Machiko is highly placed in the Green Serpent Guard, the elite security force of the Nagato Corporation. But when the GSG itself becomes a target, she is quickly promoted to its head, answering directly to the Chairman. Now it will be up to her to find who is attacking the corp so important to her that she considers it higher than family. Who and why. Or else that corp might soon cease to exist.
For fifty pages or so I really enjoyed this story. Smith once again manages to perfectly portray an alien mindset - in this case, that of the very Japanese. Honor, duty, and respect are always at the forefront of Machiko's mind, and the author actually manages to make it not feel imposed or any sort of act. This truly how Machiko thinks, and it feels normal and right.
And so long as the story focuses on her, her actions and her worries, the story is good, sometimes even very good. Her struggle to find an enemy and neutralize it was intriguing, thanks in large part to that alien way of thinking. Machiko's self-control intertwines with her self-doubt to make her a fascinating character.
But whenever the tale strays away from her, things fall apart. Smith includes Angel, a bit character from another of his novels, and she continues to have both bad luck and poor judgement. But she's not actually important. She is another minor character here, and she contributes nothing to the telling of the story. And one of the villains is almost a carbon copy of an earlier antagonist of Smith's. The same mental magic, the same fanaticism, the same personality. The only real difference is at whom he aims his ire. And, of course, there is the omnipresent present tense, a style Smith definitely likes. Sometimes it works, such as where it helps emphsize Machiko's way of thinking, but most other times it does not.
In general, I enjoyed this one. The main plot is suitably machiavellian, and the main character makes for an entertaining read. I just wish the author had stuck with her and not tossed in the other viewpoints. Instead of offering insight into her enemy's actions or motives they just wasted my time and patience.
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