To me this is a good follow up in that you once again are engrossed in the well developed world of Andrea Cort. There is even more insight into the character, suspense, murder in the dark and intrigue of all sorts. However, I can't quite rate this one as high as the last just due to the flow of the action. In Emissaries Andrea was nearly always doing, here she is doing but its mostly questioning with some action to break things up. Now her job and the nature of the setup of the events are limiting and that is a structure that Adam-Troy established and follows throughout. But it does mean that after the events of the initial murder that there is a long pause full of information and conversation that goes on for quite some time. You'll need the info to put the pieces all together but you'll be waiting for the other shoe or in this case Claw of God to drop. Sadly according to Adam-Troy War of the Marionettes, Andrea Cort 3 is currently only set to print in Germany. There are two more Andre Cort novellas out there to locate for the interested reader....

A decent follow-up to the first book in the series, although not quite as strong. I can't put my finger on it, but while I read the books and enjoy them I can't quite get engrossed in them. There's some very interesting ideas at work, and I don't have any issues with characters or dialogue. It may be the fact that because of the nature of the first two books, which both center around murder mysteries, there's a lot of long interrogation scenes. These were offset in the first book, but take up the majority of this book. This makes sense considering the main character's position is essentially an investigator/prosecutor, but it means that there is more exposition handled in the same room than there is anything else, which tends to get a bit dull and predictable.

I do also have a bit of a problem with the main character, there's something about Andrea Cort that I don't quite buy into, but yet for some reason I find myself compelled to read anyway.

It's an enjoyable novel, and their a number of interesting concepts explored with regard to free-will and identity. The novel is thought-provoking without being mind-blowing, but I still liked it, and will probably read the next one in the series too, which I guess is all that I really need to say in a review. ( )

Mystery science fiction with compelling and inventive characters. These are character-based novels with unique worlds but I do not think of them as "world-building".

Second book in the series (Emissaries from the Dead is the first); I think it could stand-alone but it would pale in impact. Plus, the reader familiar with book one will be more likely to see clues.

The writing style is different from book one, Andrea Cort has changed, and it took longer for me to become engrossed with the story. I also saw the key clue long before Cort hinted or articulated it (hence the four stars). ( )

This is more of a mystery novel, classic whodunnit, than scifi. The plot is set in the distant future. The only scifi in it involves the role of imagined advanced technologies as weapons. Starts slow and climaxes only in the last 30 pages or so. Intriguing reading but not exactly a page turner. ( )

The premise: in the second book of Castro's series, Andrea Cort has been summoned to the Bettelhine homeworld for reasons unknown. The AISource, her secret employers, won't tell her why other than to stress how important it is that she must go, so despite the fact she despises the family and what they stand for--providing civilizations with powerful weapons which are used to destroy neighbors--she goes, and finds herself in the middle of a gruesome murder mystery, where she might very well be the next target. Not only must she uncover the assassin before the assassin does her in, but she must learn the truth behind her mysterious summons, because that might destroy her more than an assassin's weapon ever could.

My Rating

Worth the Cash: I don't feel this second installment is as solid and as good as the first book, Emissaries of the Dead; however, it's still a solid, enjoyable read that has me looking forward to the third book in the series. The Third Claw of God is definitely told with a more traditional mystery flair, with Andrea Cort being the genius detective tasked to solve an assassination aboard a space elevator before the assassin targets her, and while I found the structure a little predictable, I enjoyed the revelations that came out of her investigation and I really enjoyed some of the little details of world-building, namely, the weapons used for assassination! I do think that this book could be read as a stand-alone without any trouble, though I will say that because I think Emissaries of the Dead is better, you should start with that one instead. But wherever you start, Andrea Cort is definitely a fascinating, well-rounded heroine who isn't always the most likable person in the universe, but you can't help but root for her anyway.

Review style: I really don't have a whole lot to say about this book, so this review is more of the stream-of-conscious variety so that I can stress the points that really matter. There's one major plot spoiler in this review, but that is marked off CLEARLY so that if you don't want to read it, you can skip over it without any damage.

The full review, which a spoiler you can easily skip over, may be found in my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome.

REVIEW: Adam-Troy Castro's THE THIRD CLAW OF GOD

Happy Reading! ( )