The year is 2454. Three centuries of peace and a hard-won golden age have come to an abrupt end.
The once steadfast leadership of the seven Hives is crumbling, soured by corruption and deception. Savagery and bloodlust, three-centuries suppressed, have been unleashed.
The terrible truth is that centuries of peace were bought with a trickle of secret murders. The killings were mathematically planned, meticulously organised to preserve the balance – to ensure no faction could dominate.
But now the secret is out, the balance has tipped, the Hives' utopian façade has slipped. Just days ago, humanity stood at the pinnacle of civilization. Now everyone – Hives and Hiveless, Utopians and sensayers, emperors and convicts, warriors and saints – is preparing for war.
Good but it feels a bit like Star Wars Episode I, too much politics. Still gonna read the next one! Gotta finish this awesome series.
TBD, wow.
Reading this series is harder work than most sci-fi. The narrative voice (not the audiobook narration) is very strong in ways that I didn't necessarily like. However, that and other choices make sense and work together to make something worthy of contemplation. That's what good thinking sci-fi does. There's a reason these books have won awards.
BUT, you kind of have to commit to put in the work for that all to come together and make sense. It's an effort that I'll admit I have sometimes struggled with. After each book, I have contemplated whether I need to see how it ties together enough to work at the next.
For this last book, it took me FAR longer than normal to get through. I listen to most of the books I mark as read and I kept finding reasons to listen to podcasts rather than dig back into this. I …
Reading this series is harder work than most sci-fi. The narrative voice (not the audiobook narration) is very strong in ways that I didn't necessarily like. However, that and other choices make sense and work together to make something worthy of contemplation. That's what good thinking sci-fi does. There's a reason these books have won awards.
BUT, you kind of have to commit to put in the work for that all to come together and make sense. It's an effort that I'll admit I have sometimes struggled with. After each book, I have contemplated whether I need to see how it ties together enough to work at the next.
For this last book, it took me FAR longer than normal to get through. I listen to most of the books I mark as read and I kept finding reasons to listen to podcasts rather than dig back into this. I know that sounds negative, but it isn't. These are good books that a lot of people are going to abandon or actively dislike.
The thing is, I've worked hard to be clear in my head about the fact that "good" and "I liked it" aren't the same thing. This series is good. And, over time, I may decide I liked it as well, but it's enough that it's good.
