A good read, and so far a good series. It wasn't as good as the first book, and the battle scenes and description were sometimes confusing. Especially when talking about the terrain - it was difficult to picture sometimes. I thought that it was a big twist though. I did not expect Bosco to treat Cale the way he did. I hope the 3rd book can tie it all together, because the end of this book leaves you wanting more. It's funny. The plot I would give a 3 (I can handle military strategy pretty well for a girl, I think, but usually not almost a whole book centered on it) and the author a shining 5. He is so clever, funny, creative, well-read and just hilarious. Allusions abound. He's taken the world- history, geography, culture, literature, ideologies, sayings and idioms, etymologies, etc.- and cut the stack and shuffled it about a bit, and the kooky result makes for some of the most fun writing I've come across in a while. Ex. The group of people called the Laconics have military traditions obviously based on the Spartans, British names (including hyphenation), and of course are not laconic at all nor stern and stoic when they're not fighting. In fact, they rather sound like someone's amiable British uncle. I feel almost idiotic about how often I'm grinning while reading these books. And that's pretty odd considering the series is basically about a dark, murderous teenage boy, crazy hardcore religious fanatics, and mass murder. Yeah, Paul Hoffman is just that awesome of a writer and there is no way I am not reading anything he ever publishes. Oh, and his vocabulary is just so creatively chosen- he uses the most arcane synonyms. No one is writing like this.
What do You think about As Quatro Últimas Coisas (2011)?
Ugh - such a different direction and feel compared to first. Not a fan.
—savana
