{"id":436,"date":"2017-11-01T21:33:17","date_gmt":"2017-11-01T11:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jcreid.net\/blog\/?p=436"},"modified":"2017-11-01T21:33:17","modified_gmt":"2017-11-01T11:33:17","slug":"reviews-raven-stratagem-by-yoon-ha-lee-plus-the-battle-of-candle-arc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jcreid.net\/blog\/2017\/11\/01\/reviews-raven-stratagem-by-yoon-ha-lee-plus-the-battle-of-candle-arc\/","title":{"rendered":"Reviews – Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee (Plus The Battle of Candle Arc)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sequel to Ninefox Gambit<\/a>\/Book 2 of the Machineries of Empire Trilogy<\/em><\/p>\n

I thought Ninefox Gambit<\/a><\/em> was brilliant and strange, if a little obtuse.\u00a0 With all the strange technology and bizarre calendar tricks out of the way, Raven Stratagem feels like a chance for Yoon Ha Lee to cut loose and have fun.\u00a0 True, some of the novelty of the setting has worn off, though the introduction of the Hafn and the utter confusion of the Hexarchy at the naturalistic based exotic technology mitigates the blow somewhat.\u00a0 What it is replaced with however is a breezy sense of momentum, even as soldiers are massacred and empires destabilized.<\/p>\n

This is not to say the book is dumbed down.\u00a0 The story immediately subverts the ending of the previous novel, expecting you to keep up without missing a beat.\u00a0 At the same time it mixes\u00a0 political machinations with military strategy, giving us more incite into the political elite of the Hexarchy and the concerns of the people who rule an empire that literally runs on torture and murder.\u00a0 Similarly, the characters are, if anything, more compelling than the previous book, from Jedao\/Cheris through to an errant shoplifter.<\/p>\n

Somethings don’t quite work – particularly Jedao’s almost supernatural ability to predict the Hafn behaviour, but these are minor nitpicks in a very fun book.<\/p>\n

Ninefox Gambit was great, Raven Stratagem suggests that the Machineries of Empire will be great too.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Battle of Candle Arc<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n

A novella depicting Shuos Jedao’s greatest victory.<\/p>\n

This was recommended to me by Greg Hullender<\/a> as a good introduction to the Hexarchy, and it certainly is that.\u00a0 It gives us insight into Jedao’s character, including how he wins battles, and more importantly, it provides a very clear introduction to the interconnectedness of ritual, calendar and technology in the setting.\u00a0 If you want to know if Yoon Ha Lee’s novels are for you, it represents a really good place to start, and yet…and yet I’m glad I read it after Ninefox Gambit.\u00a0 Part of what I loved about Ninefox Gambit was the sense of discovery that came from being dropped in a world with rigid, yet different rules, and running to keep up: if I’d read this first, I would have found his first novel easier to follow, but less engaging.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sequel to Ninefox Gambit<\/a>\/Book 2 of the Machineries of Empire Trilogy<\/em><\/p>\n

I thought Ninefox Gambit<\/a><\/em> was brilliant and strange, if a little obtuse. With all the strange technology and bizarre calendar tricks out of the way, Raven Stratagem feels like a chance for Yoon Ha Lee to cut loose and have fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jcreid.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jcreid.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jcreid.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcreid.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcreid.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcreid.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":441,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcreid.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436\/revisions\/441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcreid.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jcreid.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcreid.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jcreid.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}