Book Review: Bitter Angels

Author: C. L. Anderson

C. L. Anderson’s debut Sci-Fi novel, Bitter Angels, is one I have been looking forward to ever since the cover art was released. As I picked it up at the local bookstore it went on top of my To Be Read pile. As debut novels go this is better than most but there are some issues that I with story. The world-building was creative, the characters were interesting, the plot was flat out great but the dialogue was weak which in this type of story can hurt the overall story.

Summary

I really enjoyed the universe that Ms. Anderson has created. Governments are very concerned about wars and they do what they can in order to prevent a galaxy wide conflict from arising. Their most effective tools are the Guardians. Guardians are individuals who have various items installed into their bodies including a Companion. Think of a Companion as ghost machines that live inside your head and acts a computer, friend, stabilizer, etc. If the Companion is ever removed from a Guardian, it as if they are taking anyway a loved one and you feel their loss for a long time. Guardians are sent into systems to evaluate and determine if it needs to be considered a “hot spot”. If it is a system on the brink of war then a larger Guardian is brought in to sweep it and remove any chance of a wider conflict breaking out. The Guardians oath is, “Peace is my duty. Peace is what I am called to watch and expand. I hold close the knowledge that any death by my hand may start a war without end. Only peace creates life. Only life creates peace.”

Field commander Terese Drajeske is brought back out of retirement for an important mission. Her mentor, Bianca Fayette, was brutally murdered in the Erasmus System and Bianca has requested Terese to replace her because she is the only one who can succeed in the mission. The Guardians want to learn who killed Bianca and determine if the Erasmus System is to be considered a “hot spot”

The Erasmus System is controlled by the First Bloods. They are bunch of aristocrats that have maintained power with their very large family and have become very rich of their indentured servants. They keep control of the civil through the use of Clerks. The Clerks spy on people and if their position is critical enough, the individual has personal Clerk who reports their actions at all times. If someone is perceived as acting against the First Bloods then they are removed from society.

The chapters alternated between several of the characters but mainly focus on Field commander Terese Drajeske and Captain Amerand Jireu. Amerand is a Chief Security officer in the Erasmus System and his portions of the novel are were you learn about the society of this universe. Essentially, it is Big Bother on steroids.

Review

The plot is probably the strongest portion of the novel. The complexity of it reminded me of an Alastair Reynolds’ novel. There is overall conspiracy happening but the information dulled out in dribs and drabs and all is revealed in the end. In this way the novel was highly entertaining.

The weakness of the story was the dialogue. If you write a mystery, especially with intelligent characters, the dialogue needs to be crisp and well thought out. Many times I said to myself, “ask this” or “ask that”. In this type of story nothing drives a reader crazier than characters who have no curiosity about their situation. If the dialogue was stronger then it is likely this would have been one of my type five novels at the end of the year.

Overall, I did enjoy Bitter Angels and I am excited about any future novels from Ms. Anderson.

                                                           My Rating