The Price of the Stars – Starpilot’s Grave – By Honor Betray’d – The Gathering Flame.
I hate this series.
I hate that it has a happy ending. I hate that it has a complex and seamless plot that isn’t over-labored or redundant. I hate that it sets up motivated and well-drawn characters and uses them brilliantly to carry out that plot. I hate that it treats them with respect and affection. I HATE THAT IT EVEN ALLOWS THE GUY WHO FAILS TO HAVE A DIRECT IMPACT ON THE PLOT TO BE IN A POSITION WHERE HE’S GOING TO WIN THE WAR AT ONE STROKE BY HIMSELF IF HIS KIDS HADN’T GOTTEN THERE TWENTY SECONDS BEFORE HIM. I HATE IT SO MUCH. Why does this series have so many competent, intelligent, plot-relevant, heroic, badass, and personable characters? WHY DON’T THEY ALL HAVE NO PERSONALITIES AND SPEND ALL THEIR TIME TALKING AND BE PUPPETEERED FROM SCENE TO SCENE AT THE WHIMS OF AUTHORIAL NECESSITY?
Oh, and I especially hate the fact that each of the characters grows naturally into the roles they end up playing, whether it’s simply being the person who stands by to witness the duel for the fates of the universe or the person who has grown capable of winning it. WHY AREN’T THEY ALL JUST PERFECT FROM THE BEGINNING? WHY DON’T THEY JUST WIN EVERY BATTLE WHEN THEY FIRST START OUT?
I hate that this is the closest thing to Star Wars I’m ever likely to get again. May all the gods of all the worlds consign Disney to all the painful hells their most drug-addled prophets can invent.
The Mouse Must Die–but you shoult try reading these books, they’re really quite good.
Disclosure: this review brought to you by sleep-deprivation induced saltiness.
Riders of Skaith 
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