Raven Stratagem

Machineries of Empire, Book 2

De: Yoon Ha Lee

Narrado por: Emily Woo Zeller

Captain Kel Cheris is possessed by a long-dead traitor general. Together they must face the rivalries of the hexarchate and a potentially devastating invasion.

When the hexarchate's gifted young captain, Kel Cheris, summoned the ghost of the long-dead General Shuos Jedao to help her put down a rebellion, she didn't reckon on his breaking free of centuries of imprisonment - and possessing her. Even worse, the enemy Hafn are invading, and Jedao takes over General Kel Khiruev's fleet, which was tasked with stopping them.

Only one of Khiruev's subordinates, Lieutenant Colonel Kel Brezan, seems to be able to resist the influence of the brilliant but psychotic Jedao. Jedao claims to be interested in defending the hexarchate, but can Khiruev or Brezan trust him? For that matter, will the hexarchate's masters wipe out the entire fleet to destroy the rogue general?

©2016 Yoon Ha Lee (P)2017 Recorded Books

Even better than Ninefox Gambit

Our story begins where Ninefox Gambit left off: The mad revenant, Shuos Jedao, has seized control of the body of Captain Kel Cheris, and gone on to seize command of General Khiruev's swarm, relying on formation instinct and the fact that Kel Command is far away. He quickly offloads everyone who can't be controlled by formation instinct--the non-Kel, and Lt. Colonel Kel Brezen, who is a crashhawk, one of the rare Kel in whom formation instinct didn't take.

Jedao proceeds to do seemingly exactly what Kel Command would want him to do: defend the hexarchate against the Hafn invasion. Khiruev has, at least in theory, two problems. The first iw whether Jedao can really be trusted to defend the hexarchate as he seems to intend. The other is whether Kel Command can be trusted to let them do it, or will instead sacrifice the entire swarm to eliminate the problem of Shuos Jedao.

Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Brezen finds his way back to Kel Command and is sent out on a new mission: Promoted to High General, and sent out with an agent of yet another faction, able to enthrall the opposite sex, with the goal of taking back the swarm from Jedao--but not till after he's defeated the Hafn, if that's really what he's doing.

The question is, what is Jedao really up to?

This isn't just a great follow-up to Ninefox Gambit. It's a better, stronger, and at the same time more accessible book.

Highly recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

Excellent narration

I read the first book in this series and then listened to this one. Although I think I might have been a bit lost had I not started with a written reference, the narration on this was very easy to follow, with close detail to pronunciation and the tone of the passage. The plot was an excellent, thoughtful continuation of the first book as well, but I am really leaving the review of the narrator.

Very good sequel

Very good sequel. I actually enjoyed it more than Ninefox Gambit. Before reading it, I ran across reviews complaining that we weren't getting Cheris-Jedao's viewpoint, but, imo, that would have revealed too much, too soon. The viewpoints that we do get are quite enjoyable, most especially for trying to figure out what Jedao is actually up to.

I struggled a bit with the technological system in the first book. It comes up a bit less here, but I was heartened to see Yoon Ha Lee refer to it as 'magic', which makes it easier to tolerate. Trying to wrap my head around any remotely scientific way of the calendar affecting technology made the first book slow going for me.

My favorite details were the small hints that other characters observed about Jedao, as well as some deliberate subterfuge.

#SF #magic #xanatos #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

excellent

great plot facinating scenery and world building perfect narration looking forward to third book to buy

absolutely wonderful

The best reader outside of William Hurt.
A very fresh sequel to a fresh series.