The Sword of Damocles

Part three of the trilogy, though I expect we haven’t heard the last from the Gordian Knot universe if all the hints that Hernandez has been throwing liberally about are anything to go by. In this book the UEAF are taking the fight to the Regime, with Pappy and co at the tip of the spear, all the while Momak dives deeper and deeper into the mysteries of the Regime while trying to bring some sense of order to the chaos the queen has caused.

Book 3 is much the same as Book 2 in many respects. Don’t get me wrong, the story isn’t some dull rehashing. Not at all. But we get the same vibe of Pappy and the patrol jumping from one hot mess to the next. The war is starting to take a toll on everyone, both within the UEAF, Regime, and Rebels, and the cracks are starting to show as some of the players are searching for peace while others are doubling down on the bloodshed. It’s a compelling story with lots of action and even more glimpses into the awesome culture that Hernandez has crafted in the Regime, but the apparent war-weariness does bring me neatly to my first little gripe with the book. In short, we don’t really get a good grip on time, both within the campaign and the wider universe as a whole. We hear a lot from the Regime about past events and peoples lives, but they measure everything in seasons, and we are never given an explanation as to how long a season is on their home world. Then about halfway through the book we are told that the war that has been dragging on for so long and caused such destruction has only been happening for just under a year. A year! I thought they were at least 3 years in by now. It really isn’t helped by the fact that we are never told much about their FTL methods other than that the UEAF uses wormholes and the Regime uses a more direct faster-than-light travel method. We don’t know how long it takes ships to get from one system to the next. Days? Weeks? Months? Well, judging by the small timescale it must be days, if that. The book is full of these little missing pieces that by book three should have been filled in. We as readers are trying to build this wonderfully sculpted universe that Hernandez is creating within our own minds but keep stumbling on a hundred little hurdles. Just tell us some of the logistical things. They don’t need to be extremely in-depth or anything too complicated. I just need reference points so that I can place all the events that are currently happening and those in the past into some semblance of order. It’s a little thing, but it’s the little things that can really push a book from just good to great. 

Missing content brings me neatly onto my next criticism. In short, there are a lot of loose ends floating around by the end of the book. I don’t want to go into spoiler-laden examples, but I managed to list off five major plot point within about thirty seconds which are simply never answered. I know there are almost certainly going to be other books from this universe, likely another trilogy or some such, but this book was supposed to be the finale to the first trilogy, and a finale is supposed to bring at least some closure to the story arc. Instead, we’re left with even more tantalising hints of things to come or have other plot aspects simply brushed under the rug altogether. There are a lot of these, particularly in Momak’s storyline, which is a damned shame considering how long Hernandez spent building the character’s far more subtle story. The end was also lacking the epic showdown that I was expecting. To be fair, I did like how the ending climax was done. It wasn’t what I expected, but still, what I was hoping for was an absolute balls-to-the-wall action-packed final showdown, and what I go, although well written and entertaining, was not the grand finish I wanted.

All of the above makes it sound like I didn’t like the book, but that simply isn’t true. It’s absorbing, has some truly human characters, and the way Hernandez has fleshed out the universe even more was both needed and greatly appreciated. Truly good universe building, even if it does miss some aspects out. I particularly loved the way the Consortium worlds govern their people and run their military. It was clever and most importantly, it made sense. I think I’m being so hard in some areas of the book because this series had the potential to be a lot better than it was. Don’t get me wrong, this is a solid military sci-fi novel and a solid ending to the trilogy, but it really could have been truly great on multiple fronts if a little more attention had been paid to certain aspects. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, so in the end that’s all that should really matter. I just hope that when Hernandez writes the next books in this universe, he provides us lore nerds with all the relevant info we need to paint a picture of his universe within our minds that is worthy of the story he is spinning.

As for narration, once again Ryan Kennard Burke does a great job. I may not personally absolutely love his voice, but the man gives a great performance that I can’t find fault with. It’s just personal preferences, I guess.

Personal Score: 4 stars

Professional Score: 3.75 stars