Warhammer, and I often found it as awesome as the modelling and the battling. I still really enjoy parts of the Warhammer franchise to this day, such as the Dawn of War computer games, and I still like to keep an eye on the lore. Most people would not realise that there is a huge amount of fiction associated with this modelling franchise, with some good books attached to it. I have read a few pieces of Warhammer extended fiction over the years, but the one I have always meant to try out is the Gaunt’s Ghosts series by Dan Abnett. Made up of 16 books, including January 2019’s release Anarch, this series follows the Tanith First-and-Only, a penal unit of Imperial Guardsman fighting under the command of Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt, nicknamed Gaunt’s Ghosts. Throughout the course of the books, the Ghosts are deployed to some of the worst combat areas in the Imperium, fighting against the various enemies of the Emperor. I love the whole concept of this series, which is essentially The Dirty Dozen in space, and I used to read some of the excerpts of the books that appeared in the Games Workshop magazines. Definitely one that is high on my list, I look forward to eventually checking these books out.

I hope you enjoyed my list. It was a bit of a hard one to put together, as there are several additional series I really want to check out, and some, such as The Faithful and the Fallen series and The Nevernight Chronicle, only just missed out from being included. I am hoping to have a look at some of these series soon, although it might be best if I finish off the Joe Ledger, Powder Mage, The Stormlight Archive and The Drenai Saga series that I am currently reading first. Let me know in the comments which series you think I should prioritise reading first and let me know if there are any series that you love that are missing from my list.

Book Haul – 29 July 2019

On July 28, 2019July 28, 2019 By The Unseen LibraryIn Book HaulLeave a comment

I’ve had another great week on the book front, getting my hands on several excellent sounding novels that I think I will have an amazing time reading in the near future. I’ve got a pretty interesting mixture of books and I am looking forward to checking them out.

The Dirty Dozen by Lynda La Plante

The latest book in La Plante’s fantastic Jane Tennison thriller series, which acts as a prequel to author’s Prime Suspect television show. I’ve really enjoyed the last two books in the series, Good Friday and Murder Mile, and the plot of The Dirty Dozen sounds really cool.

The Warehouse by Rob Hart

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This sounds like a really interesting piece of science fiction, especially as it looks at some current social issues.

The Second Sleep by Robert Harris

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This is one that I am going to have to read as soon as possible. I have read some of Robert Harris’ stuff in the past and he has written some great pieces of historical fiction before. However, I’ve been informed that there are some interesting twists occurring quite early on in the book. I haven’t gotten any more details than that, but I am extremely curious to see what happens.

Shoot Through by J. M. Green

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This is a fun sounding Australian thriller, I am looking forward to checking this out.

Wild by Nathan Besser

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Another intriguing historical fiction novel, this one sounds like it could be quite a compelling read, and I look forward to checking out this unique historical tale.

Spaceside by Michael Mammay

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I was lucky enough to get an advanced e-copy of Spaceside this week. Spaceside is a book I have been looking forward to for a while, as the first book in the series, Planetside, was one of my favourite books of last year. I have so far featured Spaceside in one of my Waiting on Wednesday articles and my recent Top Ten Most Anticipated July-December 2019 list and I hope I love it as much as Planetside.

That’s this week’s book haul. I better start diving into these books, so much to read, so little time.

DEV1AT3 by Jay Kristoff

On July 28, 2019August 19, 2022 By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Science Fiction, Young Adult6 Comments

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Publisher: Allen & Unwin (Trade Paperback – 17 June 2019)

Series: LIFEL1K3 – Book 2

Length: 423 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Amazon Book Depository

From one of the most prolific young adult fiction authors, Jay Kristoff, comes the follow up to his electrifying 2018 smash-hit LIFEL1K3, DEV1AT3.

Over the last few years, Australian author Jay Kristoff has been one of the leading contributors to young adult fiction, writing several bestselling series. His works include The Lotus War series, the highly regarded The Nevernight Chronicles, and The Illuminae Files, which he co-wrote with fellow Australian Amie Kaufman. DEV1AT3 is actually the second of three Kristoff books being released this year, as he has already released the first book in his second collaborative series with Kaufman, Aurora Rising. Darkdawn, the third and final book in The Nevernight Chronicles, is set to be released in early September.

People who keep an eye on my blog may have noticed that I did a short review of DEV1AT3 a few weeks ago in a Canberra Weekly column. I have been meaning to write up an extended review of the book for a while now, as it was quite an enjoyable book with a lot of cool features. DEV1AT3 follows on from the incredibly popular first book, LIFEL1K3. The LIFEL1K3 series follows the adventures of four young friends in the dangerous post-apocalyptic remains of America, now controlled by rival mega-companies and gangs of religious fanatics.

DEV1AT3 is set in the immediate aftermath of the dramatic conclusion of LIFEL1K3, when the protagonist of the first book, Eve, found out the terrible truth of her origin: she is secretly a lifelike, an android who can ignore the Three Laws of Robotics. Worse, she is actually a replica of Ana Monrova, the daughter of the creator of the lifelikes, Nicholas Monrova, whose creations rebelled against him and killed his entire family. With the realisation that everything she has ever known is a lie, Eve begins to plot with the murderous Gabriel and the other lifelikes to find the comatose body of Ana. While Eve simply wants to kill the woman whose life she is imitating; the other lifelikes will use Ana’s body to unlock Monrova’s secrets in order to start a robot revolution.

Out in the post-apocalyptic wastelands surrounding Babel, Eve’s friends, Lemon Fresh, Ezekiel and Cricket, have seen better days. Not only were each of them forced to abandon Eve for different reasons but they must all face their individual consequence of the events that occurred within Babel. When unexpected events force them to separate, each of these friends find themselves in a whole world of trouble.

Lemon Fresh’s status as a deviate, a genetic mutant with the ability to manipulate electricity, has always landed her in trouble, but now she finds herself the ultimate pawn in a war between two of the major corporations that rule the land. Kidnapped by an agent of BioMaas Incorporated, Lemon eventually finds herself falling in with a band of fellow deviate teenagers, each with their own unique abilities, and whose leader, the Major, may hold the secrets to her past.

At the same time, the logika Cricket is stolen and sold to the Brotherhood, a group of religious fanatics determined to destroy every android, deviate and genetically modified being they can find. As the Brotherhood edges closer to a war with the Major’s deviates, Cricket is forced to fight as a robot gladiator while learning the dark secrets at the heart of the cult. Meanwhile, Ezekiel, the one lifelike with any love for humanity, teams up with an old enemy in order to track down Lemon Fresh and Cricket. However, when Ezekiel’s mission leads him into the path of Eve and his other lifelike brothers and sisters, he attempts to find a way to stop their destructive crusade and save his beloved Ana.

This was a fantastic piece of young adult fiction that does a wonderful job of following up the first book in the series. Kristoff tells an exciting story which not only continues the plot lines of the first book but which also takes the characters in some intriguing new directions. However, despite some differences in plot focus, the book continues to feature the cool allusions to other works of fiction that made the first book such a treat to read, and it continues to explore aspects of this intriguing post-apocalyptic setting. Readers who did not get the chance to read the first book, LIFEL1K3, last year will easily be able to start by reading DEV1AT3. Not only is the story quite accessible but it also starts off with an extremely detailed summary of the events and characters from the first book, which allows anyone to fully catch up with where the plot is.

One of the most interesting changes between this book and LIFEL1K3 is that the protagonist of the first book, Eve, is instead cast as an antagonist, and we end up seeing very little of the book’s plot from her point of view. Instead, the plot of DEV1AT3 is mostly split between the three perspectives of Lemon Fresh, Cricket and Ezekiel, who each have their own unique storylines. Each of these storylines is noticeably different, with all three of them making use of some unique features to help create an intriguing and emotionally strong story. The reader gets a real feel for all three of these point-of-view characters throughout the course of their individual plots, and several intriguing new side-characters are introduced. These separate storylines come together to form one amazing overall narrative, which ends with an amazing cliff-hanger for each of the main characters that will ensure readers will have to check out the final book in this series when it comes out.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the LIFEL1K3 series is that each of the books is marketed as a crazy mash-up of several different works of fiction. For example, the first book in the series had a real Alita Battle Angel crossed with Mad Max and Blade Runner vibe to it. Many of the references to the plots of various other media titles that were started in the first book are continued in DEV1AT3. For example, the whole Mad Max vibe of life in the wasteland is actually really enhanced in this book, as the vast majority of the story is spent out in the nuclear wastes and smaller outposts that make up the ruins of America, with a number of crazy car chases in souped-up doomsday vehicles featured throughout. We also get a deeper look at the whole Bladerunner aspect of the story, as Eve comes to terms with actually being a lifelike and attempts to get revenge for her creation.

In this second book, Kristoff’s plot also makes allusions to several other pieces of fiction in the three various storylines. For example, Lemon Fresh’s storyline is an interesting post-apocalyptic take on the X-Men, with the super-powered teen finding kinship with a group of similarly gifted individuals in a world that hates and fears them. The new deviates introduced in this storyline have a pretty cool range of powers, have all been attacked because of their abilities and even have a wise old mentor character in the Major. The various twists associated with this storyline are really clever, and it was interesting to see more deviates aside from Lemon. Ezekiel also has a great storyline within DEV1AT3. While much of his story is still tied up with his feelings for Eve, the lifelike copy of the woman he loves, and all the Bladerunner-esque emotions and thoughts he and his lifelike family experienced in the first book, Kristoff adds a fun new element to his storyline in this book. For much of his storyline, Ezekiel actually teams up with Preacher, the cyborg bounty hunter who was an antagonist of the first book. This is a very fun team-up, and it harkens back to a lot of classic odd-couple crime movies, with the two having a very rocky relationship that kind of improves as the story goes along.

I personally liked Cricket’s storyline the most. Cricket is a logika, a sentient robot who must obey the Three Laws of Robotics. Cricket, who was previously a small assistant robot, had his personality transferred into a massive combat robot in the last book. However, he is kidnapped by members of the Brotherhood, the insidious religious group fighting against Lemon Fresh’s new deviate brethren. Cricket, who has to obey all the orders given to him by the Brotherhood due to the Three Laws of Robotics, is forced to fight in a series of gladiatorial combats. This storyline gives the reader the best insight into the ranks of the Brotherhood, and Cricket uncovers certain secrets while working for them. With the whole Three Laws aspect, this storyline is obviously very reminiscent of the science fiction classic I, Robot; however, Kristoff comes up with some humorous takes on the Three Laws. Thanks to the assistance of the snarky logika Solomon (who I found to be one of the funniest characters in DEV1AT3), Cricket starts to learn how to utilise the loopholes in people’s statements, so he has a degree of freedom and he also makes use of a simple solution to counteract one of the laws, which was pretty funny. All of these references to these established pieces of fiction are great, and I really liked how the author adapted them to fit his compelling young adult story. I especially enjoyed seeing some complex science fiction ideas, such as Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, explained to a younger audience, with some cool tweaks to make a more entertaining and modern story.

In addition to fun story and clever references to other works, one of the most interesting things about the LIFEL1K3 series is the cool post-apocalyptic setting that the author has come up with. The nuclear ruins of America always makes for an intriguing setting for a story, and I really enjoyed the cool combination that Kristoff makes in this series with savage nuclear wasteland and high-tech cities. The sheer amount of creativity that Kristoff utilises for the setting is really impressive, as this book alone features wars between rival corporations, desert-dwelling religious nuts, mutants, rebelling androids, bandits and mutated monsters. All of these are utilised extremely well in the story, and I look forward to seeing what other cool aspects of this broken world become apparent in the next instalment of this series.

DEV1AT3 is another wild ride from Jay Kristoff that I had a lot of fun reading. Featuring an excellent story that makes great use of references to some classic pieces of science fiction and fantasy, DEV1AT3 is a fantastic read that refuses to slow down for everything. This is a highly recommended read for the older young adult market, and it will also appeal to older readers. I am extremely curious to see where Kristoff takes this story next and look forward to another electrifying adventure in this mad-cap world.

Amazon Book Depository

Knight of Stars by Tom Lloyd

On July 25, 2019August 20, 2022 By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy1 Comment

Knight of Stars Cover

Publisher: Gollancz (Hardcover – 27 June 2019)

Series: The God Fragments – Book 3

Length: 440 pages

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Amazon Book Depository

Lynx, Toil and the rest of the Cards are back for another rip-roaring fantasy adventure, as the “heroes” of Tom Lloyd’s The God Fragment series prepare to bring all manner of violence and chaos to another unsuspecting corner of their fantasy world.

Knight of Stars is the third book in The God Fragments series, which follows the adventures of Anatin’s Mercenary Deck, a band of skilled mercenaries otherwise known as the Cards, whose adventures have caused havoc across the Riven Kingdom. The Cards are so called as each member of the band are given a card number or description based on a fictional deck of cards from this universe, which corresponds to their rank within the band. This is the third series from Lloyd, who has previously written the Twilight Reign and The Empire of a Hundred Houses series. The God Fragments series has so far consisted of Stranger of the Tempest in 2016 and Princess of Blood in 2017, with each of the book titles referring to the rank one of that particular novel’s major or most significant character.

In this third book, the Cards are celebrating after surviving and getting paid for their previous adventures in the Labyrinth under the city of Jarrazir. However, their last adventure had unexpected side effects as several of the band have also been magically marked by the powerful Dugar artefact they discovered in the Labyrinth. Not only have these marks magically bound many of the Cards together but they have also had unexpected effects on the Deck’s mages, who have found their magical abilities greatly increased.

The Deck’s employer, the dangerous relic hunter and intelligence officer Toil, has found them a relatively simple job in the distant Mage Islands to take over the holdings of a defaulting gang for a powerful bank. With the prospect of good food, sun, booze, bar fights and the chance to let loose in combat, the Cards are treating it like a holiday, especially as it moves them out of reach of several powerful enemies they have recently made. While Toil seeks out allies and resources for her patron city, the company’s mages attempt to research the magical consequences of their time in the Labyrinth.

However, no mission for the Cards ever goes as planned, and the Mage Islands are a very dangerous place to visit. Between the rival mage guilds, the various gangs and the thousands of giant serpentine tsyarn that surround the city, any miss-step could lead to disaster, and none of the Cards are known for treading lightly, especially as their number includes an infamous exile from the Mage Islands who has left many enemies behind. Unsurprisingly, the members of the Deck soon find themselves in conflict with many powerful members of the Mage Islands’ hierarchy. However, the real trouble comes when several of the Cards accidently awaken something dangerous that dwells beneath the islands.

I was initially drawn to Knight of Stars by the cool plot synopsis, but I found the first 50 or so pages, which detailed the actual journey to the Mage Islands, to be very slow and a little hard to follow. This may have been partly because this was my first time exploring The God Fragment series; I have not had the pleasure of reading the first two books in the series. As a result, I spent quite a bit of time trying to come to grips with the story and the large number of returning characters who were featured in the opening pages of the book. While the summary at the start of the book does a great job of detailing the major points of the adventures that occurred in the previous books in the series, this summary only focuses on a few of the main characters. This means that new readers will not have a good basis for several of the important side characters and may struggle to work out who they are. After getting deeper into the book I was eventually able to come to grips with all of the characters, especially as more details about them were released; however, it was easy to become lost when trying to figure out who was who to begin with. It also didn’t help that the real action and intrigue didn’t really start until the characters got to the Mage Islands, as before that they are mostly stuck talking on a couple of barges. There is a brief fight with some elementals, although what they were and the reason for their presence was a bit unclear in my opinion. While I am glad that I continued past it and enjoyed the rest of story, the first part of the book might not be able to hold some new readers’ interest.

While this is not the most ideal start to the book, those readers who persevere will find that Lloyd has created an excellent and highly entertaining novel. The author has done a wonderful job of taking his band of rogues to a deadly new location within his fantasy universe and the allowing them to run wild, resulting in all manner of chaos. The overall story becomes extremely compelling the deeper you get into it, and the last 150-odd pages are pretty darn epic, featuring some big moments with some significant stakes for the protagonists. All of this results in a very enjoyable story, and I ended up have an absolute blast reading this book.

One of the main things that I liked about this book that was the non-stop fantasy action featured within it. It is obvious that Lloyd has a real talent for writing exciting combat sequences, which he uses to his full advantage by featuring a huge number of electrifying fight scenes throughout the course of his book. Many of these amazing scenes feature elements of the unique magical system that Lloyd has created for The God Fragments series, and I particularly liked the mage-guns that were a major feature of the action. Mage-guns are specialised weapons which all the Cards are armed with that fire various magical rounds of ammo to great effect. This includes electrical blast, ice shots, blasts of flame and devastating earth based shots designed to smash buildings and the ground. The author does an amazing job showcasing these unique weapons and the tactics behind them throughout the book, and they really add a whole new element to the combat sequences. While the combat for the first three quarters of the story is really cool, the fight between the Cards and the major opponents that they encounter in the last part of the book are extremely impressive and very ambitious. I would therefore heartily recommend Knight of Stars to those readers who are looking for a good piece of fantasy action, as it is an amazing feature of this book.

On top of the awesome action, the Cards of the Mercenary Deck are pretty fun. I really liked how Lloyd decided to set a story around a group of rough, fun-loving group of frankly oversexed mercenaries, as it makes for a very amusing tale. The story is told from the perspective of several members of the group, including Lynx, the original protagonist of the series; Toil, the secret agent who is funding the group; and Sitain, one of the group’s three mages. The Cards are a fun group of protagonists, most of whom have seen or done too much violence, so they now see the world through a rather cynical viewpoint. Their love for life is quite infectious, and they make for an entertaining group of narrators, with their rude and crude attitudes often coming to the fore. The Cards also have a very unique way of dealing with problems, and it is always fun to follow a group whose master plan involves starting a particularly violent bar fight. Several of the characters have interesting story arcs within this book, especially Teshen, the titular Knight of Stars, who returns to the Mage Islands to face the demons of his past. There are a couple of major developments for some of the characters in this book, and readers should be careful about some upcoming heartbreak. This is a wonderful group of characters, and I really enjoyed seeing how their story progressed in this book.

The location for this latest book, the Mage Islands, is a really cool setting for this action-packed story. The Mage Islands is a brand-new setting, located some distance away from where any of the previous books were set. The Mage Islands is home to a ramshackle city of canals, slums, lagoons and giant sloths as pack animals, and is a great backdrop for all the action and criminal activity that occurs throughout the book. Lloyd does an excellent job of portraying a hot, tropical location filled with all manner of dangers, criminals and pests. However, rather than the usual vast number of tropical bugs and insects, the city is surrounded by a huge swarm of giant monsters, the tsyarn (the monster on the cover). As you can probably guess from the name, the city is also home to a massive population of mages, and the Cards find themselves drawn into a conflict between some of the rival mage guilds. Overall, this was a fantastic location for this enjoyable story, and I look forward to seeing where the Cards end up next.

Knight of Stars is an exciting and captivating third instalment in Tom Lloyd’s The God Fragments series. While I did initially struggle to get into the story, once I stuck with it, I was able to enjoy its compelling plot, amazing action, great characters and excellent new location. This book is worth checking out, and I look forward to reading Lloyd’s future instalments in this series.

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WWW Wednesday – 24 July 2019

On July 24, 2019 By The Unseen LibraryIn WWW Wednesday5 Comments

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

So, let’s get to it.

What are you currently reading?

The Lost Ten by Harry Sidebottom (Hardcover)

I’m currently halfway through this book and hoping to finish it off in the next day or so. I have been really looking forward to this book for a while, especially after Sidebottom’s previous book, The Last Hour. So far it has not disappointed and I am really enjoying it.

Star Trek: The Captain’s Oath by Christopher L. Bennett (Audiobook)

I am only a couple of hours into this but it is quite an interesting Star Trek book so far.

What did you recently finish reading?

Star Wars: Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn (Trade Paperback)

Knight of Stars by Tom Lloyd (Hardcover)

King of Assassins by R. J. Barker (Audiobook)

What do you think you’ll read next?

Graveyard Shift in Ghost Town by Michael Pryor (Trade Paperback)

Dark Blade by Steve Feasey (Trade Paperback)

I am currently working on a young adult column for the Canberra Weekly, and I am planning to feature the two books above as well as War of the Bastards by Andrew Shvarts. It should make for a good column, which will be published in two weeks.

That’s it for this week, check back in next Wednesday to see what progress I’ve made on my reading and what books I’ll be looking at next.

Waiting on Wednesday – The Man That Got Away by Lynne Truss

On July 24, 2019 By The Unseen LibraryIn Comedy/Satire, Historical Fiction, Murder Mystery, Tie-in Novel, Waiting on Wednesday2 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy. I run this review in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.

The Man That Got Away Cover.jpg

For this Waiting on Wednesday I will be looking at a book that I have no doubt will be one of the funniest novels of this year, The Man That Got Away, by Lynne Truss. The Man That Got Away is the second book in the Constable Twitten series, which follows on from last year’s comedic tour-de-force, A Shot in the Dark.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Constable Twitten series is that it is an adaption of Truss’s comedic Inspector Steine radio series. The Inspector Steine series is set in Brighton in the 1950s and follows the misadventures of Brighton police force members Inspector Steine, Sergeant Brunswick and Constable Twitten. Brighton in both the radio and book series is filled with as much crime as the infamous film Brighton Rock portrays; however, this goes completely unnoticed by the head of Brighton’s police force, Inspector Steine, who is convinced that his famous role in allowing a massacre of rival gangs to occur has wiped out all crime in the city. Since the massacre, his biggest problem has been the badgering of his second-in-command, Sergeant Brunswick who is obsessed with going undercover despite the fact every criminal in the city knows who he is and can easily see through his disguises, and usually ends up shooting him. What Steine and Brunswick don’t realise is that their amiable cockney charlady, Mrs Groynes, is actually a criminal mastermind who runs all the crime in the city while using her position within the station to keep the police as ineffectual as possible (not that it requires much work).

However, the entire status quo of the Brighton police is upset when the young and keen Constable Twitten is assigned to them. Twitten is an unrepentant know-it-all who is determined to sniff out criminal activity in the city, despite Steine’s insistence that none exists. Twitten is quickly able to uncover Mrs Groynes’s true identity as Brighton’s criminal mastermind (to be honest she isn’t working that hard to hide it). Unfortunately for Twitten, neither Steine nor Brunswick will believe him, especially after Mrs Groynes convinces them that Twitten’s claims of her criminal actions are the result of an unfortunate hypnosis accident. Thus, Twitten must try to uncover Mrs Groynes while also dealing with the other myriad crimes being committed in Brighton.

I only just found out that there was an upcoming sequel to A Shot in the Dark and I immediately started writing a Waiting on Wednesday for it. When I randomly received A Shot in the Dark last year from the publisher, I had not heard about the Inspector Stein radio series before, and only decided to make time to read because I was in the mood for a historical crime book. I am extremely glad that I decided to check out A Shot in the Dark in the end, as I found that it contained an incredibly funny story that got an easy five stars from me, and I couldn’t stop laughing as I read it. Since then, my future wife (and, more importantly, the person who edits all my posts), Alex, introduced me to the radio series, which I absolutely loved and has deepened my appreciation of the humour and storylines within the Constable Twitten novels. It was also intriguing to see how Truss utilised the various storylines from the radio show in the book, as A Shot in the Dark featured plot points from several different episodes, in addition to some new content, to create a fresh iteration of the story.

As a result, I am very much looking forward to the second book in the series, The Man That Got Away. I should note that this book is actually already out in some formats as of 11 July 2019. However, as the physical copies of the book will not be available in Australia until mid-September, I decided to feature it in a Waiting on Wednesday post. I have no doubt that The Man That Got Away is going to be another humorous read, especially as it has an intriguing plot synopsis.

Goodreads Synopsis:

1957: In the beach town of Brighton, music is playing and guests are sunning themselves, when a young man is found dead, dripping blood, in a deck chair.

Constable Twitten of the Brighton Police Force has a hunch that the fiendish murder may be connected to a notorious nightspot, but his captain and his colleagues are—as ever—busy with other more important issues. Inspector Steine is being conned into paying for the honour of being featured at the Museum of Wax, and Sergeant Brunswick is trying (and failing) to get the attention of the distraught Brighton Belles who found the body. As the case twists and turns, Constable Twitten must find the murderer and convince his colleagues that there’s an evil mastermind behind Brighton’s climbing crime rate.

Our incomparable team of detectives are back for another outing in the second instalment of Lynne Truss’s joyfully quirky crime series.

This sounds like it is going to be another fantastically fun story, and I cannot wait to check it out. I will be extremely curious to see which Inspector Steine episodes The Man That Got Away will draw inspiration from, and I look forward to enjoying a good laugh through the course of this book.

The Man That Got Away Cover 2.jpg

Book Haul – 22 July 2019

On July 21, 2019 By The Unseen LibraryIn Book Haul2 Comments

I’ve been lucky enough to receive a small but interesting collection of books in the last week from several publishers. I am extremely excited about a couple of these books, but all of them sound extremely good and I hope I get the chance to check them all out.

Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio

This is the book I am probably most excited about. Howling Dark is the sequel to Empire of Silence, one of my favourite books from last year. I have been looking forward to this book for a while, having featured it in one of my Waiting on Wednesdays and my recent Top Ten Most Anticipated July-December 2019 Releases list.

I only just got Howling Dark in the last day and was extremely happy when I received my copy. However, I also got a nice surprise when I saw that Ruocchio mentioned my blog in his acknowledgements. This was an amazing honour and I am glad that he enjoyed my review of his initial book.

I am looking forward to checking out Howling Dark as soon as I can, and I am sure that I will really enjoy it.

The Bone Fire by S. D. Sykes

This is a pretty amazing sounding historical murder mystery. I absolutely love the idea of a murderer stalking a medieval castle while the inhabitants are stuck inside avoiding the plague and I am sure this will make for an incredible story.

Where the Light Enters by Sara Donati

Another interesting sounding murder mystery. At over 600 pages long, Where the Light Enters is a pretty massive read, but I think that it could be worth checking out.

Star Trek: The Captain’s Oath by Christopher L. Bennett

I have been getting into some Star Trek tie-in novels in the last year, including Available Light and The Way to the Stars, and The Captain’s Oath sounds like it could be another enjoyable read.

The Collaborator by Diane Armstrong

The final book I got, The Collaborator, sounds like it is going to be a powerful piece of historical fiction, and I look forward to reading this deep and dramatic narrative.

Overall, I think that this is a pretty good book haul. Each of the titles mentioned above have a lot of potential and it looks like I will have some excellent reading in my future.

Star Wars: Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn

On July 21, 2019May 2, 2023 By The Unseen LibraryIn Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Star Wars, Tie-in Novel24 Comments

Publisher: Century (Trade Paperback – 25 July 2019)

Series: Thrawn – Book 3

Length: 333 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

The master of Star Wars extended universe novels, Timothy Zahn, returns with a third incredible book in his outstanding Thrawn series, Treason, which features the final adventure of his most iconic protagonist, Grand Admiral Thrawn, before his last appearance in Star Wars: Rebels.

While the new Disney Star Wars extended universe has produced some truly exceptional entries in the last couple years, the Thrawn series of books has been a real bright spot amongst them. Grand Admiral Thrawn was the antagonist of Zahn’s original Thrawn trilogy back in the 1990s, and quickly became a fan favourite character among the Star Wars fandom. After Thrawn was introduced into the new Star Wars canon as the primary antagonist of Star Wars Rebels in seasons 3 and 4, Zahn was brought back to write a series of novels that provided an updated history for this character.

The Thrawn series has so far consisted of two books, Thrawn and Alliances. In Thrawn, we are introduced to Mitth’raw’nuruodo, or Thrawn, a member of the Chiss Ascendancy, a race of aliens from outside the known galaxy, who was marooned within Imperial Space. Thanks to a secret connection to Anakin Skywalker and a clear demonstration of his tactical ability, the Emperor takes Thrawn into his service and employs him as an officer in the Imperial Navy. Accompanied by a young officer, Eli Vanto, who serves as his translator, aide and student, Thrawn rises through the ranks all the way to Grand Admiral by defeating a series of rebel and pirate forces. Towards the end of the book, it is revealed that Thrawn is still in service to the Chiss Ascendancy, and his loyalty to the Empire may be conditional on the Empire not threatening his people. In addition, he has sent Vanto to the Chiss, as he believes that his tactical abilities, honed under Thrawn’s tutorage, may be of benefit to their forces. Alliances, which is set after the events of the third season of Star Wars Rebels, reveals the history between Thrawn and Anakin Skywalker, and has Thrawn work with Darth Vader to investigate mysterious events in the Unknown Regions. There the reader is introduced to the Grysk, a dangerous alien species living in the Unknown Regions who are making aggressive moves against both the Empire and the Chiss Ascendancy. Together, Thrawn and Vader are able to foil the Grysk’s immediate plans, although they remain a dangerous force.

I really enjoyed both of the previous books in the Thrawn series. Thrawn is probably the best expanded Star Wars book I have had the pleasure to read so far, while Alliances did a great job continuing the series and featured a fantastic team-up between two of my favourite Star Wars characters. I personally enjoyed the first book a lot more than the second, although this may be because I did read the series out of order, starting with Alliances and then going back to Thrawn. I have been looking forward to the third book in the series for a while now. Not only did I look at it for one of my Waiting on Wednesday articles, but it also featured on my recent Top Ten Most Anticipated July-December 2019 Releases list.

In Treason, which is set in the midst of the fourth season of Star Wars Rebels, Thrawn is forced to postpone his campaign against the Rebels on Lothal when Grand Moth Tarkin informs him that funding for his Tie Defender Program is at risk of being reappropriated by Director Krennic’s secret program, Stardust. Placed in the middle of a political battle between Tarkin and Krennic, Thrawn must ensure the security of Stardust’s supply chains in order to retain his funding. What at first appears to be a routine mission against a dangerous form of alien space vermin quickly reveals that the supply lines are actually being targeted pirates who have knowledge about the materials being sent to Project Stardust.

The subsequent arrival of a Chiss ship with his former protégé Eli Vanto serving aboard raises further problems, when they reveal that a force of Grysk ships are active deep within Imperial Space. Now Thrawn must not only find out what the Grysk’s mission is but also foil a large-scale conspiracy from within the Empire. As Thrawn engages his opponents in space, the real danger comes when his loyalty to the Empire is called into question. Can Thrawn continue to serve both the Emperor and the Chiss Ascendancy, or will the Emperor finally tire of his treason?

Treason was another outstanding outing from Zahn, who once again produces an addictive and clever entry in the Star Wars expanded universe that does an exceptional job showing off his iconic protagonist. Treason was a real pleasure to read, and I found myself unable to put it down at times, as I was so engrossed by the excellent story and the fantastic examples of action in the Star Wars universe. The end result was amazing book which wraps up Thrawn’s current storyline and ties it into his appearances in the wider Star Wars universe.

Just like the previous books in the series, my favourite aspect of Treason is the focus on the titular character of Thrawn. Thrawn is one of the most tactically minded and analytical individuals in the entire Star Wars universe and is an unsurpassed military genius, able to defeat superior forces with his tactics and intelligence. Zahn has always done a spectacular job of portraying a character like this in his books, and Treason is no exception. Throughout the course of the book, Thrawn comes up with a series of tactical plans and deductions to confound his opponents and defeat their forces totally. The sheer range of different strategies and plans he comes up with are pretty ingenious, as are the ways that he is able to deduce how his opponents think, such as by analysing their artwork or their body language and movements. This results in some pretty amazing sequences throughout the book and included one extremely epic conclusion that sees Thrawn defeat a massively superior force without even being on the command deck of his ship. Instead, he leaves step-by-step instructions with his subordinate to perfectly counter and defeat his opponents. Honestly, I wish I could elaborate more because it was such an epic sequence, but that would require revealing some pretty big spoilers. I really love the focus on Thrawn and hope we get to see some more of his adventures and battles again in the future.

Despite the focus on Thrawn, much of the story is told from the perspective of some of his colleagues and subordinates, although many of these scenes also feature Thrawn’s observations on the other character’s body language and intentions. The use of all these point-of-view characters actually works really well, as it allows the reader to see Thrawn’s various tactical moves through the eyes of a normal character, thus requiring Thrawn or one of his protégés to explain in detail how he was able to come up with his actions, kind of like how Watson was used in the Sherlock Holmes novels. The characters of Eli Vanto and Commodore Faro have both served this purpose in the previous two books in the series, and it was good to see them both at it again in Treason. However, both have pretty major story arcs within this book, and it was interesting to see how their characters have evolved since first meeting Thrawn. This book also features several Chiss characters, such as Admiral Ar’alani, and it was intriguing to see their view on Thrawn’s actions and his role within the Empire. Zahn has also included a new character, Assistant Director Ronan, who has a major point-of-view role within the book. Ronan is a fairly annoying character most of the time, due to his arrogance and blind worship of his superior, Director Krennic. However, he does offer some pretty cool insights into Thrawn and the other character’s actions, and it was fun to see his respect for Thrawn reluctantly grow through the course of the book. These alternate point-of-view characters also allowed for some enjoyable speculation about Thrawn’s actual loyalties, and whether he currently serves the Emperor or the Chiss, and I felt that using all these side characters really added a whole lot to the overall story.

Like all of the other books in the Thrawn series, Zahn includes a huge number of action-packed sequences that are very exciting to read. Due to the focus on characters in the Imperial Navy, the vast majority of these battles are set within space and feature battles between the various spacecraft of the Star Wars universe. These space battle sequences are written extremely well, and they allow the reader to get an excellent idea of the cool fights that are occurring on the pages. Many of these sequences are enhanced by the various protagonists’ reliance on advanced tactics and stratagems, and as a result you get a much more complex and entertaining fight than some of the other space battles that occur in other examples of Star Wars fiction. I really enjoyed all the cool battles in this book, and the ones featured in Treason are a real highlight of the entire series.

Honestly, Treason is probably best explored by hardcore Star Wars fans. Not only does it deal with some quite obscure characters and aspects of the Star Wars universe but it is also the third book in a series with strong connections to Star Wars Rebels. I would therefore strongly recommend that readers check out the first two books in the Thrawn series first, as this will give them a more solid base to the story within Treason and provide them with some useful background into the Star Wars universe. However, for those readers who do not have any prior experience of the Thrawn books or some of the storylines explored in Star Wars Rebels, this is still an extremely accessible book, and Zahn does a good job of exploring key events of the previous stories featuring the character of Thrawn. I think that all readers, even those who only have knowledge of the franchise’s films, will also enjoy the deep dive into Star Wars lore that is featured within this book.

The entire Thrawn series so far has explored a number of aspects of the Empire before the events of the first Star Wars film, A New Hope, which I have found to be exceedingly fascinating. This is continued in Treason, where the author continues to examine the running of the Imperial Navy and also looks at the creation of the Death Star, namely the supply lines heading out to the construction zone. This book also features an intriguing look at the rivalries and politics that existed at the highest echelons of the Imperial power structure. In particular, Thrawn finds himself in the middle of the conflict between Grand Moth Tarkin and Director Krenic, which was shown in the Rogue One film. This was a particularly intriguing part of the book, and it is always interesting to see Thrawn engaged in political activities, as it very much outside his wheelhouse, although the results of this political battle were extremely fun. Treason also features more details on the species that inhabit the mysterious Unknown Regions of space, in particular the Chiss Ascendancy and the Grysk. Neither has been explored too much in the current canon, and Thrawn has been the only Chiss featured so far. All these explorations of the Star Wars lore are a really interesting part of the book that I loved reading and found extremely fascinating.

Treason is set in the fourth season of the Star Wars Rebels television show. In particular, the start of the book mirrors a scene in the 10^th episode, Jedi Knight, and ends with the set–up of the final two episodes of the series. Unfortunately, this probably means that Treason will be the last Thrawn book for a little while as Star Wars Rebels ended (spoilers! although it’s been over a year since the finale) with Thrawn and the protagonist of Rebels, Ezra Bridger, being transported off into an unknown area of space. While the end of the episode hinted that Ezra was still alive (and therefore Thrawn would be as well), it may be some time before we find out his eventual fate. While there are no current plans for a continuation or sequel to Star Wars Rebels, I could see them trying to do something after the release of the seventh season of the related The Clone Wars show. Zahn has also stated that he is planning to write some additional Thrawn novels, although these are tied up until the ninth Star Wars film, The Rise of Skywalker, is finalised. Whether these Thrawn books will be tied into any future animated versions of Thrawn or be set before the end of Star Wars Rebels remains to be seen, although I personally would love to see what happens to Thrawn and some of the other supporting characters from these series.

Treason by Timothy Zahn is another exceptional entry in the Thrawn series, which once again explores one of the best characters in the Star Wars universe. Thrawn is a fantastic character, and Zahn does an exceptional job showing off his tactical prowess through a series of intense and complex battles in space. I really loved seeing how this part of Thrawn’s adventure unfolded, and Zahn has really produced a compelling story that proved exceedingly hard to stop reading. A first-rate Star Wars tie-in novel, Treason is really worth checking out. I honestly can’t think of any character I would love to see more of in the future than Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Amazon