Reviews

The story stars after the battle of alsea.
Lancer andira tal is heartbroken after the departure of ekatya and Lynn because she share the tyree bond.
Andira has a crush on ekatya.
She takes a vacation and meet darzen fosta under disguise.
The affair did not last because of the lies.
The insane voloth soilders are given euthanasia.
Remaining voloth are given land to live in blacksun.
Someone is plotting against tal.(spinner and challenger)
New delegate salomen opah is introduced from producer's caste.
Matter printer is alien technology.
Opah faction is afraid it will destroy producer caste.
With no solution, tal challenged opah to accompany opah to her holding for a moon that's producer's challenge.
Tal goes to holding and spent time with opah. Their they discover that they are tyrees and opah is a high empath. They are special kind of tyrees, once bonded cannot be broken. They will feel each other all the time. They will be without the front.
After sharing they become one and if one is mortally wounded other can also suffer the same. Proxy assassination.
That's why they are delaying sharing
Darzen fosta is economist and creating obstacles for tal.
We did not find spinner and challenger real name in this one. Herot, salomen's brother does not like tal.
In the end, Herot's friend made assassination attempt on tal. Tal becomes badly injured and they shared the Sharing to find the culprit. Herot is missing.

seasaltrose's review

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emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

sarah_d's review

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adventurous emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

leesarpel's review

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4.0

After repelling an alien invasion, Alsea’s leader Andira Tal now has the really hard work to deal with. Plenty of veterans and other civilians question her methods used to defend Alsea. She has squabbling castes who have differing views on what to do with the matter printers Alsea now has access to. How and when should they be introduced into the economy? The producers are afraid it will destroy their livelihoods. One such producer issues a challenge to Tal to live as a field hand for a month. Tal agrees, and finds new respect for the producers, and a chance at a life-changing love. However, a villain conspires to control Tal, and is just waiting for her to fall into his trap. My squees Delancey does an amazing job of describing landscapes and pageantry. The reader experiences so many aspects of society: farming, politics, the prison system, how castes work, and ceremonial swordfighting. Everything feels like it’s been carefully thought out: Alsea is a complete and detailed world, and its struggles felt convincing to me. The romance builds slowly, and the relationship between Tal and her belle is a slow build from grudging respect to love as they interact with each other more and see beyond their preconceptions of who the other is. Tal’s lady is more than a match for the leader of Alsea- according to Tal herself! Speaking of Tal’s lady, so many characters have awesome and original names. They’re pleasant sounds in my mind. Early on, Delancey handles questions of prisoners of war, euthanasia, and the unexpected victims of warfare. There’s a lot to consider here, given the events of The Caphenon, and all the consequences of war and alien contact are given due consideration. My grumbles I’m somewhat allergic to the ‘soul mates’ trope. Although Delancey handles the relationship well, with the women figuring out they would have bonded without divine intervention, it’s something that tweaks me in any circumstance. This book is long and ends on a cliffhanger. The pace is slowed down by occasional vignettes about Tal’s adversary. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find much to latch on about the villain. He’s vague about his machinations and his motivations seem pretty simple. I would have liked some more details (like his pet rabbit or something) about him to make him more intriguing to me. Read The Caphenon before reading this. It will make the issues surrounding the Voloth and Tal’s despondence at the beginning of the book much clearer. I’ll definitely read Without a Front II: The Warrior’s Challenge.

velvetvan's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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