Fleet Of Knives (An Embers Of War novel – book 2) by Gareth L. Powell (book review).
‘Fleet Of Knives’ is book two in the ‘Embers Of War’ series by Gareth L. Powell. As this is a review for the second book in a series please be aware there may be spoilers throughout.
‘Fleet Of Knives’ carries on almost straight after book one, ‘Embers Of War’, in the series. This time Trouble Dog is off to save the starship Lucy’s Ghost which leads the crew into a whole host of trouble. Meanwhile, the Marble Armada are trying to enforce peace throughout the human inhabited planets through the use of extreme and terrifying force. All ships found within the Marble Armada’s long reach that have the capacity to cause violence have to be destroyed, Trouble Dog just happens to be one of those ships. This leave Trouble Dog and her crew trying to rescue the crew of Lucy’s Ghost, plus escape being destroyed by the Marble Armada. Things are going to get messy.
Oh my days, I love this series of books so much! I know as soon as I pick up a new books in this trilogy that I’m just going to vanish into it until I reach the end. I just know that I’m going to enjoy it from start to finish, which means I need to pick the perfect time to pick it up. I want no interruptions as I dive into this book. This does mean I tend to zoom through the pages, I really wish there were more books in this series.
Powell manages to remind the reader of what happened in book one of the series without info-dumping, plus diving into a really fast-paced plot with wonderful new characters. I have no idea how he managed this so smoothly but I loved it. While we’re at it, I must complement him on his fight scenes, they really tear at the heart. Then following the people left behind as well, it’s all so emotional.
Each chapter in this book is told by alternating different characters including the voice of the sentient ship Trouble Dog. If you don’t love reading from a sentient spaceships point of view, we cannot be friends. We hear from loads of different characters viewpoints but they’re all have such clear and different voices you have no chance of getting confused. Plus I enjoyed reading from every viewpoint, this almost never happens.
Talking of characters we also get to hear from other sentient ships, they even have meetings and conferences with each other. I swear this is far more interesting than it sounds. Each ship is such an interesting and distinct character and I loved them all. Having said that my favourite character of all is Nod. They have such a lot to do in this book so that made me extremely happy. Plus all the random and rude names they come up with for Trouble Dog are hilarious.
I realise I’ve been raving about this book and this is highly deserved in my opinion. I really hope you pick up a copy and, if all my raving isn’t enough to convince you, then please consider this: there are alien monsters! Needless to say I will be picking up book three asap.
Sarah Bruch
November 2021
(pub: Titan Books, 2019. 401 page paperback. Price: £ 7.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-78565-521-0)
check out website: www.titanbooks.com
