Susanne's Reviews > Line War

Meh... I don't know. I absolutely loved 'Gridlinked' and 'The Line of Polity' but this one didn't really hit the spot I thought. The plot is great, of course, the final showdown between Polity and Erebus couldn't be anything but. Also, Mr Crane. You can't miss with a character like that.

I think the reason this book didn't sit so well with me was because, in an attempt to suspend my disbelief, Asher constantly managed to do the opposite, by means of over-explanation. I haven't got the book to hand, so can't quote, but an approximation of the scenes that annoyed me would go something like:

[Character:] does something amazing. There could be a small problem/obstacle. But because [character:] has this or that Jain-assisted ability, the problem/obstacle is removed. Again. And again. And again.

This happens ALL THE TIME in the Orlandine story-line, and everytime I'd think 'whoa, awesome that she can do that' my awe was dispelled because Asher immediately explains why she can do this. The phrase "through her Jain somethingorother, Orlandine could..." is so overused, it had started to grate before I was half-way through.

I also felt Dragon was under-written, his motives even more obscure than usual, and his personality faded somewhat.

'Line War' is a good read, but not as great as I'd expected.