SOJALS rating:

Unrated (0/5)

I first read this in 1997 and most recently on the 19th October 2001

On the colony planet Harith, Twiss, the imbecilic but charismatic king maintains his increasingly shaky rule. Conflict is simmering between the privileged first wave of colonists and those who arrived more recently.

However, the first wave appear to have dramatically up the stakes by assassinating of the head of Security (and that's something at which I take personal offence - security heads should never, ever, be assassinated). Worse, this murder appears to have been done not by normal humans but "Arms" - terrifying half-human fighting machines - and no-one on Harith should have access to this level of military technology.

For Irona, long-suffering wife of King Twiss, this is personally devastating: the head of Security was her personal friend and the man behind the murder appears to be Irona's lover, Arias Tang

Oh, I can't go on any longer, this book is so awful and even my superficial summary of the plot leads me to remember reading the dismal dialogue. The plot itself is OK, the powerful Arms and the personal defense systems are are cool weaponry, but the writing, and especially the dialogue, are an embarrassment.

Now, if you're twelve years old, you might be able to get through this book by concentrating on the concept and ignoring the implementation, and you might even enjoy it. But I'm not twelve.