Michael Z. Williamson

Well, I suppose you might like this if you are a libertarian extremist who can't get enough red meat. For the rest of us, this is a frustratingly preachy book that contains lots of politics and libertarian wish fulfillment but frequently forgets to, well, tell a story.

The target audience seems to be geeky young guys who just read Ayn Rand. It's basically a valentine to liberarianism; the good guys are a libertarian society that can do no wrong (and, of course, libertarian-ism is the answer to every human problem ever seen); the bad guys are a straw-man caricature of modern capitalism. There's lots of loving description of military equipment. And the women are all loose and have lots of sex with everyone. The libertarian society that's supposed to be the be-all and end-all of politics is not very plausible; for instance, as you read, see if you can tell how the society deals with kids and the elderly. Anyway, target audience: geeky young guys who can't get enough Ayn Rand; it's certainly not for people who like any amount of nuance or subtlety in their reading.

Sadly, the book is not very entertaining. The characters are boring. The plot doesn't get started until halfway through this already very long book, and even then it's just weak military SF without any particularly interesting tactics, strategy, or cleverness. Here's a tip: if you read the book, skip the first 25 chapters and start at chapter 26 (yes, that's page 365 in the paperback version). You won't miss much, and this will jump you into the start of the military action. But better yet, don't bother; the book isn't worth your time.… (meer)

A diplomatic process tome with none of the fire of the previous books.

As a third book in the series this is a departure from the keen military zeitgeist of the proceeding books. It is a process tome on first contact diplomacy. As the young Chinran is present but hardly seen, I kept mentally filling in on her unwritten adventures with the Ishkul -- to bad Williamson didn't record them!
As I like process books al la Heinlein and Weber, I found this one a mediocre attempt, merely a filler in the Freehold saga.… (meer)