The Night of the Swarm
(Chathrand Voyage #5 ?)
by Robert V.S. Redick
fantasy
copyright 2012
read a bit in February 2018
rated 3/10: so bad(*) it's embarrassing
... (*) see end of review
I started reading and thought, That's interesting, a book which starts with the death of a major villain. Then I realised... the short Prologue is, in fact, a rehash of the final pages of five previous books.. *Five* previous books!
Is there a hint on the cover? on the title page? Not where I can see it.
Buy this book at your peril. It is *not* a standalone novel.
Still, I thought, this book is the sort of non-stop action & adventure that needs no logic... that needs no pre-reading... that is good fun whether or not you know who these characters are.
And there are a lot of characters to not know. There are fourteen people (people?) who arrive in the prologue and interact through chapter one. Oh, plus the dead major villain. His head shouts threats and curses as his body is burnt. Somehow, I doubt that death will keep him from a role as major villain in this book.
Then chapter two introduces a whole shipload of extra characters... and chapter three is a rather exciting chapter with a character who was mentioned, in passing, in an earlier chapter. As I understand it, his city may have been destroyed in a previous book. By a "new" villain who we have yet to meet...
And so it goes on. Dozens of characters, all with their separate histories, all -- I guess -- dealt with in detail in earlier books.
Nevertheless... this book is, indeed, non-stop violent nonsense which can be read with no knowledge of who all these people are, nor of what it's all about. Just close your mind and enjoy the action...
Except for chapter two. Where the violence is nasty -- and performed by a person who is in absolute control. This is master-slave stuff, where no-one dares raise a hand in protest. Very unpleasant. And -- as a purely personal thing -- I don't like it.
I stop reading. I won't look for earlier books in the series. And I subtract one rating point for the cheating publisher who did not clearly state that this is book *five* of a series.
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
... Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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"Avoid criticism: say, do and be nothing." … per Ginger Meggs
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