Customer Reviews

The Queen's Squadron

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Queen's Squadron is not for the squeamish. My first wife threw the book at me because of the violence in one scene. I love this book though. It is a tragedy and platonic love story at heart. One of the main characters is a humanoid who is the last remaining member of a species of truthsayers who cannot be lied to. His species has been killed off and he is the truthsayer for the immortal emperor. He is also in charge of the emperor's torture colony. He falls in love with one of his charges but that does not stop him from performing his duty. Rebecca Meluch does not give you silly large victories but the road her characters travel and the pain and difficulties they undergo make the small victories triumphant. Also if you are into the technical aspects of Sci-Fi she creates a faster than light ship that has as logical a scientific basis as anything else ever written or theorized about. If you like complex, well written, and rewarding novels then you should read ever! ything this woman has written including a short story in the anthology Women at War.

Totally agree with above reviewer.

Meluch does not give you nice little packages tied with bows. What you get is gritty, edgy political wheelings and dealings, 'villians' with whom you'd like to shake hands, pretty and complicated heros driven by their own ghosts and unbeatable egos, as well as a world of technology both complex and yet recognisable.

The story of Queen's Squadron is all that is dark and violent but still manages to reveal hints of the soft human heart beating within. I recommend it highly.

This author is as far removed from Heinlein as RAH was from Jules Verne. Meluch's staccato delivery shoots ideas at the reader: a caste-based society, unique mode of FTL travel, genocide, graphic prisoner torture and truth tellers. I would have awarded another star, but you have to stop and re-read initial chapters to integrate later revelations.
But stick with it, and you will be pulled into a tale of politicians plotting, ancient entities dictating, native uprisings, innocents dying and pilot derring-do. I know, in jumping from character to character, the viewpoint twists can be disturbing, but I put this book down with vague regrets. How did the Second Cassiopeian Empire start (Re-read p.5)? Did New Earth learn from its mistakes or make a mess of peace too? What happened to Paul Strand next?

Incredible. Rich and nuanced, combining a fascinating social structure between mortals and immortals with an intricately human display of the consequences therein. My favorite Meluch novel.