I read and enjoyed the first book in this series, Mutineer, a number of years ago. I remembered it as a fun, fast paced novel with engaging characters and some interesting sci-fi elements. After reading Deserter, I wonder if they were truly written by the same author. After a somewhat strong start, this book was quickly bogged down in a morass of meaningless, mundane verbal exchanges between the main character and various supporting cast members and did not pick up speed again until the last 30 pages or so. Kris' seemingly endless bemoaning of her love life (or lack of it) coupled with an annoying plot element involving her very personal computer and an overall weak plot line made it difficult to get through.
I enjoyed the first book in this series, but this one has....
endless assassination attempts on way too many people;
a god-like mini-computer which does everything the heroine asks it, sometimes even before she asks, and interfaces with and controls other 'secure' computers before you can blink;
tens of thousands of intelligent nano-bugs, from both sides, seeking out information, then destroying each other, all of which the mini-computer controls;
long meaningless conversations that go nowhere and only serve to lengthen the book and boost the author's ego;
continuous references to the heroine's body, including overuse of the term 'boobs', with the heroine dressing up as a whore on several occasions;
continual references by the heroine and her group to romantic "possible pairing-offs", all of them being too familiar (rude?) with each other;
the characters continuously engaging in meaningless witty repartee while in the midst of deadly armed combat, with people dropping dead all around them;
the heroine and her group calling each other inane 'familiar' names, such as her maid referring to her as "Baby Cakes";
automated luggage containing everything from party gowns to fragmentation bombs;
and the list goes on.
In my opinion, this book was written for a certain segment of thirteen-year-old sci-fi fans.
endless assassination attempts on way too many people;
a god-like mini-computer which does everything the heroine asks it, sometimes even before she asks, and interfaces with and controls other 'secure' computers before you can blink;
tens of thousands of intelligent nano-bugs, from both sides, seeking out information, then destroying each other, all of which the mini-computer controls;
long meaningless conversations that go nowhere and only serve to lengthen the book and boost the author's ego;
continuous references to the heroine's body, including overuse of the term 'boobs', with the heroine dressing up as a whore on several occasions;
continual references by the heroine and her group to romantic "possible pairing-offs", all of them being too familiar (rude?) with each other;
the characters continuously engaging in meaningless witty repartee while in the midst of deadly armed combat, with people dropping dead all around them;
the heroine and her group calling each other inane 'familiar' names, such as her maid referring to her as "Baby Cakes";
automated luggage containing everything from party gowns to fragmentation bombs;
and the list goes on.
In my opinion, this book was written for a certain segment of thirteen-year-old sci-fi fans.
Second in the Kris Longknife series of 4...hopefully more to come. Kris's friend goes missing and Kris goes after him to Turantic only to find she's in a bait-and-wsitch!
