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galacticvampire's review
adventurous
medium-paced
4.0
"We are all just asteroids, tumbling into one another."
Life Debt brings a new layer of sophistication to the themes of war, loyalty and what turns the gears of a political system.
Read after Bloodlines, it's very interesting to see how the seeds of the fall of the New Republic are already there from the start. The bureaucracy and compromises, although understandably a fundamental part of democracy, tying the hands of people who want to do good for the galaxy.
The book also turns up a notch on violence and cruelty, always a good reminder on how integral exploitation is in an Empire. The New Republic might need to deal with things better, but the author never uses that to falls back into a "maybe the Empire had SOME good" argument.
I can appreciate the maturity of the narrative in not pretending the plot twist was a huge reveal, and relying much more on the consequences of it. It was a very natural progression for the story, and the author seemed to realize a good portion of the audience would see it coming and dealt with the situation accordingly.
My only draw-back still is the constant pov shifting, a bit heavy handed for my personal taste, but still considerably better executed than in the previous book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Drug abuse, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, and Pregnancy