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Light of Impossible Stars

(Embers of War #3)

Gareth L. Powell (Goodreads Author)

3.94 · Rating details · 917 ratings · 100 reviews

Award-winning author Gareth L. Powell delivers an explosive conclusion to his epic Embers of War trilogy.

Low on fuel and hunted by the Fleet of Knives, the sentient warship Trouble Dog follows a series of clues that lead her to the Intrusion--an area of space where reality itself becomes unstable. But with human civilisation crumbling, what difference can one battered old ...more

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Paperback, 367 pages

Published February 18th 2020 by Titan Books (UK)

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· 917 ratings · 100 reviews

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Mar 01, 2020 Claudia rated it liked it

Shelves: space-opera, read-in-english, science-fiction, finished-series, audiobooks, adult

3,5 stars. The final book of the 'Embers of War' trilogy *throws confetti in the air*. I have to admit, the ideas in these books are quite 'big'. We have alien artefacts, parallel universes, void dragons, mysterious alien species, and a time/galaxy spanning human colonisation.

I really enjoyed the first two books (character and plot-wise), but this one felt a bit scripted. If I didn't see the chapter headers, I would've guessed it was all told from one perspective - the narrator. Every character ...more

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May 25, 2020 Mili rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Feeling off for nearly 2 months now so it is getting harder to concentrate. I started this read at the start in May and just now finished it. Not cause I don't like it, but I am not in a good headspace. We have loud new neighbours and they are not changing. I have yet to find a way to deal with it. We are now a week away in nature, and I finally managed to find room to read!

I really enjoyed this series, it is easy and fast to get through with a wonderful set of characters, new ones and plots co ...more

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Sep 14, 2020 Jennifer rated it really liked it

This provided a good end for our ship , her captain and crew. I wish it had been a little longer, I would have liked to spend more time learning about the Druff. And a little more set up for the plates and the incursion. That's me though and it was still a great adventure and I feel quite satisfied. This series surprised me and I can say that it is most recommended. ...more

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Nov 27, 2020 The Captain rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: walk-the-plank

Ahoy me mateys! Grab your grog! Here be book 3 of the 10th installment of the 3 Bells trilogy showcase where for 3 days straight I will be reviewing 3 books in a row. The catch is that the 3 books will showcase an entire trilogy. So throw your 3 sheets to the wind and get ready to celebrate with me. Grog optional . . .

Unpopular opinion time! I really did not like the last book of this trilogy. I still love Trouble Dog and Sal. But ultimately the story went places that I didn’t care about and fou Ahoy me mateys! Grab your grog! Here be book 3 of the 10th installment of the 3 Bells trilogy showcase where for 3 days straight I will be reviewing 3 books in a row. The catch is that the 3 books will showcase an entire trilogy. So throw your 3 sheets to the wind and get ready to celebrate with me. Grog optional . . .

Unpopular opinion time! I really did not like the last book of this trilogy. I still love Trouble Dog and Sal. But ultimately the story went places that I didn’t care about and found nonsensical. I liked the new character of Cordelia Pa. I am completely in love with Nod who went from being an okay character in book one to a delight. In fact the part the Druff played in this book ended up being one of me favorite parts.

The main problems in this book were two fold – dangling plot points and problematic character motivation. In terms of characters, Sal and Trouble Dog were the only ones that still kinda felt real in this installment. All the other characters seemed incidental or became two dimensional. Characters previously important in other books do nothing in this one (like Lucy or Preston). Other characters sacrifice themselves for no real purpose. Ona Sudak really was the most boring bad guy ever who twirls their bad guy mustache and has no real motivation. The “realization” moment by her at the end was just ludicrous.

As for dangling plot points. Well the ideas of reality quakes and plates were fascinating and never really explained. Both could have been used awesomely and weren’t. Cordelia is a fun character but kinda magics her way through the end of the book. The sci-fi feel of the book just went “poof!” And how she saved the world was lame. There is a trans character added in for no reason (okay as a random lust interest) who actually has a sex change operation in the MIDDLE of a battle. Then leaves abruptly at the end of the book. Michael goes on a salvage hunt that could have been cut out of the book with no substantive change to the plot. There is a memory switch that really adds nothing to the plot. The void creatures are never explained satisfactorily or actually dealt with. They really are magic space dragons. The loss of an eye side plot was so lacklustre. The fleet of knives lose and randomly go back to do what they could have done all along. And not to mention the deus ex machina savior thrown in at the end.

I could go on and on but who has time to that. On to a new adventure. This one walks the plank! Arrr!

Side note: I still be glad I met Trouble Dog. ...more

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Apr 04, 2020 MadProfessah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020-read

This is the third and final book of the Embers Of War trilogy by Gareth L. Powell. A nice feature of the series is that although each book advances the overarching story, they are also readable on their own with each having self-contained plots. They should definitely be read in order (because Powell is ruthless about killing off major characters): Embers Of War, Fleet of Knives and The Light of Impossible Stars.

In the third book we are introduced to a new major character, Cordelia Pa, and her b ...more

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Mar 21, 2020 Kate rated it really liked it

Shelves: favourites-read-in-2020, out-in-2020-and-read

Very entertaining and exciting conclusion to the hugely enjoyable Embers of War trilogy. The starship, Trouble Dog, part human, part dog, part machine, is such a fantastic creation and it was good to spend more time with her and her crew, especially Nod. Review to follow shortly on For Winter Nights.

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Mar 30, 2020 John rated it did not like it · review of another edition

A predictable, phoned in conclusion, with about a novelette’s worth of plot, a massively powerful deus ex machina to take care of the bad guys, and endless swathes of pointless explication, dreams, descriptions, and side plots. Just read the dialog and skim the rest...you won’t miss anything significant and will have several hours of your life free to get into something better.

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Dec 21, 2020 Denise rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020

3.5 for interesting ideas and some thoughts about loss and growing a conscience and trying to make ethical decisions in war (which I guess is a thing and one I’m glad I never have to consider).

The writing was uneven and the author maybe added a few extra twists towards the end that made it busy. The first two books of the trilogy worked better. Still a satisfying end to the series.

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Feb 24, 2020 Kylie Burkot rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

3.75 stars

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Mar 08, 2020 Jon Adams rated it it was amazing

Perfect ending to an excellent trilogy.

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Mar 05, 2020 Michael rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is the third book in the Embers of War series by Gareth L. Powell. In this one the sentient warship "Trouble Dog" and crew are searching for a way to combat the Fleet of Knives. Meanwhile Cordelia Pa is approached by strangers in a battered spaceship owned by her estranged father. She soon finds out that she is very special indeed. It may very well fall upon her shoulders to save humankind from the spacial dragons. She will need, however, to help the Trouble Dog and crew stop the Fleet of K ...more

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Aug 20, 2020 Trey rated it it was ok · review of another edition

this book kinda killed the series for me.

Everything went pretty well til the last 5th of the book where the pacing and conclusion of multiple story lines led to poor pacing and an anticlimactic finish.

Sure. Perform a sex change operation in the middle of a battle. That might have had an impact if the character was more important than "bland unpleasant ancillary character" that was only introduced a handful of pages earlier.

Oh, now the MC has a romantic interest in that character? Ok, cool. 30 this book kinda killed the series for me.

Everything went pretty well til the last 5th of the book where the pacing and conclusion of multiple story lines led to poor pacing and an anticlimactic finish.

Sure. Perform a sex change operation in the middle of a battle. That might have had an impact if the character was more important than "bland unpleasant ancillary character" that was only introduced a handful of pages earlier.

Oh, now the MC has a romantic interest in that character? Ok, cool. 30 pages later that character decides to fuck off and you're left wondering why they were even included so late in the book.

The "Chosen one" decides to fight instead of fleeing. Dope. Wait. Ten pages later its a bad idea and she's fleeing the universe. Cool, plans change. Wait. They actually defeated the enemy? Sort of? There's no indication that the enemy is totally defeated and not just dealt a minor setback. Ok now they're still fleeing the universe without giving anyone a chance to stay despite the enemy being supposedly defeated.

The main villain is handed over without much in the way of resolution. A villain who had a pretty interesting character arc before she just went totally dark side.

Killing off the other carnivore ship and his captain might have seemed a bit more impactful if they had had more than a paragraph or two of character development or if the captains death had actually been necessary. Its pretty obvious that a human captain is only really necessary for the strategic parts of running a ship or coming up with a clever combat maneuver. Neither one was employed in their last stand

All in all it feels like the author crammed a bunch of fluff in the last bit of the book that they thought of after they finished writing the first draft. It brought a fairly cool concept for a scifi series to an awkward and unsatisfying end. If I had waited to review the entire series until now I'd probably give the two previous books lower ratings with the knowledge of where those characters would end up. ...more

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Feb 21, 2020 Mike Finn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, audio-book, science-fiction-series

"Light of Impossible Stars" is a deeply satisfying read that does something very rare: it ends a trilogy in a way that not only doesn't disappoint but excites and surprises.

I loved the first two books in this trilogy, "Embers Of War" and "Fleet of Knives" so I'd pre-ordered the final book and dived into it as soon as it arrived.

Like it's predecessors, it was a fast-paced, page-turning, epic science fiction story, crammed with original ideas and strong world-building, yet what kept me reading wer "Light of Impossible Stars" is a deeply satisfying read that does something very rare: it ends a trilogy in a way that not only doesn't disappoint but excites and surprises.

I loved the first two books in this trilogy, "Embers Of War" and "Fleet of Knives" so I'd pre-ordered the final book and dived into it as soon as it arrived.

Like it's predecessors, it was a fast-paced, page-turning, epic science fiction story, crammed with original ideas and strong world-building, yet what kept me reading were the characters in the book and the empathy and humour of the writing.

All of the books have followed multiple storylines that slowly reveal the big picture. The strength of the characterisation, especially in this final book, keeps those storylines intimate and relevant.

I'd say it kept the book human but some of the main characters are not human and part of the strength of the book comes from how clearly their thoughts and hopes are articulated,

Gareth Powell is very good at letting his characters be themselves, without judgement or apology, where the character is a genocidal psychopathic poet, a warship who has grown a conscience and resigned her commission, a non-human engineer who believes in work and rest and the world tree, a young woman trying to discover who or what she is or an ex-military officer looking for redemption through service.

I like the fact that, in this world, actions have consequences: not everyone survives, those that do survive are often damaged and neither the pain nor the occasional love is glossed over. I like that some characters fail to learn and are doomed to repeat their mistakes while others grow, develop and find new mistakes to make and some just get by day to day as best they can.

I admire the truly epic scale of the plot and the depth of the world-building and that, despite how strong the plot and SF ideas are, they never push the characters out of the way.
Now that I've read all three books, I want to go back and read them again, so that I can take in the grandeur of the big picture and spend more time with characters I've grown to know well.

Finally, I have to say that I am, as I'm sure I'm supposed to be, deeply attached to Trouble Dog and I hope to hear more of what happens to her now the trilogy is over.

"Light Of Impossible Stars" works very well as an audiobook with different narrators presenting chapters written from the point of view of the main characters. Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.
https://soundcloud.com/nicol-zanzarel... ...more

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Apr 14, 2020 Emae Church rated it it was amazing

The perfect end to an amazing series of books.

As with the other two books, I read the book and listened to the amazing Audible version. The voice actors across the whole series have been pure brilliant.

I love the expression, "Hound of Difficulty." There is so much clear visualisation in this book and the previous ones.

When Cordelia Pa came into the mix, I thought, what? Where's she come from? And this late in the game (of the story)? But no, Gareth has introduced her exactly where she was neede ...more

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Oct 11, 2020 Martin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Just great scifi!!!!

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Mar 07, 2020 Elspeth Cooper rated it it was amazing

I have loved everything about this trilogy, from the expansive worldbuilding and complex characters to the smallest throwaway lines that made me go "Ouch". It's been beautiful, dramatic, funny, and heartbreaking by turns; all the fun of an exuberant space opera shot through with reflections on war, sacrifice and redemption - not forgetting the teenage snark of Trouble Dog and the quiet wisdom of Nod.

I shall miss these characters very much.

...more

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Oct 27, 2020 Mark Harrison rated it it was amazing

Brilliant end to a high quality series as the various characters head to a huge battle with the deadly Fleet Of Knives and the Space Dragons. High octane thrill fest and satisfying conclusions. Superb series.

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Feb 11, 2020 Olav rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Concluding the Embers of War trilogy in style, Gareth L. Powell has offered up a gloriously big-hearted and engaging space opera that will appeal to fans of Babylon 5, Iain M. Banks, and Charles Stross.

It's a genuinely fun adventure novel with likable protagonists, and with more grist for the intellectual mill than you would expect at first glance.

There are details of the story that caught me entirely by surprise, but also fit perfectly within the narrative. There are so many details that I'm ...more

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Feb 22, 2020 Bonnie McDaniel rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, space-opera, aliens, artificial-intelligence, war, read-in-2020, alien-technology

This is the third book in the Embers of War trilogy, and it's a crackling good read that ties up all the storylines in a most satisfying manner. The sentient warship Trouble Dog, fleeing from the alien Fleet of Knives she accidentally unleashed on humanity, has to regroup with her crew and a new player to defeat both that fleet and the higher-dimension creatures called "Scourers" to triumph.

There's a new character introduced in this book that we spend quite a lot of time with, and at first I wa ...more

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Jul 01, 2020 piranha rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, space-opera, sentient-ships

I'm hovering between 2 and 3 stars.

There is some way cool stuff here, the world of the "plates" for example, and I could have easily spent more than one book in that environment. The Incursion is also interesting, and the "reality quakes".

But too much fantasy (the hypervoid creatures), way, way too much deus ex machina -- the perfect saviour who resolves the problem with a flick of the hands. Everything gets too "epic" for my taste. Powell keeps killing off characters (and ships, and entire plan ...more

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Apr 13, 2020 Seregil of Rhiminee rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Originally published at Risingshadow.

Gareth L. Powell's Light of Impossible Stars is the final novel in the Embers of War series of space opera novels about the sentient warship Trouble Dog and its crew. It's an excellent sequel to Embers of War and Fleet of Knives, because the author delivers a satisfying conclusion to his trilogy. This novel brings back the familiar characters from the previous novels and continues their story.

The Embers of War trilogy has quickly become one of my favourite mo ...more

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Feb 27, 2020 Jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, speculative-fiction, science-fiction

The previous instalments in this trilogy, Embers of War and Fleet of Knives, have been some of the best space opera I've ever read. Of course they deal with a future where humanity is stretched across a vast expanse of space and relies on highly advanced spaceships, but they do this without ignoring more familiar parts of the human experience: love, family, abandonment, grief… Perhaps it's a sad indictment of most space opera that this alone impresses me, but whatever, this kind of humanist far- The previous instalments in this trilogy, Embers of War and Fleet of Knives, have been some of the best space opera I've ever read. Of course they deal with a future where humanity is stretched across a vast expanse of space and relies on highly advanced spaceships, but they do this without ignoring more familiar parts of the human experience: love, family, abandonment, grief… Perhaps it's a sad indictment of most space opera that this alone impresses me, but whatever, this kind of humanist far-futurism is absolutely my jam.

In Light of Impossible Stars, we are introduced to Cordelia Pa, who initially seems nothing more than an unfortunate street urchin on an impoverished, far-flung world near a wormhole called the Intrusion. Of course, it turns out that she's much more than that: her long-absentee father returns to thrust command of a spaceship onto her, and through a convoluted series of events it becomes clear that Cordelia is much more important than she thinks: (view spoiler).

We are also, of course, reunited with the Trouble Dog and her crew: Captain Sal Konstanz (now battling some heavy grief), mechanic Nod the Druff (now the proud parent to a small army of little Druffs)… and also many of their acquaintances from the last book, like “Lucky” Johnny Schultz and Lucy's Ghost, the spaceship in the form of an eerie young girl. At the book's beginning, crippled by the Fleet of Knives and still pursued by the former poet Ona Sudak, they're gliding and in need of a power source. Through their search, and meanderings in the vicinity of the Intrusion, they cross paths with Cordelia Pa and join forces to tackle the threats facing them.

I think this novel is perhaps the weakest of the trilogy, but not in any way that significantly dampened my enjoyment of it. I just felt like some developments/revelations in the story happened a little too conveniently. Regardless of that, Light of Impossible Stars retains many of the strengths of the first two books: the philosophy of the Druffs, some of the history of the House of Reclamation (a neutral force whose mission is to help all space travellers in danger), the strong pack mentality of the Carnivore-class warships (of which the Trouble Dog is one), their unshakeable loyalty, and the visceral pain they feel at the loss of their pack mates… all of this was just real good stuff. Powell captures the emotions of all different kinds of beings, from all different kinds of societies and upbringings, really well.

Overall, what can I say? If you like science fiction, especially space operas, and you like great characterisation, you NEED this series in your life. It is just incredibly excellent.

If you need more convincing, you might also want to read my review of the first book, Embers of War or my review of the second book, Fleet of Knives. ...more

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Nov 25, 2020 Lou rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: finished-2020, audiobook, scifi

The Trouble Dog's crew is once again racing against time, hoping to come up with a solution to beat both the Fleet of Knives and the invasion of monsters in space. Dealing with loss throughout their trek across the galaxy.

I didn't really enjoy this book as much as I did the other two. It just had so much build up throughout the trilogy and so the end just felt lackluster.
I felt that Trouble Dog, Ona Sudak and Penitence all had character development in this book but not Sal. (view spoiler) The Trouble Dog's crew is once again racing against time, hoping to come up with a solution to beat both the Fleet of Knives and the invasion of monsters in space. Dealing with loss throughout their trek across the galaxy.

I didn't really enjoy this book as much as I did the other two. It just had so much build up throughout the trilogy and so the end just felt lackluster.
I felt that Trouble Dog, Ona Sudak and Penitence all had character development in this book but not Sal. (view spoiler)
The characterization in this series is why I enjoyed it so much so I was a little disappointed when it became flat.

I also didn't enjoy Cordelia's and her brother's POV at all. (view spoiler) I honestly enjoyed Ona Sudak more than her. And I can't stand her. (view spoiler)

My worry for the Druff and their working conditions was vindicated in this book. (view spoiler) My opinion of Johnny also dropped immensely because (view spoiler)

Overall, it's a good book. Everything from throughout the series tied up neatly but I just didn't enjoy this one as much as the other two. ...more

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May 02, 2020 Douglas Berry rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction, space-opera

Wow.

After reading Embers of War and Fleet of Knives my one concern wasn't if the third book would be good, but rather how Powell would tie everything up into a satisfying conclusion. I shouldn't have doubted, the climax of the novel is breathtaking in scope and execution.

I'm not going into too many details here, as all the action depends on knowing what happened in the previous books, but things have gone from potentially better to horrifically worse. The fate of civilization rests with the crew ...more

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Aug 09, 2020 Robinski rated it really liked it

I don't think it can be denied that the Embers of War trilogy is a well-written hunk of Space Opera, packed with imaginative ideas, and satisfying artefacts. I've zipped through the three books (interspersing them with other genre choices, as is my wont) pretty smartly for me (not the fastest reader), only slowed down a little on this occasion by various life commitments . Epic in scale, galaxy-spanning in scope: it certainly hits all the notes that I am looking for in this most popular of SF su ...more

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Apr 14, 2020 Mike rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction-1

I have really enjoyed the first two books of the series, so I put my name on the list with my library to get the third. The Trouble Dog and her motley crew are a joy to follow. The author writes superbly, with a prose that moves fast, but contains wonderful gems. A heavy cruiser with a conscience has to be one of the most compelling characters in space opera.

No spoilers here. Just that Nod has some of the best lines, as usual. My tagged lines are below. We learn more about the Fleet of Knives, ...more

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May 18, 2020 Ian rated it liked it · review of another edition

The third and presumably final part of the Embers War story is a fun read but for me, the least of the trilogy. It's a similarly fun and fast paced read as the first two, short, sharp chapters, each in first person perspective from different characters in the story, but drifts a bit too far into fantasy for my taste. Following on from the previous novel, the crew of Trouble Dog are on the run from the Fleet of Knives. Meanwhile, a race of dragon like beings, the Scourers, are tearing up spaceshi ...more

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Aug 10, 2020 Martin Huijgen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi, space-opera, aliens

** Previous books' spoiler alert **

The Fleet of Knives are on the loose. Their assignment: prevent war and agression in the Multiplicity. Their method: preemtively destroy all war capable vessels. As a result commerce between planets is coming to a halt and societies are crumbling. Former warship the Trouble Dog and her captain Sal Konstanz are feverishly looking for counter measures.

The Fleet are hesitant to enter a special area called The Intrusion, which their creators used to flee this galax ...more

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Feb 25, 2020 JonBob rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Sal, Trouble Dog and the gang are back for the final instalment of one of my fave space opera series of all time! LIGHT OF IMPOSSIBLE STARS delivers everything I’ve come to love about Gareth Powell’s writing; literary characters in a pulp setting, snappy dialogue and deep themes delivered in tight, fast-paced prose. Plus Alien references, an AI in a clown costume, Dutch cyborgs and motherfucking reality quakes! I devoured this book in a single day, delighted in every second of it and now I just Sal, Trouble Dog and the gang are back for the final instalment of one of my fave space opera series of all time! LIGHT OF IMPOSSIBLE STARS delivers everything I’ve come to love about Gareth Powell’s writing; literary characters in a pulp setting, snappy dialogue and deep themes delivered in tight, fast-paced prose. Plus Alien references, an AI in a clown costume, Dutch cyborgs and motherfucking reality quakes! I devoured this book in a single day, delighted in every second of it and now I just need more, always more.

***Warning*** Minor spoilers for the previous books in the series. If you haven’t read them yet, oh boy you’re in for a treat, but go read them first if you wanna avoid some spoilers.

Light of Impossible Stars picks up where Fleet left off; Captain Sal Constanz and her sentient rescue ship Trouble Dog are running out of fuel, hunted by Ona Sudak and her genocidal fleet, and speeding towards The Intrusion, an area of space both the Marble Armada and the extra-dimensional Scourers mysteriously avoid. Probably because the laws of physics turn to mush here and no one knows why. I mean, if the only safe place in the galaxy is a place no one has ever returned from and experiences reality quakes on a semi-regular basis, you get an idea of just how Up Shit Creek Without A Paddle our plucky space adventurers really are.

We also get to meet some new characters. Cordelia Pa is a young scavenger on The Plates, a series of manufactured habitable micro-worlds constructed and abandoned by the Hearthers, the alien race who unwittingly unleashed the Marble Armada and fled to The Intrusion millennia ago. Cordelia and her brother eke out a miserable living scavenging for ancient Hearther artefacts and shifting them on the black market, all the while trying to avoid the authoritarian private mercenary police that patrol City Plate Two. But when Cordelia is snatched from her home by a strange crew lead by a woman called Lomax, Cordelia begins a journey that she hopes will explain the affinity she feels with Hearther tech and the strange powers she has always harboured.

From a story-telling standpoint, Gareth Powell knows how to spin a yarn that gets its hooks straight in, no messing about. Space opera is a genre suited to fast-paced adventure and Gareth has distilled this art into a science. He writes in a way that pisses you off if you get hungry or have to go to the loo cos it means you have to put the book down. I was halfway through Light of Impossible Stars before I knew what had happened and only realised cos my stomach started screaming at me to eat something.

What I love more than anything about this series though is the characters. The character development is simply phenomenal. Sal started out as a military woman with a conscience torn to shreds by war, seeking some kind of redemption in the House of Reclamation. She wanted to save people, without any complicated moral considerations, despite knowing deep down that sometimes it might be necessary to break a few eggs to make an omelette. One of my favourite scenes in the book is when Sal reflects on how she’s been forced to change yet again in the aftermath of the new order imposed by the Marble Armada. Puts me in mind of my boy Karl Marx’s most insightful observation on the development of society: “Men make history, but not in circumstances of their own choosing”. People have effects on the world around them and the world around them affects them right back. Sal has definitely changed since the start of the series, though everything she did made sense, both from a narrative standpoint and from what we know of her as a person. She’s changed, but still retained the core of who she is.

(P.S. for any part-time scholars of wor Karl in the audience, I do know this isn’t the point he was making in The Eighteenth Brumaire, it just made me think of it okay, chill out).

My favourite character though, was, is, and forever will remain the snarky, independent and fiercely loyal Trouble Dog. From a Carnivore-class heavy cruiser built and bio-engineered for one purpose – to kill, obliterate and destroy with no qualms or scruples – Trouble Dog has developed into someone with a complicated, and yet fundamentally moral outlook on life. There are snippets where Trouble Dog’s inner turmoil and all very human side is laid bare. The fact she is constantly trying to understand and embrace that side of her character shows how far she has come since her days as a war machine in the Conglomeration navy. Plus I just love her personality. The scene where she meets Adalwolf on the deck of a virtual reality ocean liner and arrives wearing ‘a shaggy black bob, and wrapped in a sparkly gold flapper dress, accessorising with a matching tiara and an outrageously long cigarette holder’ is just peak Trouble Dog haha.

Amidst all this there’s still a natural underlying current of serious themes that make this series simultaneously fun, pulpy and literary. Cordelia’s hostility to the prison system as a system that perpetuates the conditions that give rise to crime; Lomax’s observation that the scavengers and couriers doing the dangerous work to retrieve Hearther artefacts aren’t the ones who get rich off them; philosophical and psychological ruminations on how humans view the world (“You are capable of simultaneously occupying two contradictory standpoints? That explains so much abut your behaviour as a species”). There’s a lot of deep stuff in this book, but it’s all seamlessly part of the story, masterfully woven into the fabric of the narrative.

This is a fantastic book, an immensely satisfying and action-packed conclusion to a wonderful series. Gareth Powell is a stand-out among science fiction writers and has quickly become an auto-buy author for me. If you’ve read the previous two books and are looking forward to this, you won’t be disappointed. If you’re a space opera fan and haven’t read any of the Embers of War novels yet, I can almost guarantee you’ll love these books. But for me, for now, all that remains is to say “Farewell Sal and Trouble Dog. Thanks for everything, it’s been a blast”. ...more

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Feb 27, 2021 Rainman411 rated it it was ok · review of another edition

It was an interesting concept which is what kept me going to the end. So I guess in some ways it was successful and the battle was won by the author in that he suckered me into paying for this pile of hot garbage. I fear he has lost the war as it has soured me on him as an author. The search for Asimov 2.0 continues for me. I guess he was attempting to take on larger philosophical concepts and navigate us to some sort of epiphany and higher level understanding. Instead I felt everyone in this bo ...more

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About Gareth L. Powell

Gareth L. Powell

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Gareth L. Powell is an award-winning author from the UK. His alternate history thriller, Ack-Ack Macaque won the 2013 BSFA Award for Best Novel, spawned two sequels, and was shortlisted in the Best Translated Novel category for the 2016 Seiun Awards in Japan. His short fiction has appeared in a host of magazines and anthologies, including Interzone, Solaris Rising 3, and The Year’s Best Science Fi ...more