 |
Profiteer | Rating | |
| B | |||
| S. Andrew Swann | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| Hostile Takeover | Forests of the Night, Emperors of Twilight, Specters of the Dawn, Fearful Symmetries, Profiteer, Partisian, Revolutionary | ||
It's three or four centuries after the events in the Moreau Series, and mankind has moved out to the stars. The Confederation rules the five branches of human politics, carefully keeping order through the Terran Exectuive Council - a kind of combination military branch and intelligence organization. But one planet lies outside the Confederation's boundaries: Bakunin. There, anarchy reigns in a peculiar equilibrium. But now the TEC is invading Bakunin, and it starts with the takeover of Dominc Magnus' arms corporation. And the invading forces are led by the psychopathic Colonel Klaus Dacham, who seems to have a personal vendetta against Dominic.
Unlike the Moreau Series, this is not portrayed at all as a mystery. The major players generally know what's going on, though not always entirely. They know who is calling the shots and at least part of why. The plot is not so much uncovering what is going on as it it coping with it. Dominic has lost his corporate and financial base, but refuses to give in to the TEC forces. Yet what can he do against them? Well, first he needs finances, and then he needs a loyal core of people to help him. Or is it the other way around?
Also unlike the Moreau Series, the cast of characters is mostly human. Things are still interesting, however, and the people are still very believable. They are clearly different from each other - it is not a case of everyone being identical personalities in different bodies. One is emotional, one is not, one is fatherly, et cetera. They are all consistent, and yet varied enough to not seem two-dimensional.
The pace is something of a roller-coaster. At times, like during the initial phases of the invasion, it is pleasantly quick and full of action. At other times it is a bit slower. At times it almost starts to drag, but manages to avoid it. My interest was held throughout the story.
Still, my story never really grabbed me and never let go, as most of the books in the Moreau Series did. I'm unfortunately unable to specify exactly how it is worse than those books, but somehow it is. This is a good book, the start of a good story, but it falls a little short of being a great book.
| By Title | By Author | By Rank |