Book Review: The Will to Battle, Book 3 of Terra Ignota by Ada Palmer

Book Review

The Will to Battle, Book 3 of Terra Ignota By Ada Palmer

Speculative Fiction. Science Fiction. Philosophical Fiction. Political Science Fiction.

5 Stars

Better than the last, Ada Palmer continues to create a fabulously woven world.

“For Warre, consisteth not in Battell onely, or the act of fighting; but in a tract of time, wherein the Will to contend by Battell is sufficiently known…”

–  Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan XIII.

The world of Terra Ignota has been upended.  War is inevitable.  But after three centuries of peace, how does a war begin?  With every world ruler friends with every other, how do the nations pick sides?  How can war begin when every nation already has surrendered?  Genius convict Mycroft Canner has completed the history started in Too Like the Lightning and concluded in Seven Surrenders.  Now comes Mycroft’s chronicle of the guideless search for an order to the conflict as the world slouches toward war, while a living myth contends with a celebrity assassin, a corrupt priestess and a captive god to shape the conflict and the world to come.

From the first pages of this third installment, I was taken wholly into Ms. Palmer’s world of failing utopia. Book 2 was a little slower than Book 1, so I had a slight apprehension about how this third might read. Not to worry, this third book took right off and kept going.

As with the other books in the series (Too Like the Lighting & Seven Surrenders), I found the involvement of philosophical theories and their direct 9780765378040architecture in the cultures of this future world fascinating. Not being very versed in philosophy, I found the tidbits of extra knowledge handed out as a kind of passive scavenger hunt. The Will to Battle even goes so far as to use Thomas Hobbes, the main philosophical point-of-view of this book, as a voice to help sell Mycroft’s failing sanity.

There were some changes in the tone of this volume that I appreciated, especially as they were finally fully explained near the end, giving my growing opinions of the subtle undercurrents a surety I definitely needed by then. I will say, if you decide to read this book, which I highly recommend, be sure you’re clear on characters and their roles from the rest of the series, or you may find yourself struggling to keep things straight. Only because I was sure of who everyone was, did I not second guess my opinion of what was happening when certain voices came out to play.

The complexity of political and social spheres of influence; the way they’re all magically tied and interwoven continued to impress me. And, like the other books, there was that thing that popped out of nowhere causing me to slap myself on the forehead and say DUH! I knew I forgot something. Even so, with all the complexity, the story doesn’t overwhelm. With so many layers, I feel this is truly telling of how masterful Ada Palmer is of her craft. I’m more than looking forward to reading book 4, the final installment, of the Terra Ignota series  😉

Happy Reading 🙂

Curious how I review? Check here or see a list of my most favorite here

 

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Website Powered by WordPress.com.

Up ↑

LITERARY TITAN

Connecting Authors and Readers

writing to freedom

words to inspire and empower

Eight Ladies Writing

Eight writers in four states and on three continents talking about what it takes to make a great story.

Praying for Eyebrowz

Doing the best I can with what I have

Priscilla Bettis

Horror Author

Stealing Shade

Continuing a Love Affair with the Written Word

Books and Co.

“So many books, so little time.”

Step Into A Book World

"One must always be careful of books," said Tessa, "and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us." -Cassandra Clare "Clockwork Angel"

Life of Chaz

Exploring What Captivates, Inspires, and Intrigues.

Author C.M. Martens

Join her on an adventure

%d bloggers like this: