Fantastic addition to the series! Lots of action and twists and turns. Any fan of the series will love this book. ( )

Being that this is the 8th book in a series, the immediate question to be asked is: Can this be read on it's own, as a stand-alone, or as an entry point to the series? And, unlike some series, this is a series that seems to have books like that . . . but this isn't one of them. This is a book that ties in all of the previous books in the series and so it is highly recommended to read this book 8th (and this includes the shorter Vellmar book (which I mention because shorter works can sometimes be left out of the 'read everything before this one' recommendations)).

So what's this one about? Well, like many of the books in this series, the book starts out following the point of view of two people not previously seen in the series (and/or previous side characters, though here they are new). The book start off vaguely oddly for a LGBT book - at least I had that thought. First 25%, give or take 10%, of the book alternates between a man - one of the despised invaders (and someone presumably heterosexual, though it was never confirmed), and a woman, an Alsean, in a heterosexual relationship with a man.

The invader guy is one of those . . . . how the bloody hell do I talk about this book without spoilers being revealed? Well, the guy and some others are trying to live life's and stuff and that's what his part is about; while the Alsean woman is the highest level person in the builders guild who once was friend(ly?) with the head Alsean, but the events of the series that unfolded unfolded in a way that causes her to be bitter with and disrespectful of Lancer Tal. And her story unfolds for a while at the beginning of the book before becoming much more of a side story through most of the rest of the book.

The book is mostly, despite the beginning, about those characters meet before. I'd name names, but really, I wish to just leap into: and, to a large extent, about Bondlancer Salomen Opah. Someone who spoiler and spoiler, so leads an uprising to overturn this social injustice, an uprising that includes her being on opposite sides of Laner Tal.

A quite good book. One I rated 4.75, or put it onto that shelf, at least, when I finished reading. I suspect I did so, instead of putting on 5 star shelf, because of all that stuff from the point of view of characters never before seen. Neat enough story but . . . frankly I could have lived without being in their point of view (at least the alien man's point of view).

Rating: 4.75

May 24 2019 ( )