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Sandy Pike is something of a reluctant hero, and has returned to the Alliance Navy to be at the helm of the Audacious – a ‘Superdreadnought’ measuring almost a kilometre in length. Now, his mission is to ensure the Hegemony of United Worlds don’t attack the Alliance again.
Although this is a three star review, it’s not because Spearman’s writing isn’t immaculate – it is. The flow of the book is near perfect and his world building is phenomenal. The conversations are realistic and the imagery is spot on. The only issue I had with it was the slight info-dump of an acronyms and new names. I quickly got lost, which was unfortunate, as I enjoyed Pikes Progress, especially Spearman’s near flawless writing style.
Honestly, if it wasn’t for the fact that I found myself having to scroll back through the pages to double check who was whom, or which acronym referred to what, I feel that I would have read this book with a lot more enjoyment. It didn’t really matter that I hadn’t read the previous two books in the series, I could understand Pike’s intentions and character, as with the other characters involved in the novel. I could even understand the politics at play and why the politicians were behaving as they were.
The only other criticism for Pikes Progress is that it seemed to take a while before the story really got under way. There was a lot of political filibustering and what felt like a fair bit of waiting around until we could really see what Pike’s new mission was. Although this did make me want to read faster to find out what was to happen, it was also frustrating. I think I’d have just liked more of the sci-fi and battles, flying on the Audacious and less of the political back and forth.
S. A.
This book was reviewed as part of the Reedsy Discovery Reviewer program. You can read the original review here.
You can buy Pike’s Progress here.
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