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Agent of Destruction | Rating | |
| D | |||
| Rutledge Etheridge | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| N/A | N/A | ||
The setting for this book is odd. Apparently, in the far past (our future) mankind went to the stars in ships. But the people in charge somehow abused those pioneers so badly that they rebelled, and now the planets are downtrodden lumps of dirt held in check by the Gold and Silver Fleets. And the two fleets are at war with each other, so they raid the planets systematically, destroying anything they don't take in order to keep the planets in line. So the planets decide to send in some undercover agents, since one of the things the fleets take is slaves. To this end, Dane is trained and inserted on a raid.
I have several problems with this book. First, the history sounds a bit unlikely. And their portrayal of the Gold Fleet's leadership is particularly laughable. These people are played so incredibly easily that I think I could have been inserted into their midst and managed to arrange for things to fall apart! The Silver Fleet is admittedly a little better, but Dane sticks with that side, and she has the ability to perfectly mimic a person. This is done not as a means of giving false orders, but of anticipating what a person really needs and wants in order to better manipulate them.
Dane's empathy, the portrayal of the fleets and the universe itself is so two-dimensional it's disturbing. The book often seems like it's dully relating what's going on instead of telling a vibrant story with the fate of the galaxy in the hands of one girl. Bleah.
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