And then for those who have, and thus don’t need to heed this SPOILER WARNING, what is The Shattered Skies about, and how does it connect to The Cruel Stars?
The Shattered Skies kicks off a couple of weeks after the boss battle at the end of The Cruel Stars. We catch up with our heroes hauling ass across the Outer Volume, trying to stay ahead of the invading enemy. But these fascists are faster-than-light. So good luck with that.
In part, The Shattered Skies is about consequences. A lot of shit goes down in that first book, and people have to pay for it now. But it’s also about unfolding the wider story-world like a big old piece of narrative origami. We saw one lousy meat-hacked space zombie in the first book. We get to see what that looks like on a much bigger canvas in Skies. We also get to meet the former enemies of the Armadalan Commonwealth, i.e. the Javan Empire, and some new bad guys in The Combine — the same corporate oligarchy which imprisoned Lucinda’s father on a debtor’s colony.
Also, McLennan does a lot of swearing, because it’s fun to listen to him swear. And the Sturm get a little more humanized, even though they are inhuman brutes.
The book’s finally out in the US (and the poor, annexed nation of Canadia) so I’ll do a mail from here tomorrow.
I look forward to a fictionalised Mytilene debate (sans jokes about revolting Lesbians which are rather less funny than they were to all-boy school students 40 years ago)
Seeing i had the covid last week i'm waiting to get into town to my bookstore for this. Technically the good ol gov says i can wander around town since Monday, but being a bit cautious. Also been musing about all these supply chain issues and the link to the end of days books.
I do love this trilogy. Review(s) soon.
You can so see Capaldi as MacLennan, that comes through loud and clear in both books 😍
I look forward to a fictionalised Mytilene debate (sans jokes about revolting Lesbians which are rather less funny than they were to all-boy school students 40 years ago)
Seeing i had the covid last week i'm waiting to get into town to my bookstore for this. Technically the good ol gov says i can wander around town since Monday, but being a bit cautious. Also been musing about all these supply chain issues and the link to the end of days books.