Thomas

Joseph, get a clue. Each of the "Presidential Agent" books builds on the previous one. Despite the recapitulation with which it starts, this book really depends on the previous ones. I found it absorbing and satisfying, except for some minor points. It's "algorithm," not "logarithm." There were some other bloopers but I didn't take notes. Castillo is tiresomely consumed by self-doubt. His difficulty with keeping his cell phone charged is a bit bizarre.

That said, the locales are exquisitely detailed and the bureaucratic procedure and politics are illuminating. This series of books is for readers who appreciate detail and in-depth portrayal of the missions.

I think the author is intent on destroying the whole series with his tiresomely overdone, repetitive, repetitive (did I mention repetitive?) device of the Co-President being paranoid about Geary being or becoming the Black Jack of legend. I had hoped that after overdoing it monumentally in the second book he might give it a rest in this third, but no. This is really the worst of anything overdone I've ever run across in any published work.

This second book was effectively ruined for me by the author's obsession with ponderously and repetitively going into Geary's and the Co-President's fears that power might go to his head. The only, ONLY part of that that was effective was when he was tempted to have the leader of the mutineers shot. That one scene revealed the danger but all the other instances of his self-doubt and the Co-Presidents accusations were way, way too much. I'm afraid the next book is going to continue with this and I may regret buying it.

This has been one of the richest, greatest epics of sci fi I have ever read. I WANT MORE OF THIS AUTHOR, UNABRIDGED! This author thinks believably out of the box, creating surprising but plausible aliens, characters, scenarios. This is rich stuff, unequaled anywhere else. GIVE US MORE!