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Choose Your Enemies Carefully | Rating | |
| B | |||
| Robert N. Charrette | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| Shadowrun: Secrets of Power | Never Deal with a Dragon, Choose Your Enemies Carefully, Find Your Own Truth, 2XS, Changeling, Never Trust an Elf, Into the Shadows, Streets of Blood, Shadowplay, Night's Pawn, Striper Assassin, Lone Wolf, Fade to Black, Nosferatu, Burning Bright, Who Hunts the Hunter, House of the Sun, Worlds Without End, Just Compensation, Black Madonna, Preying for Keeps, Dead Air, The Lucifer Deck, Steel Rain, Shadowboxer, Headhunters, Stranger Souls, Clockwork Assylum, Beyond the Pale, Blood Sport, Technobabel, Wolf and Raven, Psychotrope, The Terminus Experiment, Run Hard, Die Fast, Crossroads, The Forever Drug, Ragnarock, Tails You Lose, The Burning Time, Born to Run, Poison Agendas, Fallen Angels, Drops of Corruption, Aftershock, A Fistful of Data | ||
Sam is now a part of the shadow world, performing runs to accrue capital in order to persue his main quest: to find his sister, Janice, who was effectively banished from Japan when she goblinized into an orc. His main partner is the elf, Dodger, who rates among the best in the digital world of the Matrix. Unfortunately, there are other issues that must be taken care of. A group of druids in England are hoping to overthrow the current, corp-friendly government and install their own in an attempt to help heal the earth. A noble goal, but their means to that end are more than a little questionable. Especially since one of their number is a wendigo, a metahuman variety that requires human flesh to survive. And now a second wendigo has joined the cabal. Her name is Janice...
In a way, this book struck me as sort of unneccesary. I got the feeling that this book could have been somehow consolidated with the first or the third, and the only reason this unfolded as it did was to show how Shadowrun sees the future in Great Britain. On the other hand, this book is a rather vital transition from the technologically-oriented first story to a more magical tale. This is fairly important, as Sam has decided to pursue his magical talents. Thus, this middle book in the trilogy serves a vital role in the changing themes across the series.
And yes, that sounds pretentious. It's also true.
As in the first book, though, the motives of Sam's allies are questionable. Sam, of course, is out for justice, and Hart has a contract. But none of the other shadowrunners do, and even Hart is willing to go outside the boundaries of what is needed to fulfill her obligations. Friendship or future favors are just not enough to justify the risk and expense of Sam's assaults on the druid circle, and Sam has little money to offer. But somehow he gets help, good help.
And about three-quarters of the way through the book, a member of their team is captured by the bad guys. The actual catch isn't shown. The man just sudden;y is being interrogated, mere pages after walking around free and unmolested. The transition is really quite jarring. For that matter, I'm not entirely sure why Charrette even used the plot point, as pretty much nothing comes of it. It could have been left out, the character remaining with Sam's people the whole time, without significantly altering the plot. And if it was included, at least show the capture, so it doesn't come from nowhere!
Overall, I liked this one a little bit less. Some of the overal concepts of how Brittain and Ireland ended up in 2050 are a bit unlikely, even when you consider the addition of magic. All in all, it's not a bad book, and it does its part well enough. It certainly furthers the story of Sam's quest, deepens Sam's character, and shows more of the world of 2050 than just the area around Seattle. In some ways, though, I just didn't like it. The coincidences involved with Sam and his sister and the Hidden Circle all crossing paths are a bit too large for my tastes, and there are the flaws I mentioned earlier as well. Still, it's a good story, competently done. It's just not a spectacular piece of fiction, is all.
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