Fleet of Knives: An Embers of War Novel

The Embers of War Series, Book 2

By: Gareth L. Powell

Narrated by: Nicol Zanzarella, Amy Landon, Soneela Nankani, Natasha Soudek, Joe Hempel

Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

From award-winning author Gareth L. Powell comes the second book in the critically acclaimed Embers of War space opera series.

The former warship Trouble Dog and her crew of misfits is called upon by the House of Reclamation to investigate a distress call from the human starship the Lucy's Ghost. Her crew abandon their crippled ship and seek refuge aboard an abandoned, slower-than-light generation ship launched 10,000 years before by an alien race. However, the enormous ship contains deadly secrets of its own.

Recovered war criminal Ona Sudak faces a firing squad for her actions in the Archipelago War. But, at the last moment, she is smuggled out of her high-security prison. The Marble Armada has called for her to accompany its ships as observer and liaison as it spreads itself across the human Generality, enforcing the peace at all costs. The alien ships will not tolerate resistance, and all dissenters are met with overwhelming and implacable force. Then her vessel intercepts messages from the House of Reclamation and decides the Trouble Dog has a capacity for violence which cannot be allowed to endure.

As the Trouble Dog and her crew fight to save the crew of the Lucy's Ghost, the ship finds herself caught between chaotic alien monsters on one side and, on the other, destruction at the hands of the Marble Armada.

©2019 Gareth L. Powell (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

l love this book, this series!

A great story, and wonderful voice acting. I am looking for book 3! Thank You!

Second installment - already got boring

Very unfortunately, the seemingly clear plot line of the first volume is getting ever more blurry the longer the second volume continues. Because of that, in the end, my sympathy with and investment in the characters was approaching zero - I will not read the third part, sorry. I think the author lost the story and just wrote on for the submission/money’s sake...

The narration / voice acting is actually better with this volume - someone may have told the reader of The Poet about her misplaced emphases, and that annoyance went away, too...

A pretty good follow-up

Not as great as Embers of War but a pretty good follow up. It was great to continue following the adventures of Sal Constanz and the Troubled Dog crew. Some of the new characters are not as developed and I found Ona Sudak's decision making to make little sense...but i guess every story needs an infuriating villain! Looking forward to book 3.

I really enjoyed this story.

it takes a few "chapters" to get into but I really like the arcs and the way that this story is going. always another turn, always suspense.

Good characters

Good story. It repeats points over and over. Great characters. The many voices and differences in characters makes it really a easy listening.

dog brain pc

loved seeing modern author explore the idea of something cool like human dog brain hybrid computer systems and I want to go to that six legged guys homeworld and pick up a pack of them !

Beautiful Cover & Great Narration!

This has a beautiful cover image and great narration. Unfortunately for me, the story was what was lacking. It seemed to contradict things that were established in the previous book. The book also moved rather slow, unlike the previous. I wanted more to happen and yet the little that did, didn't really conclude in this book.
If you read the first one, check this one out for yourself. Maybe it's just me but something was missing from this one and it didn't pull me in. One part in particular really just made me flat out mad.

Better than first book.

I liked the turn of the story arc. Somewhat predictable and still too much recap but I still like the story and the writing.

not disappointed very impressed

as the saga continues.... the stresses of war and Peace are hard this is an awesome novel I love how the author put this all together great performance great storyline cannot wait for the next book.

A degree of AI stubbornness

Gareth L Powell's Fleet of Knives is the second installment in his Embers of War series. The TroubleDog is back on task, this time attempting to rescue a disabled ship in alien space that was salvaging a derelict vessel. Meanwhile Ona Sudak is rescued from her death sentence at the request of the marble armada and unknowingly initiates the mission which in typical stringent AI programming fashion decides to keep the peace by destroying all war vessels and doing away with interstellar travel. At the same time, an evil entity known to the marble armada from another dimension has now joined the party.

Powell overreaches a bit here. The trope here of AI entities deciding that the best way to prevent war is to destroy and kill anything possibly relevant for warfare undercuts the sophisticated nature of the AI entity. Furthermore, when in the face of a clearly superior enemy to continue to defang potential allies is the height of idiocy. Finally, the need for real human eyes suggests that their science is not advanced enough to figure out what the eye is perceiving and that an organ such as an eye is beyond cloning / 3D printing possibilities. Lastly, there's a bit too much lamentation and remonstration over past actions by many of the characters that is almost asking for a "suck it up, snowflake" comment.

Given the shifting perspectives throughout the tale, the ensemble cast of narrators was a wise decision and adds positively to the pace and mood.