Burn It Down to Built It Back Up - A Review of Raven Stratagem

Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Amazing first volumes in a series can be a hard act to follow. They tend to set up a specific bar all other books that come after need to at least meet, if not exceed, which a lot of authors find difficult to achieve. Some manage to meet the challenge, of course - and those authors are definitely worth following, because they show they can maintain or exceed the expectations the first book has created.

Yoon Ha Lee is one of those authors. Raven Stratagem is the second novel in the trilogy, and begins some time after the end of Ninefox Gambit. The hexarchate is now facing a new threat: invasion by the Hafn, an enemy they has held at bay for a long time now. In order to ensure that their territory is not overrun, they send out a fleet led by General Kel Khiruev, with orders to intercept the Hafn before they reach the Fortress of Spinshot Coins. The Fortress of Spinshot Coins is crucial to maintaining the stability of the calendar that fuels the hexarchate’s most powerful weapons and most vital technologies. Should it fall, the hexarchate may very well go down with it.

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