Ninefox Gambit: 1 (The Machineries of Empire, 1)

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I like that people seem to think this is a Science Fiction book when we both know it is a work of Fantasy. Every time you say “mathematics” you really mean *wink* “magic”. Right?

A thousand years in the future, they can put General Jedao alive in Cheris' head, and they still use their eyes to read reports? * Facepalm *Clarke Award shortlists". The Arthur C. Clarke Award. 2017-05-03. Archived from the original on 2018-11-04 . Retrieved 2017-05-03. It's all very Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law - any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. And the best part, for me at least? Lee doesn't explain anything. For example, the ‘Kel’ appear to be a highly regimented soldier-like military class, while the ‘Shuos’ would be closest in nature to intelligence corps. You will have to wait for my review of book 2 (and I will read book 2 soon) to hear my specific thoughts on the ending of this one, because I don’t want to spoil it. But what happens with Cheris and Jedao … wow. It’s not that I didn’t see it coming (really, the foreshadowing is written in big, neon equations—did you not solve for the end?). No, I saw it coming. But the execution made me feel like the book ends with “Sympathy for the Devil” coming on the loudspeaker as the credits start rolling and the lights come up in the theatres. It made me think of the finale of the underrated, cancelled-too-soon Dark Matter. It made me think of all the right things to make me excited to read book 2, perfectly balancing the desire for a cliffhanger that sets up the sequel while still delivering a clear resolution to this story.

The closest thing I can compare this reading experience to is trying to read in Spanish. My oral Spanish is proficient enough for me to carry on a conversation with a 5-year-old. Seeing it written, I can understand more than that. Honestly, I could probably get the gist of a simple novel if I had a Spanish-English dictionary to consult. There would inevitably be a lot of content lost on me but I’d understand enough to know whether it was a good or bad book. Reading in a different language is just hard work! Naturally, Spanish-language books are not written with the intent to accommodate non-native Spanish speakers. They are written under the assumption that the reader has a sufficient grasp on the language. I was halfway through the book before I realised Zeller was saying "Calendrical Heresy" not "Cylindrical Heresy" which I assumed to be another mathmatical heresy involving the use of cylinders. Kel Cheris is a relatively low-ranking office in a futuristic society which might be termed — or perhaps governed by? — what is called a ‘hexarchate’— a structure where the ruling class, and likely much of the classes underneath them — are divided into six separate factions, all with different characteristics and aptitudes. AHA! Big Clue! - YHL went to college at “Cornell University, majoring in mathematics” [but no degree], and earned a master's degree in secondary mathematics education [to teach High School math] from Stanford University. The book was mind-blowing in the sense that my mind blew up shortly after starting. And I, without a mind, was thus unable to understand anything further.Sissy Villain: He is very effeminate, very pretty, and very evil. The Cast Full of Gay means that this trope doesn't have the nasty implications it often does. There are other fascinating side characters - the leaders of the Shuos and Nirai factions stand out, as does one of the military captains - but we glimpse them only in passing for the most part, staying focused on Cheris, Jedao and the conflict they are trying to resolve. Kel Cheris, a disgraced captain of the hexarchate, is given the opportunity to redeem herself by recapturing the formidable Fortress of Scattered Needles from heretics. Cheris requests—and receives—a single devastating weapon to aid her in her task: the revived, near-immortal traitor, General Shuos Jedao. Feared throughout the stars and undefeated in battle, he is the perfect weapon. But Jedao is gripped by a madness that saw him massacre two armies in his first life—one of them his own. Preserved for his brilliance and tamed by his handlers, no one knows how long his good behaviour will last. Cheris must work with the mass murderer to destroy the heresy and save the hexarchate—before he destroys her… Complete Immortality: Jedao Two, because moths don't age and have a Healing Factor. Kujen speculates that jumping into a star might kill him. Action Girl: Despite being in charge of a cindermoth, she's a good duelist and jumps at the chance to duel with Cheris.

Ninefox Gambit reminds me quite a lot of another debut novel — The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi. After using quasi-heretical formation geometry in an infantry action against heretics, Captain Kel Cheris sees her company broken up by the Kel Command hivemind for Doctrinal reeducation. Due to her unusual mathematical genius, Kel Command offers Cheris a chance to propose a method for retaking one of the hexarchate's nexus fortresses, the Fortress of Scattered Needles, from a heretical takeover. Realizing that her best chance for retaking the unconquerable fortress lies in the tactical genius of the undead traitor general Shuos Jedao, Cheris proposes using his expertise and is granted the mission, unaware that she was manipulated into the choice by Hexarchs Shuos Mikodez and Nirai Kujen. By the end of chapter 2, I realised either I was badly confused, or not paying sufficient attention, or the author was crap or worse. So I stopped, and yes.... I re-read Chapter 2 with the two arrogant blowhards, full of complete nonsense. Although formation instinct was instituted after Shuos Jedao's execution, [12] Brigadier General Kel Marish mentions it as "before [his] time". [13] There's no real math or science anywhere in this book. It's not science-fiction at all. Just fantasy spells-bullcrap and tedious dialogue dressed up pretentiously as math and science.

The Paragon Always Rebels: Probably the best general in the hexarchate, so of course he had a psychotic break and killed everyone. For example, although Lee’s plot, on the surface, is intriguing, what lies underneath is really not all that complex or well-thought-through. The reader may come away wondering where the rest of the complexity might lie. The same is true of his characters … neither Cheris nor Jedao really ends up being more than skin deep when it comes to their underlying personalities, motivations and more. Dramatic Irony: In Revenant Gun, Jedao Two intermittently wonders about his Academy best friend/lover Ruo and what he would think of various things... whereas we know from earlier books that Ruo was forced into suicide a short time after Jedao Two's conscious memories end, due to Jedao's political naivety.