Points of Impact

Originale : Cette fois, on se retrouve avec un livre de transition. Beaucoup de passages ne sont là que pour amener le livre suivant et l'on découvre la tournure que pourrait prendre la guerre contre les Lankies dans le futur. Ça reste un bon livre mais si vous êtes là pour l'action, vous serez déçus. Surtout après la colossale bataille de Mars.

Relecture : Pas grand chose de plus à dire que la fois précédente.

Je garde à l'esprit cette idée de livre de transition. L'auteur mets en place ses nouvelles cartes et il ne les jouera que durant le prochain tour. A tel point qu'on retourne même à certains endroits bien connus.

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Original: This time, we find ourselves with a transitional book. Many passages are there only to lead to the next book and we discover the turn that the war against the Lankies could take in the future. It's still a good book but if you're here for the action, you'll be disappointed. Especially after the colossal Battle of Mars.

Rereading: Not much more to say than the previous time.

I keep this transition book idea in mind. The author sets up his new cards and will only play them during the next round. So much so that we even return to some well-known places.

Executive Summary: I originally gave this book 4 stars when I finished, but having time to reflect on it, I dropped it by a star (maybe we'll call it a 3.5?) because very little actually happened.

Audiobook: Luke Daniels continues to be one of my favorite narrators. Another fantastic job.

Full Review
Marko Kloos first came to my attention when he was nominated for a Hugo and dropped out due to controversy surrounding that nomination. He earned a lot of respect from me for his decision and put this series on my radar.

I'm not a big military fiction fan, but he does a good job of it. These books are always fun, and light. The fights are action packed, the technology is cool and the stakes are high. This book was no different.

I was excited coming into this book because I read (or thought I did) this would be the final book, and I was looking forward to wrapping up events of the series. It is for that reason that I was totally surprised that this wasn't in fact the final book. In fact the more I reflected on the book after finishing it, very little actually happened.

I really like the characters in this book. That wasn't always the case. Andrew wasn't a very good person at the start of the series. He's had a lot of growth. This book isn't different. We get into the effects of PTSD, something I don't recall being addressed in the other military fiction I've read.

However when all is said and done, the last few books have been proceeding at a bit of a crawl. The books have become a bit formulaic and I find myself hoping things will be wrapped in the next book.

That said, I still enjoyed listening to this book and I'll pick up the next one just as soon as it's out.

Perhaps some mild spoilers for previous books.

The previous book was pretty much non-stop action in the battle of Mars. This one, however, is slower paced. Our heroes get reassigned and spend some time training on new weapons and learning new systems and tactics. Andrew and Halley even get a little badly needed personal time. That cannot last of course. Eventually, all hell breaks loose with an all-out Lanky attack on the Formahault System.
In this book, humans have made some progress in learning how to fight the Lankies. But, we still learn nothing about the Lanky history, motivation, biology, economy, etc. Nada. Presumably someone is working on such things, but it seems Andrew isn't in the need-to-know loop.
Perhaps a little weaker than some of the earlier books, but still a solid read. 3.5 stars rounded up.