I was given this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love sci-fi books and was excited to read this. The summary given on NetGalley was intriguing and was the reason that I asked for this book. A Matter of Oaths is a sci-fi that was at times fast-paced and at others was crawling. Overall, I liked it and thought that it was a good story.

A Matter of Oaths follows the crew of the Bhattya who has just hired their First, a man named Rafe, who had been identity wiped for being an Oath-Breaker. Rafe, wanting to keep his head down has a hard time doing that because Bhattya Commander Rallya sees something in him that doesn’t make sense with the little past that he can remember. As his past comes back in flashes, Rafe becomes a pawn between the Empires and the Bhattya becomes a force to be reckoned with, with its Thirds having to make difficult choices about the Guild, the Empires, Rafe, and others who become forced in the middle.

One thing I liked about this book was the action. When the action was happening, it was fast-paced and held my attention. At some points, I didn’t want to put my kindle down because I needed to know what was going to happen to Rafe, Joshim, and Rallya. From jumping across space, searching a drifting ship, or holding the Central station under guard, when there was action, it was good. The problem for me was those in-between moments when the action wasn’t there or it wasn’t something that was setting the action. At those points, it was a little slow for me.

Another thing that I liked was the invention of the webbers, the people who connected to the ship via a neural connection that helped them to control and check the ship’s controls and damage while also being able to connect to one another without words. It reminded me a lot of “The Drift” in the movie Pacific Rim, where the Jaeger pilots were given a mental connection where they were in one mind to control the Jaegers. I love that movie, so having something in the story that reminded me of it was a great plus.

Since this book was originally published in 1988, its republication for a new generation could be a great thing. It was definitely a book that I’m glad I had a chance to pick up. It seems like there’s a bit more interest in science fiction these days and I hope that this book is one that comes to the forefront.

A Matter of Oaths captured my attention for two reasons. One, it was described as a diverse space opera. The story features a gay person of colour and an older woman as Commander. And two, Becky Chambers wrote the introduction.

A Matter of Oaths has a lot going for it, but the writing style and poor world building kept me from fully engaging in the story.
The best way to describe the writing style is vague. It feels as if there's a glass barrier between the story and the reader. This barrier lets the reader know they’re reading a story, so it impedes readers from fully immersing themselves in the world Wright has created.
The world building is poor. The guild, the emperors, and the concept of the web are not clearly explained. The poor world building compounded with the vague writing style makes for a story that isn't easy to engage with fully.

The main character, Rafe, as I mentioned previously is gay and has a romantic relationship throughout the novel. It was refreshing to read a story with a non-heterosexual relationship as the main romantic relationship. Unfortunately, there was no spark or chemistry between the characters making it felt clinical and abrupt.

Overall, I was expecting something along the lines of Becky Chambers' work, but was disappointed to say the least. If you enjoyed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet I would hesitantly recommend A Matter of Oaths only because it has a similar tone, but I would be cautious.

This was my very first "space opera" book and I have to say, I actually really liked it!
It was wildly entertaining and had a great premise as well as a satisfying ending.
The characters were fantastic!! I rarely read a book and can enjoy most, if not all of the characters but these were just great. I like that there were LGBT characters and in no way were they discriminated against or made to feel out of place. Same sex preferences were of no concern to anyone and a common occurrence it seemed.
I did find it difficult to read parts of the story that described characters linking up to the ship in the web. I understood what they meant but at the same time it was very difficult to picture in my minds eye, which is understandable since its nothing that I've ever seen or have known to be possible. Even so, I was able to continue along without that interfering with the story line too much.

Would probably recommend this to anyone who's never read a Sci-Fi space opera novel, like me. It has really piqued my interest and has made me want to look into other similar books.

3.5/5