My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Episode #8 of The Frontiers Saga: Part 2: Rogue Castes is a decent read in the series. It is a side-quest heavy episode, but the main plot line does advance a bit. The tragic events of the previous episode are heavily on the mind of Captain Nathan Scott, thus it keeps him on a personal errand for most of the book. That errand is action packed, of course. Meanwhile, the fleet, Cameron & Telles are left to deal with a conniving Rakuen politician on their own.
To be honest, the ‘You are the only one who can lead us, Nathan Scott!’ mantra is a bit over-played in this book, and I also find it not to be true. Between the Aurora’s Commander, the Ghatazak Commander and Deliza Ta’Akar, the Rebellion is in more than capable hands. They can run it by themselves… and kind of do. Nathan Scott has not done much yet, other than gather some silly race-car spaceships (Gunyoki) and a reluctant ally in the Rakuen. The ending scene was a bit over the top and cringy, but the outcome is a turn in the right direction for the main character, so I hope things get back to normal. And by normal, I mean more space captain fighting creative space battles and less space pirates doing space pirate stuff.
The side-quest in this book does introduce some interesting new tech possibilities that will no doubt lead to the Rebellion keeping the upper hand against the Dushan (and some really cool fight scenes!). There are also some mysterious revelations that I think I know the backstory of, but I’m not sure, so I won’t guess here. All in all the book is a fun read and makes me eager for the high stakes fight that is brewing.
I give this one three stars and call it a Decent Read.
Words from the Wampuscat 