A review by tyrean
Cassastorm by Alex J. Cavanaugh
4.0
I love the action-packed, gripping Cassa trilogy by Alex J. Cavanaugh!
CassaStorm takes place twenty years after CassaStar, and I enjoyed seeing these beloved characters again, and being introduced to new ones. Cavanaugh's world-building, or in this case Universe-building, is excellent and flows perfectly with the pace of the novel's plot and character growth.
The war between the Vindicarn and the Cassans has grown and become a War involving all of the ten races when the alien probe starts a new threat. Bassan, Byron's son, accidentally finds himself involved . . . and Byron must deal with both the political and emotional conflict that surrounds the entire situation.
My only issue with the novel is that I would have liked to see Byron start out a bit more calm and then struggle with the conflict. His tension makes sense as the conflict in the novel mounts around him, but from the very start, Byron seemed irritable with everyone and I had a tough time in the first forty pages.
I loved seeing his relationship with his son, Bassan, grow by the end of the novel, but at the beginning, I was struggling with Byron's overall attitude. Shocked by Byron's brusqueness, I felt extremely thankful when he became more and more affectionate with this son. Of course, my husband told me he thinks that Byron's relationship with Bassan is pretty normal and expected for a military family and environment - so it may have just been my perception at the beginning.
As a whole, CassaStorm is a good ending to a great trilogy, leaving us with a wonderful, open horizon of possibilities ahead while wrapping up the main plot throughout the series in a way that left me satisfied and slightly surprised. I'm tempted to go into spoiler mode, but won't - let's just say that I loved, loved, loved the ending.
CassaStorm takes place twenty years after CassaStar, and I enjoyed seeing these beloved characters again, and being introduced to new ones. Cavanaugh's world-building, or in this case Universe-building, is excellent and flows perfectly with the pace of the novel's plot and character growth.
The war between the Vindicarn and the Cassans has grown and become a War involving all of the ten races when the alien probe starts a new threat. Bassan, Byron's son, accidentally finds himself involved . . . and Byron must deal with both the political and emotional conflict that surrounds the entire situation.
My only issue with the novel is that I would have liked to see Byron start out a bit more calm and then struggle with the conflict. His tension makes sense as the conflict in the novel mounts around him, but from the very start, Byron seemed irritable with everyone and I had a tough time in the first forty pages.
I loved seeing his relationship with his son, Bassan, grow by the end of the novel, but at the beginning, I was struggling with Byron's overall attitude. Shocked by Byron's brusqueness, I felt extremely thankful when he became more and more affectionate with this son. Of course, my husband told me he thinks that Byron's relationship with Bassan is pretty normal and expected for a military family and environment - so it may have just been my perception at the beginning.
As a whole, CassaStorm is a good ending to a great trilogy, leaving us with a wonderful, open horizon of possibilities ahead while wrapping up the main plot throughout the series in a way that left me satisfied and slightly surprised. I'm tempted to go into spoiler mode, but won't - let's just say that I loved, loved, loved the ending.