Raven Stratagem

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC I think it s safe to say that I m a fanboy of this writer I was blown away by the flashy greatness of the first novel, the quantum perception nature of a whole society versus other whole societies, and especially the absolute craziness of having an undead general in your brain to help you fight impossible battles in space.This one continues in that same vein, but it does so with a heavy dose of mystery and sadness and three other viewpoints while all eyes are focu [...]

4ish stars.An improvement in all areas on the already impressive Ninefox Gambit, reading this makes me glad I gave a second chance to NG The POV characters are much interesting and relevant, the pacing is much consistent and the prose is just as military grade immaculate.This is expansive, unprecedented military space opera done right If that sounds like your jam, go ahead and spread it on thick If you re like me and feel intimidated or if it just isn t your preferred genre, give it a try or t [...]

Extended Review at 1000yearplan 2017 05 17 rI must admit I was shocked and a little disappointed when I got through the first chapter of Raven Stratagem Not because it was bad, mind you it was just that my memory of the first chapter of Ninefox Gambit which unceremoniously barrel kicks you into a huge flaming pit of WHAT THE F IS THIS was still fresh in my mind nearly a year later Compared to that, the kickoff for Raven Stratagem is just so damned conventional setup and action clearly explained [...]

A terrific space opera from an emerging talent who is already in the running in this year s Hugo Awards for the first entry in this trilogy, Ninefox Gambit I will have to go back and read that, but I couldn t resist the opportunity of supping on this one through Netgalley I had to catch up fast on the setting here, a large interstellar system of planets with faster than light travel and governed by six factions, the Hexarchate Each group of the ruling confederate has areas of specialty in the po [...]

After the events of Ninefox Gambit, the undead and possibly mad general Shuos Jedao is free and possessing the body of Kel Cheris Rather than immediately seek revenge on the hexarchs for his time in the black cradle, Jedao takes a Kel Swarm and leads it in a defense of the hexarchate against an incursion of the Hafn Meanwhile the Shuos hexarch Mikodez watches in horror as the other hexarchs make a bid for immortality, condemning the hexarchate to a potential eternal rule of their insanity.This b [...]

I NEED IT.

It feels like all I ve done since Ninefox Gambit came out is try and convince people to read it, and now I have another weapon to use in my battle against those who resist my will Read Ninefox Gambit because then you get to read the sequel And trust me, you want to read the sequel.In what has already been a year of fantastic books for me Raven Stratagem is the best one yet It takes everything I loved about Ninefox Gambit and just makes it even better It also does what the very best sequels do it [...]

Have you ever read a series that is so bizarre and yet so fulfilling Mine is Machineries of Empire The first book, Ninefox Gambit, for me was one of the best reads of 2017 It was so refreshing, confusing, and engaging at the same time The universe was as weird or even weirder than Vernor Vinge s Zones of Thought Calendars and maths as belief system technology weapon I have never read anything like it.And the characters, oh my gosh, I love the characters and the dialogues Even in this second inst [...]

Ninefox Gambit was one of the best books I read in 2016 Raven Stratagem might be even better This whole series is utterly, gloriously, astoundingly brilliant Welcome to the world of the hexarchate, where total participation in rigid ritual not only keeps control of the population it also warps the topology of reality to create exotic effects that keeps the hexarchate in power The hexarchate is ruled by six factions the Rahal, who make the rules the Vidona, who enforce them with torture the Andan [...]

DNF d at 50% Maybe I ll try rereading this series in the future but for now, I just can t get into it I know it is me and not the book because so many people love this book The part I loved about Ninefox Gambit was removed in Raven Stratagem and other points of view were added These points of view are added to create a larger network of political threads so that the reader gets a much broader view of the universe that Yoon Ha Lee is creating Unfortunately, I found it all to be tedious and uninte [...]

Executive Summary I struggled a bit to get into this one at the start, but once I finally got my bearing back I enjoyed it a lot .Audiobook This one is a hard series for audio in my opinion Nothing against Emily Woo Zeller who I think does a fine job narrating, it s just that there is so much going on, I find myself wishing I could go back and reread parts, something I find very hard to do in audio Your mileage may vary, but this is definitely not for people newer to audiobooks in my opinion.Fu [...]

As a debut Ninefox Gambit couldn t have been much better Dropping the reader right into a complex world without any type of cheat sheet it managed to combine some first class world building with a tight and focused story Kel Cheris, with the insane undead general Shuos Jedao in her mind, faced off against the heresy threatening the Hexarchate while at the same time being one of the main threats to the Hexarchate It was my favorite kind of sci fi, full of big alien ideas and smart enough to pull [...]

No as perfect as the first book in the series, but still a most wonderful reading experience This trilogy feels like the pinnacle of the entire evolution of space opera subgenre Everything is interwoven together in the most incredibile ways spectacular space travel, heart stopping military battles, complex political machinations and espionage, very interesting exploration of identity and gender, great mathematical concepts, unusual religious ideas and a novel take on the image of the Other.

Quite a different feel from the first book which has its pros and cons I rather liked the challenges of the first book There are fewer in this book, but there s still plenty going on Some nice twists.

3.5 starsI didn t feel comfortable rounding the GR rating up to 4 stars, so even if 3 stars looks a bit low, it ll have to do The first book got a strong 4 from me.Unlike with the first book, this time I liked the last 100 pages the most The rest of the book felt a bit drawn out to me, even though I did enjoy reading chapters from the POVs of different characters from different places than just the main spaceship swarm.

It s funny I could blink and wave my hands and say yeah, great sequel Pacing is a bit off, but it s entertaining The Shuos amuse me Or I could take a deep breath and start talking about themes, but then I d give in to the floods of feelings that would wash me away.As with Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee has done something special, wrapped in layer upon layer of distraction While there s plenty of meditation on the mechanisms of politics and control, this is an unabashed call to examine your choices [...]

draws hearts around the book 4.5 stars, all the feels, I ll write a proper ish review later, but for now what an accomplished, refreshing, profoundly readable novel It answers a lot of my questions from volume 1 and it seems impossible not to care about these characters.The book pulls off some amazing feats and I can t wait for the conclusionA As usual, when I encounter a book I really love, I find it difficult to compose my thoughts into a single cohesive review, particularly since I don t want [...]

While Ninefox Gambit throws readers into a black hole of craziness with its uniquely confusing but awesome world building and introduces readers to a world wholly different than anything we could imagine, Raven Stratagem focuses instead on mystery, introspection and complex, character motivations I loved both books, but in very different ways This series continues to impress me I m very excited to read the third and final book next year

Y all have no idea how much it physically pains me to give this book such a low rating but in light of the utter masterpiece of the first book I feel so let down by this sequel I m going to give myself some time to mull it over before I write a review but, yeah s not looking great, kids

Review first published onThe Curious SFF ReaderIt hasn t even been a year since Ninefox Gambit came out and I already read it twice The first installment in Yoon Ha Lee s Machineries of Empire is brilliant, full of amazing ideas, original worldbuilding and gorgeous writing It was even better as a re read and let s just say that I was extremely eager to get my hands on its sequel Raven Stratagem.I am easily disappointed by sequels, usually I tend to enjoy first books because they are the most su [...]

Last year, I read and loved Ninefox Gambit, a stunning military space opera This year, I had the pleasure of reading the sequel, Raven Stratagem, and may have loved it even than the first book I highly encourage you to read these books, but they need to be read in order If you haven t read Ninefox Gambit, you may want to skip the rest of this review, since I ll be mentioning spoilers from the first book.General Kel Khiruev is leading a fleet to stop the advance of a neighboring enemy, the Hafn, [...]

It s difficult for me to put into words how much I love this book Or this series Just the fact that I can t tell which one of the two books I like the most is something, since I could always rank my favorites.Not this time.The only thing I liked less in this book is that it had less Jedao I d read about Jedao doing basically anything, but on the other hand, this book had Mikodez, Khiruev and even a chapter in Kujen s point of view which was, as I expected, painful to read It s not easy to write [...]

Raven Stratagem is the second book in the Machineries Of Empire series by Yoon Ha Lee the first book was the successful Ninefox Gambit.This follows the events of The Fortress of Scattered Needles which occurred in the first book Jedao has been sent to quash a rebellion that has a interesting link of sorts to him He is one of the few soldiers still alive who was around when the conditioning system that the military now relies on to control their troops was implemented He knows and understands thi [...]

A fascinating read as I continue to love this world building It does some interesting things with POV and, as of right now, I can definitely see me re reading all 3 of the trilogy once all is said and done.To go into detail a couple of weeks later The thing I loved about Ninefox Gambit was a the world building and b the nature Cheris and Jedao s interaction This one decided to torture me by withholding one of those two things for narrative reasons and it wasn t the world building The POVs it di [...]

Although I am posting based on the audiobook edition of this book, I also received an ARC copy from Solaris and Net Galley in exchange for an honest review I also bought the Kindle edition of this book What good is immortality if nothing has been done to repair the fault lines of the human heart At the outset I want to recommend to any reader of the Machineries of Empire series that they check out Yoon Ha Lee s extremely helpfulHexarchate Faction Cheat Sheet Please note that the individual links [...]

Let s see When last we left our heroes, Shuos Zedao the four hundred years dead war criminal general , whose consciousness had been uploaded into the body of Kel Cheris, had won a victory at the Fortress of Scattered Needles, while managing to please nobody in the process.Now Zedao, rather than being content to be offloaded back into a USB drive, has commandeered a Kel mothswarm to defend the Fortress of Spinshot Coins seriously I love these names from the heretical Hafn But is there possibly a [...]

All things considered, Raven Stratagem is a worthy successor to Ninefox Gambit It is fast and lean space opera A dark and grim story The kind of novel that does not coddle the reader, but challenges to look beyond the explosions and window dressing, and explore such themes as the dark side of human social structures, and the meaning of loyalty and humanity in the face of immortality This trilogy is looking better and better I already look forward to the third volume.Full Random Comments review

I ve been following Yoon Ha Lee s career with interest since picking up Conservation of Shadows a few years ago because I liked the cover and realizing that it was one of the finest SFF short fiction collections I d ever read Lee s first novel, last year s Ninefox Gambit, was among my favorite books of 2016, but he s really outdone himself with Raven Stratagem, which is one of those rare second books in trilogies that is better than the first Even having read some of Lee s short fiction set in h [...]

This was easily better than the first book I think knowing a bit about the world systems even if i m still confused by most of it really helped There were some twists that still managed to shock me, and I am really looking forward to the continuation of this series.

Calendrical Heresy I don t even know what that meansNo one knows what it means, but it s provocative.Gets the people going Actually, I can confidently say that Raven Stratagem, the sequel to Ninefox Gambit, expands on what calendrical heresy is and I appreciated that Yoon Ha Lee went into the different factions in this world and in this way, we got an understanding on how why the calendar machinations affect the lower factions in the hexarchate and why the higher factions value and depend on i [...]