Citadel (The Palladium Wars Book 3) by Marko Kloos
I had to read book three after finishing book two of this series. This final volume (or is it?) definitely has justice. The adversaries are out for revenge. And one of our main characters finds redemption, though in an unusual way.
Like book two (find the review here), this book is told through the eyes of the same four characters. This interesting approach does have some limitations as some of the action we the readers must infer because it happens off screen. The four characters continued to fascinate me. They all have interesting journeys. And I can see all of them continuing in future books.
I’m not going to rehash the story as you can read that in my previous review. I looked forward each night to reading this book. It had a terrific build up to the climax. Good drama, action, suspense, and excitement.
I only have two complaints. First, the climax was a letdown. If we use a boiling kettle of water as our gauge measuring a climax where lukewarm is a total flop and violent boiling is unparalleled excitement, this one is hot water almost ready to boil. I found after the long build up, it cooled off too much. Kloos turned down the flame. Things were too easy. I appreciate the length being cut off at three hundred plus pages, but I could have tolerated another fifty to seventy-five pages for a more action-packed finish with a bow put on it.
Which leads to my second complaint. Kloos left many things wide open. We never find out any actual names of people behind the insurgency, except one who is alluded to. And the insurgents still have people and equipment floating around out in space. Maybe Mr. Kloos will write another volume? We’ll see. If not, then it would have been nice to have a bow on things.
I recommend the entire three book series to any science fiction fans out there, especially if you like military science fiction. Even if you aren’t all that keen on military SF, this one has plenty for everyone. The characterization is solid, the action good and it’s not too technical for someone not that interested in the science of science fiction, but technical enough for those who are.
And like book two, it’s mostly clean. There is some profanity, but it’s not over the top. And many of the characters are military, law enforcement or spacers, so it could have been much more. No on page sex. The violence is muted.
First review of the year, so of course, it sits at number 1.
- Citadel (Palladium Wars Book 3) by Marko Kloos
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