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ninj's review against another edition
4.0
So this pretty much wraps up the trilogy, with the 4th book being a post-trilogy book, which was not obvious to me going in.
There's still an awful lot of cool stuff happening to the core characters, but a few plot points and character events just felt a little ... lazy. And they irked me. But there was still so much to enjoy, and a lot of very interesting nuances to the main characters.
There's still an awful lot of cool stuff happening to the core characters, but a few plot points and character events just felt a little ... lazy. And they irked me. But there was still so much to enjoy, and a lot of very interesting nuances to the main characters.
gavreads's review
Empire of Light concludes events started in Stealing Light and continued in Nova War. I say concludes but more it draws an arc to a definitive end but leaving the door open for more stories in this world.
I’ve given high praise to the series so far with phrases like, ‘clever, intelligent, thoughtful, and gripping’ and ‘Gibson has a devious imagination, a sense of bigger picture and a more twists than a corkscrew’. So not a lot to live up to there then.
And does Empire of Light continue that tradition. Yes and no. It’s gripping and I really felt for Dakota in places; I really wanted her to succeed. But we are drawing to the end and all the preparation that has taken place up to now has been leading to this point. So we don’t get a meander through more of Gibson’s mind. Instead we have a gripping race to the finish.
The double-crossing and scheming Trader is shown in a new light, as is Corso and so are the human-piloted Magi ships.
It’s a case of if you’ve read enjoyed Stealing Light and Nova War you’re going to enjoy
Empire of Light. It’s still filled with some nice twists and turns but it’s more focused and narrowed than I remember the earlier books being with less exposure to new things.
Not sure what to add beyond that. If you enjoy a SF series with a lot of energy the Shoal Sequence is one for you.
Gary Gibson’s latest novel is Final Days is out now in hardback/kindle and Empire of Light is out now in paperback/kindle
I’ve given high praise to the series so far with phrases like, ‘clever, intelligent, thoughtful, and gripping’ and ‘Gibson has a devious imagination, a sense of bigger picture and a more twists than a corkscrew’. So not a lot to live up to there then.
And does Empire of Light continue that tradition. Yes and no. It’s gripping and I really felt for Dakota in places; I really wanted her to succeed. But we are drawing to the end and all the preparation that has taken place up to now has been leading to this point. So we don’t get a meander through more of Gibson’s mind. Instead we have a gripping race to the finish.
The double-crossing and scheming Trader is shown in a new light, as is Corso and so are the human-piloted Magi ships.
It’s a case of if you’ve read enjoyed Stealing Light and Nova War you’re going to enjoy
Empire of Light. It’s still filled with some nice twists and turns but it’s more focused and narrowed than I remember the earlier books being with less exposure to new things.
Not sure what to add beyond that. If you enjoy a SF series with a lot of energy the Shoal Sequence is one for you.
Gary Gibson’s latest novel is Final Days is out now in hardback/kindle and Empire of Light is out now in paperback/kindle
menkaur's review
2.0
Apparently, the main character is indestructible, and things like death just delay her. Nevertheless, I like this book better than the 2nd book of the sequence, although at times I considered starting another book instead.
The sense of wonder is gone. Now they've found a multi-dimensional artifact and want to use it to destroy the Emissaries' war capabilities. As usual, everybody wants to hinder them in their great task (including humans and all-knowing-shoal). That's about it to the book's plot
The sense of wonder is gone. Now they've found a multi-dimensional artifact and want to use it to destroy the Emissaries' war capabilities. As usual, everybody wants to hinder them in their great task (including humans and all-knowing-shoal). That's about it to the book's plot
leighwright's review
3.0
An enjoyable end to this space opera trilogy. After some consideration, I'm giving this 3 stars. I like this series and would love to read more books set in this universe - in fact there is one more, and I'll be reading it before too long - so the 3 stars is a firm "I like it" rather than "it's was ok". But this third book in "The Shoal Sequence" didn't quite merit 4 stars, whereas the second book did.
In conclusion, I would recommend this series for sci-fi fans, especially space opera and alien geeks (the alien species in this series are way cool, and probably the best thing about it). I'll definitely be searching out other and future works from Gary Gibson as well.
In conclusion, I would recommend this series for sci-fi fans, especially space opera and alien geeks (the alien species in this series are way cool, and probably the best thing about it). I'll definitely be searching out other and future works from Gary Gibson as well.
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