I am a big fan of fantasy and science fiction novels especially if they are long and have several books in the series. I really enjoy a series of books that I can immerse myself in and I first picked up an Elizabeth Moon novel because it was long and part of a multi-novel series. I continue to read her books because I find them engrossing and highly enjoyable. ( )

See book 7, Against the Odds

Several substories, a plentitude of characters, and it's easy to become all confused about who is who and what story is currently going on. The individual stories are interesting though and the book is well written and it's easy to just keep going. Still, it's a bit of a mess.

Then we have the end, and it's not enough of an end. Was this and the next book supposed to be one book and it was split up for some reason?

Not much at all about Heris Serano and Lady Cecilia, the characters that made the first couple of books so good. And not much of Esmay Suiza, the character that made book 4 so interesting. Instead it's a mix of lots of characters, few of them interesting in themselves.

And a bit of deus ex machina to kill off a few of the unfinished stories. Also to be able to split a longer book into two?
( )

This is the next to last book in this series. I liked all the others but this one was awful. It constantly cut from one short scene to another in (at least in this book) unrelated scenarios. Very choppy. The mutiny story mechanics were boring. I barely made it through this book and the effort I put into it better pay off in this the last book in the series. I'll get that one from the library also. ( )

This is the sixth book in the space opera Serrano Legacy, or can be regarded as the third book that focuses on Esmay Suiza. Sort of.

The Familias Regnant is in tatters after the Speaker is assassinated. The entire political system hinges on the rivalry between the wealthy Rejuvenants--the ones who could afford the treatment to become endlessly young--and the lower classes who cannot rise higher since the older generation isn't dying off or retiring. Immediate suspicion is laid on the Old Texan-based extremists who figured prominently in the last book, but more is afoot. The Benignity makes its move for dominance in space; the old allies of the corrupt Admiral Lepescu are also on the move. Meanwhile, Esmay only wishes for Serrano approval to marry her fiance and finds every effort stymied by ship schedules and continued acts of terrorism across the system.

This book wasn't bad, but it suffers from a lack of focus. It jumped from place to place as more attacks were orchestrated, and there was no one major character to follow. Esmay did almost nothing but pine during the entire book. Mind you, some bits had lovely tension--especially a few chapters where a tram of preschoolers were caught in a hostile invasion--but that was resolved all too quickly, with no major characters stepping in. It felt more like reading a collection of short stories set in the same universe than a cohesive novel. I wonder how everything can be resolved in the next book. ( )