This is book 2 of the Embers of War trilogy and I have to say I could hardly put it down. I read it in two days, and I stayed up way past my bed time to finish the last 100 pages. I really enjoyed it.
The book picks up several months after the conclusion of the first book. The Trouble Dog (sentient space ship, which I love) is in orbit while Sal (the captain) is paying her respects to her former crew mate at the location that Trouble Dog was killed (not as strange as it seems). But pretty soon, things heat up. Sal and her crew work for the Reclamation house, an organization that helps space travelers in need. Before too long, they are off on a rescue mission to help a piracy crew who ran into some bad luck and crashed their ship.
I won’t go into too many more details at risk of spoiling, but several major characters return from the first book, and the white ships who are revealed at the end of the last book (the ‘Fleet of Knives’) play an important role in the story. Like the first book, the story is told in first person from several point of view characters, in quite short chapters. I found myself trying to focus on why the author chose which characters to focus on (when there was more than one option). Trying to figure out how to make these decisions to help tell my stories.
It is a complex story, spanning the whole galaxy, but the story itself really only focuses on several main point of view characters and the world(s) they inhabit. Like the last book, I like how the different points of view are separate for most of the book, though it is clear that they are going to come together at the end. There is also a mystery involving the fleet and the race of creatures who serve as engineers on human ships, the Druff. The mystery is hinted at in this book but presumably will be revealed in the concluding book. At least I hope so… I’m really interested in knowing the connection between the two.
I am really looking forward to reading the last installment and I will be doing so as soon as I can!