A book/series review in brief.
So, for Christmas I got Judgement at Proteus, the very last of Timothy Zahn's Quadrail series. I... well, I actually can't tell you much about the plot without spoiling at least book one. I've been following the series since about '08 or so: waiting for installments is actually the reason I've read so much of Zahn's other stuff. (Icarus Hunt is a particular favorite, but for people who prefer urban science-fantasy to space travel, The Green and The Grey is pretty darn awesome.)
In a nutshell, half of the reason that you should read the Quadrail series is that if you like thrillers, mysteries, noir, or sci-fi in any capacity, you won't be disappointed. (Unless you really wanted Firefly. It's not Firefly. Nobody gets a ship. Actually, it has space trains. I kid you not, there are trains in space, and it's not as ridiculous as I'm making it sound.) It's got a great thriller/detective noir protagonist in Frank Compton, the man who always has a plan, plenty of memorable allies, old contacts, and antagonists, lots of yummy worldbuilding, and fight scenes. If you want a protagonist who uses their brain in fight scenes, go for Zahn - but if you want fight scenes that go on despite the best efforts of a hypertechnical alien equivalent to the TSA at their most prodding, make sure you stop on the Quadrail. Oh, and there's Bayta, whose presence throughout the series was amazing and very, very ship worthy. She's awesome, and her partnership with Frank was highly refreshing - when they get around to the respect and trust bit, they complement each other perfectly.
Oh, and whenever you think a book is over, you get to check the page count and realize that you've been had - there's more going on! Half the fun is trying to pick up on everything when Compton does, rather than when he lets on what he's learned. Which could be several books down the line. Zahn pulls the unreliable first person narrator in a lot of books, but the Quadrail series turns it up to eleven.
Plus, there's five books at three hundred odd pages apiece - they can be picked up in a small bundle and then read at any speed. :D
In a nutshell, half of the reason that you should read the Quadrail series is that if you like thrillers, mysteries, noir, or sci-fi in any capacity, you won't be disappointed. (Unless you really wanted Firefly. It's not Firefly. Nobody gets a ship. Actually, it has space trains. I kid you not, there are trains in space, and it's not as ridiculous as I'm making it sound.) It's got a great thriller/detective noir protagonist in Frank Compton, the man who always has a plan, plenty of memorable allies, old contacts, and antagonists, lots of yummy worldbuilding, and fight scenes. If you want a protagonist who uses their brain in fight scenes, go for Zahn - but if you want fight scenes that go on despite the best efforts of a hypertechnical alien equivalent to the TSA at their most prodding, make sure you stop on the Quadrail. Oh, and there's Bayta, whose presence throughout the series was amazing and very, very ship worthy. She's awesome, and her partnership with Frank was highly refreshing - when they get around to the respect and trust bit, they complement each other perfectly.
Oh, and whenever you think a book is over, you get to check the page count and realize that you've been had - there's more going on! Half the fun is trying to pick up on everything when Compton does, rather than when he lets on what he's learned. Which could be several books down the line. Zahn pulls the unreliable first person narrator in a lot of books, but the Quadrail series turns it up to eleven.
Plus, there's five books at three hundred odd pages apiece - they can be picked up in a small bundle and then read at any speed. :D