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Raven Strategem

3/5. Sequel to Ninefox Gambit. More military/intrigue scifi set in a really amazing universe where technology runs on exotic effects created by consensus reality and propped up by mass violence.

One of those books I enjoyed while reading, and then less so whenever I put it down. It falls solidly into that ‘horrible people do their best to destroy each other, also horribly’ genre, which is hit-or-miss for me. And I was not very interested in what this book seemed to be interested in, i.e. the rogue (male) genius genocidal maniac that the system created and that might be its downfall. More of that ‘how we become horrible to fight the horrible thing’ stuff. But then spoiler happened and hrm, okay, that is somewhat more interesting than anticipated.

I do blame the narrator of the audio for some of this. She has a particularly bad approach to female characters. A lot of narrators do, men and women both, but she delivers every line of dialogue attributed to a woman in this simpering, affected tone that is just awful.

Mostly, though, I find the worldbuilding intriguing. I would almost rather read a collection of shorts set in this universe.

Content notes: See above re mass violence and genocide. Also torture, but surprisingly little of that.

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