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cakegeek's review
3.0
It's good, suffers a bit from setting-up-the-next-book-itis, but still an enjoyable read
pjonsson's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, this is a great second book in the Grand Central Arena series. I’m really happy that I jumped on this series thanks to a recommendation from one of my favorite authors.
The science fiction, with a dash of fantasy, world building was great in the first book and I thought that, given the rich world that was already constructed in that book, the author was more or less done but no. This book continues to expand on this rich world with new creatures, areas, twists and surprises around every corner.
The characters are still great. I really like the main protagonist, Ariane, and DuQuesne. The rest of the characters are very good as well. The new character, Wu Kung or the Monkey King, is a really good new addition.
As usual there are mysteries everywhere our heroes goes in this strange world. A lot of them sooner or later ends up in more or less violent action sequences which are all very well done.
In this installment Ariane also has to deal with the arrogant politicians and bureaucrats back home who, of course, gets a big fart stuck up their arses when Ariane tells them she is the leader of the Faction of Humanity and, effectively, their new leader. Of course Ariane quickly takes them down a notch or two.
As I wrote, there’s plenty of mysteries going around and it is not only DuQuesne that appears to exhibit some “special abilities” in the arena. I am very interested in seeing where all these threads will go in the end. I am, of course really looking forward to the next book. Hopefully some of these threads will be resolved and I also suspect there will some (final?) confrontation between the Faction of Humanity and the Molothos.
Overall, this is one of the most well written and captivating book series that I have read in a long time.
The science fiction, with a dash of fantasy, world building was great in the first book and I thought that, given the rich world that was already constructed in that book, the author was more or less done but no. This book continues to expand on this rich world with new creatures, areas, twists and surprises around every corner.
The characters are still great. I really like the main protagonist, Ariane, and DuQuesne. The rest of the characters are very good as well. The new character, Wu Kung or the Monkey King, is a really good new addition.
As usual there are mysteries everywhere our heroes goes in this strange world. A lot of them sooner or later ends up in more or less violent action sequences which are all very well done.
In this installment Ariane also has to deal with the arrogant politicians and bureaucrats back home who, of course, gets a big fart stuck up their arses when Ariane tells them she is the leader of the Faction of Humanity and, effectively, their new leader. Of course Ariane quickly takes them down a notch or two.
As I wrote, there’s plenty of mysteries going around and it is not only DuQuesne that appears to exhibit some “special abilities” in the arena. I am very interested in seeing where all these threads will go in the end. I am, of course really looking forward to the next book. Hopefully some of these threads will be resolved and I also suspect there will some (final?) confrontation between the Faction of Humanity and the Molothos.
Overall, this is one of the most well written and captivating book series that I have read in a long time.
windchime79's review against another edition
4.0
Just like the first book in this series, Grand Central Arena (which you should read first, if you haven't already), Spheres of Influence is great fun. Both are sci-fi adventures with more than a nod towards the 'golden age' space operas, particularly those written by E.E.'Doc' Smith to which these books play deliberate homage. Spheres of Influence more than lives up to the promise of the preceding novel, maintaining the compelling characters, light tone and interesting plots. And plots there are a-plenty, in the Arena!
I very much hope there will be at least one more book in this series, and will be waiting impatiently to read it!
I very much hope there will be at least one more book in this series, and will be waiting impatiently to read it!
jtone's review
4.0
Another fun space opera read. I hope that Ryk lives a long life and manages to bring this series to a conclusion.
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