This is probably one of the oldest ARCs in my netgalley account, and I’m pretty embarrassed about how long it’s taken me to read it, but better late than never? I think I was holding off because I didn’t really understand Ninefox Gambit, but for whatever reason Raven Stratagem worked much better for me! At its core, this is a “loyal soldier who wants to do what’s right stands up to the corrupt government they serve” story, and that is one of the best kinds of military sci-fi that exists. Multiple POV characters, pretty much all of them wonderful to ride along with! And don’t worry if the idea that the science is based on math is scary. The math is basically magic; it isn’t explained nor is it explicable. This is one of the best “middle” books I’ve ever read, which makes me *very* nervous about Revenant Gun.

While I enjoyed Ninefox Gambit, I lost quite a bit of interest in the story in Raven Stratagem, and didn't end up finishing it. While the first novel focused on the excellent world building and advanced mathematics used to govern its laws, the second book emphasized Jedeo's increasing control over Kel's consciousness and the steps Jedeo is taking to increase his level of control.

While the cast expands and measures are taken to try and limit Jedeo's plans, I felt that the motivations of these side characters were always under question. I was never quite clear on why certain figures acted the way they did, even when choosing suicide. One character's martyrdom didn't make much sense as it seemed to have the opposite of its intended effect on increasing Jedeo's influence.

The mystery of what Jedeo's true intentions are seem to waver between chapters, and I became frustrated trying to determine if some of the other generals' actions were for their own self interest, or for the greater good. This, coupled with an ever-increasing complexity of the hexarcharte and mounting calendrical oddities, became too cumbersome to follow. I became disengaged and didn't not finish.

Yoon Ha Lee is a talented author, and I will give them another chance with a different series, but this story became too convoluted for my enjoyment.

I'm a latecomer to the work of Yoon Ha Lee and didn't really know that "Raven Stratagem" is Machineries of Empire book 2. While I was reading I didn't even notice any gaps, I thought it was Mr. Lee's writing style that asked me to reach for understanding.

As probably everyone but me knows, Yoon Ha Lee is a whiz of a writer who is up for a Nebula for "Revenant Gun" the third of the Machineries of Empire series. I liked Raven Stratagem and I have hunted up a copy of book 1 "Ninefox Gambit" (GREAT TITLE) and got a copy of "Revenant Gun" from NetGalley that I will read this week.

You should read this series because the writing is of a high quality, the world building is super good, and the stories Mr. Lee tells are gripping.

I received a review copy of "Raven Stratagem" by Yoon Ha Lee (Rebellion/Solaris) through NetGalley.com.

I've been struggling to think of how to review this book, because it was a total whirlwind of stuff I really enjoyed, from the machinations of Cheris/Jedao to the characters to the countermeasures people try to employ. I really want to know more about the deeper plot between Jedao and a character who has mostly been conspicuous by their absence so far. I found it easier, this book, to concentrate on the plot and ignore the magical-science stuff surrounding the calendar, math, etc. I just took it as read and focused on the characters.

Perhaps it's best I don't try and say too much about it. It's hard to describe, and all I can really say is that I enjoyed the characters (perhaps more so in this book than the last) and how things worked out. I enjoyed the twists of the narrative. And most of all, I stayed up all night to finish it.

Review is at sfrevu.com - http://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=17600

This was the 2nd in a series of books by Lee in a Space Opera series. Captain Kel Cheris is currently sharing her mind with General Shuos Jedao. It is really hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. Basically, you have an enemy force invading an integral part of the empire. Cheris had brought in Jedao to help defeat them. Cheris escaped a sure death experience and now Jedao is working through her to take over another general’s fleet. As Jedao has a history of sacrificing his entire fleet to destroy the enemy, will the hexarchate now do the same?



I must admit I had a tough time with this book. I don’t think it was the writing style at all. In fact, if you like a far-out space opera, this will probably be right up your alley. What I found with book 1 is that I had to totally immerse myself in the book and try to read it all in one sitting. I had to realize that I would have zero idea what was going on, and I would just figure out the important things as I read. That continued with Book 2. However, I have discovered that I don’t really like a story that I don’t understand the basics to. There were so many oddities that were presented but never really explained. You just had to assume that’s the way things were and go on with it. In addition, I thought that there were lots of characters that were introduced and their viewpoints given that just didn’t fit with the story as a whole. Perhaps these will be understood in the next installment. I have to say that I won’t be reading that one. This one put me in a slump and it was all I could do to slog through it. Probably just a personal reading style preference though. I’d give it a 2.5 out of 5



Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

{Review due to be published in Interzone no. 273]

This is the sequel to Yoon Ha Lee’s award-winning first novel, Ninefox Gambit, which was arguably last year’s most original SF novel, and probably also the year’s most complex and difficult to read novel. So can Lee repeat his success with this second volume of his Machineries of Empire trilogy?

Ninefox Gambit introduced us to Cheris, an infantry captain in the Hexarchate’s Kel faction. Because of her mathematical gifts, she was chosen to host the personality (soul?) of Shuos Jedao, the greatest military genius in the history of the Hexarchate (and its most notorious mass murderer). Between them, they thwarted a Hafn plot against the Hexarchate only to become the victims of a brutal assassination attempt once they were no longer of use to their superiors.

As Raven Stratagem opens, Cheris appears to have survived to rendezvous with a Hexarchate war fleet under the command of General Kel Khiruev. However, as soon as she is on board the flagship, she reveals herself to be Shuos Jedao. As such, she/he outranks Khiruev and can exploit Kel formation instinct to seize command. Ostensibly, his/her intention is to continue the war against the Hafn.

One of the fleet’s senior officers, Kel Brezan, attempts to resist Jedao’s takeover and in so doing discovers that he is a ‘crashhawk’, a Kel who is able to resist formation instinct. Normally a crashhawk would be treated as a traitor, but Kel High Command can see a use for him so instead promote him. His mission is to return to Jedao’s fleet, assist an assassination attempt on Jedao, and use his new rank to re-establish control of the fleet.
In this novel, Lee introduces the Hexarchs, the leaders of the factions that make up the Hexarchate, and gives us a flavour of their inter-factional squabbling and plotting. Most of the Hexarchs are obsessed with attaining immortality – a state that has allegedly been achieved by the strangely absent Nirai Hexarch, Kujen.

The exception is Mikodez, Hexarch of the Shuos. He has no desire for immortality, which in his view, ‘merely shows you what kind of monster you already are’. And he has no illusions about his own capacity for evil. He is quite happy to plot the destruction of his fellow Hexarchs. And if a covert alliance with Jedao can help him achieve that, so be it.

Lee’s world building is fascinating. We learn a lot more about the Hexarchate in this novel. He has envisaged a grandiose exercise in social engineering rooted in an exotic calendar, which depends on ritual torture to keep it functioning smoothly. And everything else depends on the smooth running of the calendar, from the military formations and esoteric weapons of the Kel, to the mothdrive that powers the Hexarchate’s ships, to the special abilities of the factions. Of course, all this comes at a cost: Lee’s Hexarchate is the ultimate totalitarian dystopia, and its most successful members are functional psychopaths.

An interesting side issue is Lee’s presentation of sexuality in the Hexarchate. Given the rigidity of the calendrical system described in these novels, I would have expected a correspondingly rigid approach to issues of sexuality and gender. In fact, these are surprisingly fluid, with characters changing gender and/or sexual orientation with apparent ease.

Without exception, Lee’s characters are complex and interesting – no mean feat when the society that has created them tends to dehumanize its citizens. Of course, all of them are damaged in one way or another. Mikodez is prepared to sacrifice his own brother to the cause. The Hexarchs are willing to use genocide as a tool in a vain attempt to influence Cheris/Jedao. Cheris/Jedao’s actions lead directly to the death of her parents. None of these characters should be likable. And yet Lee manages to convey that they are as much victims as villains. If they are evil, it is because the system that has created them is evil.

I particularly enjoyed the enigma that is the identity of Cheris/Jedao. By not writing from her/his/their perspective, Lee keeps the reader guessing about exactly what has happened. Is this Jedao in Cheris’s body? Or Cheris with Jedao’s memories? Or a novel fusion of the two? And even when the truth is apparently revealed at the end of the novel, one is left wondering whether this is really the case. Or does it just suit Cheris/Jedao for those around him/her to believe this for the time being?

Lee’s writing is a joy. It is replete with memorable images and phrases and leavened with black humour. And through it all runs a biting critique of (totalitarian) power structures.

In sum, Raven Stratagem is a brilliantly complex piece of writing that fully lives up to the promise of Ninefox Gambit. My one caveat would be, if you haven’t yet read Ninefox Gambit, you should probably tackle it first.

Far too much masochistic word salad from this author. Not for me, sorry.

Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee is more straightforwardly comprehensible than Ninefox Gambit, but still had lots of wonderfully weird worldbuilding and characters with complex motivations. Plus, there were a couple of moments where I said, “Whoa. Wow,” which I will not spoil here. Two books in, I still think this is one of the most creative science fiction worlds I’ve read in a long while.

Exceptional space opera! Yoon Ha Lee is a master storyteller, with brilliant dialogue, intense action, and suspense galore! His work even provides much needed societal commentary!

Strong follow-up to Ninefox Gambit! This is the kind of high-caliber space opera that I've been waiting for!

Raven Stratagem is the second book in the Machineries Of Empire series by Yoon Ha Lee; the first book was the successful Ninefox Gambit.

This follows the events of The Fortress of Scattered Needles which occurred in the first book. Jedao has been sent to quash a rebellion that has a interesting link of sorts to him. He is one of the few soldiers still alive who was around when the conditioning system that the military now relies on to control their troops was implemented. He knows and understands this system more than anyone and is able to use it to his advantage; regardless of what his orders are in some cases. Events don’t exactly go according to Kel Command desire, unsurprisingly, and it’s becomes rather complex and knotted at times which makes for an interesting read.

There were other characters introduced that Jedao interacted with and had history with which was fascinating to see and discover. A young Jedao is a odd thing to envisage but it’s done well whilst still fitting into everything else that is occurring.

Living up to Ninefox Gambit was a hard task to accomplish considering how successful and original turned out to be. It was so different compared to other modern SF for so many people and it managed to successfully continue that; adding some elements and subtracting others. On the whole this worked although one aspect I greatly missed was the Jedao and Cheris interactions which elevated Ninefox above the normal to a lofty perch. I didn’t realise the effect that lack of relationship between the two of them would have on my enjoyment of the book. It became something more than a military SF so without it there’s just something lacking that I can’t quite define further.

Raven Stratagem is a much easier book to just sit down and read compared to Ninefox. You know something of the way the world and systems within it work. The world itself is explored more in-depth which is great to see. The class system which the military and overall society use is explained and the role of individuals on the system is shown as well.

Overall this is a really interesting book which requires some deep thinking to really understand and recommended to fans of Ninefox; and I would recommend Ninefox Gambit before this of course.

Although I am posting based on the audiobook edition of this book, I also received an ARC copy from Solaris and Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

“What good is immortality if nothing has been done to repair the fault lines of the human heart?”

At the outset I want to recommend to any reader of the Machineries of Empire series that they check out Yoon Ha Lee's extremely helpful Hexarchate Faction Cheat Sheet (http://www.yoonhalee.com/?p=836). Please note that the individual links he offers, which link to the Solaris website for his series, provide some extra information and especially the Heptarchate Liozh faction.

As much as I wanted to reread Ninefox Gambit before reading Raven Stratagem it was not possible, due to timing of completing my reading for voting on the Hugo Awards. Shortly before the publication date of Raven, Solaris had been kind enough to gift me with an ARC and I was already sooo late in getting a review out that rereading or even relistening to Ninefox seemed like a luxury I couldn’t afford, especially since I was sure I was going to end up wanting to reread this new book just as much. My feelings of the shock and awe of the immersion into the Hexarchate world of Cheris and Jedao in Ninefox still lingered. I felt like I had been tossed on a tempest for much of that book, much as I loved it. I wasn't sure I really understood it as much as I wanted to. So what to do before I embedded myself fully in Raven? (Which, btw, let's think about ravens, shall we?) I felt like I needed a bit more grounding on the world I was reading about. Last week I spent a fair amount of time exploring the <i>Machineries</i> world on Yoon Ha Lee's website. I checked out the very useful cheatsheet he provides (as I mentioned above), plus I enjoyed reading some of the back stories of Jedao and Cheris. (Link with a full list of the short stories (http://www.yoonhalee.com/?p=695 with reviews of the shorts to follow on the weekend) And it's a result of especially one of those short stories that I found that maybe I had a leg up on a bit of the endgame in this, the second book in the Machineries trilogy.

In contemplating the puzzling political world with mathematical zealots, exotic technologies, and the vast array of hexarchate terminology that gets thrown at us, at times it’s been all too easy to be lost in the details and not see the broad view of what’s going wrong at the heart of the world of the Hexarchate, the ultimate reasons for Heptarchate’s fall and why. It is little surprise that calendrical heresy is at the root of all. There is inextricable bond between the technological power of the Hexarchate and its reliance on a faltering, cruel system that places no value on life, while it perpetuating faith and formation instinct based on arcane rituals and and the assumption that sacrifice is a fantastic destiny. While the reason for Jedao’s use in Ninefox Gambit was made quite obvious, I had puzzled over what Jedao’s goal or ultimate purpose would be as we move forward in the series. We knew that ultimately Jedao wanted a better world but how to get create it? Certainly Hellspin Fortress wasn’t a great start and frankly, after a passage in this book, I'm still wondering about what the hell happened in the seeming fugue state Jedao was in at Hellspin. But, going back to basics, looking at Cheris and Jedao, we see characters that never fit neatly their factions. Cheris, a Kel with reportedly stunning mathematical abilities that should have made her a Nirai, chose Kel. And then, that sneaky Ninefox Crowned with Eyes, Shuos Jedao, seemed to choose the Kel, as well. Why? Those that don’t fit their factions, in almost every sci-fi or dystopian world, are those who will broker the greatest change. (We could call them Divergent but this is so much deeper a world.) When making change on this scale, you're talking war and in a war, you need an army.

Among new and equally rich characters, we finally meet Shuos Hexarch Mikodez in all his glory. Mikodez is a true delight, probably my favorite character of the new set. From his growing onions, to his knitting, Mikodez, is a character almost as compelling as Jedao. Mikodez is a wonderful introduction to the Machineries series, as is General Khiruev. Even Brexan, a character I occasionally wanted to give a good, hard shake, is an interesting mirror reflection of Jedao’s path re: Kel, Shuos and crashhawk status. The depth, quirkiness and complexity of the characters that Lee gives us are a marvel. They are really a pleasure to read.

Many have written about Lee’s masterfully smooth world with respect to gender fluidity and sexual orientation. The world he has built with respect to gender and sexuality feels so natural it just flows. There are horrors here, like attempted genocides to get the attention of Jedao/Cheris, or the Hafn, who horrifyingly use their children as energy sources. Where Ninefox Gambit introduced us to the failings of rigid political systems based on religion, Raven Stratagem offers us a world where, in spite of the slimmest of odds, hearts and minds prevail.

Right now this is my top choice for nominations for best novel for the Hugos next year. Such a great read. Worth all the effort to dig into Lee's vision.

Those wanting some insight into this book are directed to The Robot's Math Lessons which you can find at http://www.yoonhalee.com/?p=793

Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee is the second book in the Machineries of Empire series, the sequel to Ninefox Gambit, which I reviewed last year. I enjoyed Ninefox Gambit, which has been short listed for pretty much all the awards and won a Locus for best debut novel. In my opinion, Raven Stratagem is even better.

War. Heresy. Madness.

Shuos Jedao is unleashed. The long-dead general, preserved with exotic technologies and resurrected by the hexarchate to put down a heretical insurrection, has possessed the body of gifted young captain Kel Cheris.

Now, General Kel Khiruev’s fleet, racing to the Severed March to stop a fresh incursion by the enemy Hafn, has fallen under Jedao’s sway. Only Khiruev’s aide, Lieutenant Colonel Kel Brezan, appears able to shake off the influence of the brilliant but psychotic Jedao.

The rogue general seems intent on defending the hexarchate, but can Khiruev – or Brezan – trust him? For that matter, can they trust Kel Command, or will their own rulers wipe out the whole swarm to destroy one man?

I think Raven Stratagem benefits from a lot of the more bonkers worldbuilding having been explained in the first book in the series. You don't have to remember all the details from the first book (indeed, I didn't) but a familiarity with the general ideas is certainly helpful. There is also less focus on actual battles, which we saw a lot more of in Ninefox Gambit and which were, in my opinion, the weirdest bits and certainly the hardest to follow at first.

In Raven Stratagem we are introduced to some new point of view characters, who I quickly grew to like. From memory, pretty much all of Ninefox Gambit was told from Cheris's point of view, but in Raven Stratagem the story is split between a few key characters. There's the two Kel into whose careers Jedao throws a giant wrench — a general and a lieutenant colonel — and the hexarch of the Shuos faction, all of whom made for fascinating reading. This is a very character driven book and we get to know and care about all the characters (well, some more than others). I am very much looking forward to reading more about them (hopefully) in the final book in the trilogy.

This is a book filled with excitement, tension and other reasons to keep turning the pages. I was hooked as soon as I started reading and inhaled it in only a few days. There's no release date yet for the third book, but I will be awaiting it keenly. I highly recommend Raven Stratagem to fans of character-driven, hard science fiction. It is, however, very much a sequel and I can't recommend it to readers who have not yet read Ninefox Gambit. Happily, that's also an excellent book and I recommend both without compunction.

5 / 5 stars

First published: June 2017, Solaris Books
Series: Machineries of Empire trilogy, book 2 of 3
Format read: ePub
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

5 Stars

I was given an eARC by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Prepare for your eyeballs to be replaced by question marks. Raven Stratagem, the second in the Machineries of Empire duology(?) by Yoon Ha Lee is just as confusing and satisfying as the first book, Ninefox Gambit, was.

NetGalley’s synopsis:

"War. Heresy. Madness.

Shuos Jedao is unleashed. The long-dead general, preserved with exotic technologies as a weapon, has possessed the body of gifted young captain Kel Cheris.

Now, General Kel Khiruev’s fleet, racing to the Severed March to stop a fresh enemy incursion, has fallen under Jedao’s sway. Only Khiruev’s aide, Lieutenant Colonel Kel Brezan, is able to shake off the influence of the brilliant but psychotic Jedao.

The rogue general seems intent on defending the hexarchate, but can Khiruev—or Brezan—trust him? For that matter, can they trust Kel Command, or will their own rulers wipe out the whole swarm to destroy one man?"

Well, those first three words do sum up the novel quite succinctly.

Despite reading the first book only weeks ago for the Hugo ballots, I was unprepared for Raven Stratagem. I thought I had finally grasped the terminology and concepts introduced in Ninefox Gambit – calendrical warfare, rot and swords, heresy, the broad strokes of the societal structure. That was just the 101. Raven Stratagem lobs even more terminology and complex social structure at the reader. I found myself rereading sections over and over again to parse their meaning. But despite having permanent question marks for eyes while reading, I didn’t want to put the book down.

Ninefox Gambit ended with such a twist that I fully expected that to be the case here and I was not disappointed! I was expecting a twist and even though I was looking for clues, I was still surprised when it happened. Once the twist(s) were revealed, a number of details added up and I saw the trail of breadcrumbs Yoon Ha Lee left for the reader to find.

I found the characters to be really compelling and well developed with strong individual personalities and motivations. Yoon Ha Lee doesn’t spend a lot of time spelling things out for us as readers, which does lead to some confusion on a conceptual scale, when applied to characters he does an excellent job of showing us why characters behave the way they do.

Even in a novel about war Yoon Ha Lee finds the space to be inclusive. The society he’s built has a fluid relationship with gender and pronouns and sexual identity. Family structures aren’t limited to one or two parents – they’re open to any number of parents of any combination of genders.

Ninefox Gambit and Raven Stratagem are books I can see myself rereading again and again, while I look for clues I missed the first time around.

Raven Stratagem is the second book in the Machineries of Empire series and was released June 13, 2017. I believe it is the final book.

3.5*
The ending was really strong but the start seemed too drawn out. I wanted more time with Cheris even though I did enjoy Khiruev and Bresan.

However, Mikodez is a character I was uncomfortable with. He is probably asexual, we're told he isn't interested in sex but not told explicitly that he is asexual. He's a stereotypical cold ace spectrum character and he's in an incestuous romantic relationship with his brother which perpetuates the myth that all ace people are somehow damaged. I don't know if I'm reading into it too much but I definitely wasn't comfortable with his portrayal even if I'm curious to see what he's doing in book 3.

4ish stars.

An improvement in all areas on the already impressive Ninefox Gambit, reading this makes me glad I gave a second chance to NG. The POV characters are much more interesting and relevant, the pacing is much more consistent and the prose is just as military-grade immaculate.

This is expansive, unprecedented military space opera done right. If that sounds like your jam, go ahead and spread it on thick. If you're like me and feel intimidated or if it just isn't your preferred genre, give it a try (or two) anyway. There are enough payoffs by the end to make it worthwhile. (view spoiler)

Something I continue to struggle with is that, while the idea worldbuilding is incredible, the physical worldbuilding leaves me floating somewhere in the middle of hexarchate space. I have a really hard time visualizing a lot of what goes on and there's not much physical description to help me out.

Otherwise a great sequel without a hint of "middle book" syndrome in sight.

The first book in this series got a lot of hype and was nominated for quite a few awards, and though I saw the potential in the series, didn't really feel it was up to that standard. Unlike many series, this book I thought was a marked improvement over the first one in the series. As the first book I thought took a very long time to get your footing in the world, now that we've established the factions and the players, the plot can move forward and the book is much more interesting and exciting as a result.

I'm going to throw out some quibbles I have though that I think could be improved as the author grows into their writing. My major issue with this book is that the characters still need to be better developed. Though I liked the characters in this book more than I liked Cheris in the previous book, I feel they are all introduced in the following manner:
1. Name
2. Faction
3. Sexual Preference
4. (optional) Unconventional family structure, or unresolved family issues.

I understand that the author is trying to represent different varieties of family structures, gender identities, etc., and I appreciate that and think it's a good place to explore those ideas in a universe-spanning world. However, why do I care who every single one of the characters is banging or wants to bang if its not going to be important for the plot? I just felt many times throughout the story that the author had made a list of different family / sexual orientation combinations, and then just assigned them randomly to the different characters and crossed them off as he went. It just kept throwing me out of the story, and I think moreso because the characters themselves really could have been better developed beyond a single characteristic (loyalty, headstrongness, etc.), that throwing in these very detailed descriptions of their sex lives and family lives was out of place.

In general though, lots of improvements. More exciting plot, better and more diverse characters, better explanations of how the different factions interface. There still needs to be more clear explanations of the world, in particular for the space battle with the Hafn at some points was clear and other parts got rather muddy to understand. I still think that the calendrical system is not explained well enough to understand what the consequences of intereference would be other than "technology stops working if you change it" and "lots of people will die if it doesn't stay in place", and without a "why" or "how" of some sort that falls a bit flat. But it's definitely a series I am excited to wait for the next book and plan on sticking with.