Prime Junta
RPGCodex' Little BRO
- Joined
- October 19, 2006
- Messages
- 8,540
Just finished The Cassini Division, the third book in the Fall Revolution cycle. As third acts often tend to be, it was more action-y and concerned with tying up loose ends than introducing brilliant new ideas; as such, it was perhaps the most dispensable of the three. A few nods to Iain M. Banks (e.g. a ship named "Necessary Evil But Still Cool"), a dash of philosophy (a variant of socialism based on the philosophical premise that people are utter selfish bastards), and rather a lot of matter-of-fact sex.
The author showed the first hints of starting to repeat himself, and veered dangerously close to space opera cliché at times. Still a good read, a satisfying conclusion to the Fall Revolution story arc, and an easier read than the previous two books, but it didn't have the complexity and density of ideas the others did. I got the feeling that the author was just a hair impatient to get it over with so he could move on to new things.
There's a fourth one, The Sky Road, which is apparently an alternative conclusion -- in it, history takes a right turn halfway through The Stone Canal due to a different decision by one of the minor characters in it.
I found this conclusion rather... satisfying, so I think I'll hold off a bit before reading it. I don't even have it yet.
The author showed the first hints of starting to repeat himself, and veered dangerously close to space opera cliché at times. Still a good read, a satisfying conclusion to the Fall Revolution story arc, and an easier read than the previous two books, but it didn't have the complexity and density of ideas the others did. I got the feeling that the author was just a hair impatient to get it over with so he could move on to new things.
There's a fourth one, The Sky Road, which is apparently an alternative conclusion -- in it, history takes a right turn halfway through The Stone Canal due to a different decision by one of the minor characters in it.
I found this conclusion rather... satisfying, so I think I'll hold off a bit before reading it. I don't even have it yet.
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2006
- Messages
- 8,540