Runo Knows...Crisis of Empire Book Four: Crown of Empire
I hurried up and wrote up book three...for this?
Sigh.
As I mentioned previously, Crown of Empire is the only book of the four that isn't listed as co-written with David Drake. I can understand why. It's not as good as any of the others, it's only 244 pages, and perhaps worst of all, it's just a flat out unsatisfying ending to the series.
Basically, you're following the various possible heirs to the throne. You've got Tira, the daughter of the High Secretary from his first marriage. You have Jessine, the High Secretary's twenty-four year old second wife and her love. And you have Wiley, the oldest son, and, of course, a fop and playboy.
Ignore the third book. Think for a second. Guess which cliches happen where and you win a prize. If you've read more than a bit of science fiction, or fantasy for that matter, you know exactly what's going to happen.
I kind of wonder if maybe just a computer program wrote the book. My vodka martini is helping me get through this though.
You have sabotaged aircars. Beautiful whimpering female relations to powerful people who end up being crack marksmen. True love found on the battlefield. Blah blah blah. It's hard for me to care.
This is a book I read very, very fast - almost entirely in one sitting. Two, I guess - 50 minutes of reading it on the bike at the gym, then a few minutes in my room. Unlike a book like, say, Old Man's War, which I had to read in one sitting because I was that enthralled by it, this was mostly because it was vacuous. Fluff. Barely there. The others at least give a pretense of an "epic" setting - this one barely bothers.
In the end, I'd say the third and the first books are the best. The second comes in after that, and the fourth is a pale imitation of them all.
Sigh.
As I mentioned previously, Crown of Empire is the only book of the four that isn't listed as co-written with David Drake. I can understand why. It's not as good as any of the others, it's only 244 pages, and perhaps worst of all, it's just a flat out unsatisfying ending to the series.
Basically, you're following the various possible heirs to the throne. You've got Tira, the daughter of the High Secretary from his first marriage. You have Jessine, the High Secretary's twenty-four year old second wife and her love. And you have Wiley, the oldest son, and, of course, a fop and playboy.
Ignore the third book. Think for a second. Guess which cliches happen where and you win a prize. If you've read more than a bit of science fiction, or fantasy for that matter, you know exactly what's going to happen.
I kind of wonder if maybe just a computer program wrote the book. My vodka martini is helping me get through this though.
You have sabotaged aircars. Beautiful whimpering female relations to powerful people who end up being crack marksmen. True love found on the battlefield. Blah blah blah. It's hard for me to care.
This is a book I read very, very fast - almost entirely in one sitting. Two, I guess - 50 minutes of reading it on the bike at the gym, then a few minutes in my room. Unlike a book like, say, Old Man's War, which I had to read in one sitting because I was that enthralled by it, this was mostly because it was vacuous. Fluff. Barely there. The others at least give a pretense of an "epic" setting - this one barely bothers.
In the end, I'd say the third and the first books are the best. The second comes in after that, and the fourth is a pale imitation of them all.