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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing end to excellent series, May 30, 2008
This review is from: Judge (The Wess'har Wars) (Mass Market Paperback)
This sixth and final volume of the Wess'har Wars promised a confrontation between a profligate Earth and an intergalactic species of Ecowarriors. It has turned out to be more letdown than showdown.
The series' central conflicts have focused on the ethics of life, protecting those unable to fend for themselves and reigning in those unable to control their own growth. The tough decisions begin in volume one, in which Environmental Hazards officer Shan Frankland on a mission to the planet Wess'ej has not only to turn over for execution one of her scientists for collecting bio samples in violation of local laws, but also to abort her own fetus to stop the spread of an organism conferring immortality. In later volumes, the Ecowarrior Wess'har launch a violent campaign of extermination on the plant Umeh when its inhabitants refuse Wess'har demands to reduce their population and abandon their colonies on outlying worlds. Film of the devastation is transmitted to Earth as a warning of what to expect should changes not be made in the 25 years it will take the Wess'har to get their ships into Earth orbit.
Given the setup, it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect a bit of conflict once the Wess'har make their demands on Earth - a decrease in the population to one billion and zero growth rate. You might expect a number of humans to be quite angry about such demands. You might expect a few governments to forcibly resist. But except for two planes shot down and two political assassinations, the humans roll over and accept Wess'har leadership. It's not difficult to imagine humans eventually acceding to a more powerful foe, but it is difficult to imagine us giving up so quickly. There are always fools who like to fight. But you won't find any of them in Judge.
In fact for a book set on Earth there are not too many humans in the story, except for the ones we already know from the previous five volumes. Most of the conflict takes place within the Wess'har fleet. After the Earth campaign has been settled, the last quarter of the story moves back to Wess'ej, and the series concludes with a series of farewells.
Perhaps my own expectations prevented me from appreciating what Traviss may have been trying to accomplish with this final chapter of an otherwise excellent series. As with her character Shan Frankland, who loses her childlike faith in the Wess'har, perhaps Traviss is attempting to upend her readers' expectations. If so, she's done a good job.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Letdown to an interesting story, April 27, 2008
This review is from: Judge (The Wess'har Wars) (Mass Market Paperback)
This series was always something I found intriguing, although I never thought it was totally brilliant. However, it had enough intrigue and new ideas to keep me involved and interested. I liked how the author sprung twists with each installment, and constantly challenged the reader's morality and ethics with the actions of her characters. After completing the series I would say that the sixth book was the worst of the bunch, unfortunately.
I agree with some of the other reviewers that the book felt rushed. The book dragged at the beginning, but not too badly, but I kept waiting for something to happen, but, except for a few minor things, nothing really did.
After reading Ally I was very excited to see what was going to happen when the Eqbas fleet reached Earth... but I was let down.
I guess there are several ways to tie up a series like this, and any path an author chooses is going to annoy somebody, but in this case I thought this ending was unsatisfying.
I wouldn't necessarily say to avoid this book, as it does tie up the series, but this won't be your favorite of the series. In honesty, you could actually not read this book and come up with your "own" ending for the series.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
So-so finish to an excellent series, June 30, 2008
This review is from: Judge (The Wess'har Wars) (Mass Market Paperback)
Judge, the sixth and final book in the Wess'har series, is readable but otherwise disappointing. There's surprisingly little tension for a novel where the lives of billions hang in the balance.
More than anything what Judge lacks is a real villain. Mohan Rayat and Lindsay Neville, Shan Frankland's principal antagonists from earlier in the series, are left with fairly little to do. The once menacing Skavu are even less of a factor. To the extent that there's any attempt to create a villain for the story it's the FEU, but this doesn't get very far either.
So without an effective villain to throw a wrench into the works, the plot grinds its way to a conclusion pretty much as one would have expected. Very predictably, in fact, which makes for a disappointingly dull finish to the series.
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