Bitter Angels - review

BITTER ANGELS

by C.L. Anderson (aka Sarah Zettel)
Science Fiction

*****
I actually read this book about a month ago, I can't even remember when I actually finished it. I do know I finished it right before I read Witch Hunt. :) Anyway, even though it took me way too long to finish it, the time it took wasn't the fault of the novel or the writing, it was my own life getting in the way of me reading. work, grandkids, family....all that stuff. :) No matter how long it took me to read it, I found it interesting and I enjoyed reading it.



I like the cover of Bitter Angels because it shows images of what the novel is about - and it doesn't make it look like everyone is going to drop what they're doing and have mad sex. I don't like the cover because it's ....I don't know the word I want. I do know that I'm not a huge fan of this type of art form, even though the art itself is good. Confusing enough? Imagine being in my head. I don't like it, but I like it, maybe I don't really, yes I do....I DON'T REALLY KNOW..... lol



The novel itself is about a murder - only it's not as simple as it seems. A woman, Terese, used to be a field commander, going from planet to planet calming down "hotspots" among other duties. Her ex-colleague has been murdered and this causes Terese to be called back into active duty, to the disappointment and anger of her family.



She travels to a system, Erasmus, to find out what she can and it's here that things get extremely complicated. The story is told in two main first person pov's. Terese and Armand. Armand is an indentured servant to the elite of Erasmus. Erasmus, in fact, runs on a system of almost slavery - keeping their employees in such debt to them, that they are hopelessly indentured to them for long years. Not only do we get the story from these two, but there are third person accounts of at least two other people. This could have been very confusing, but each time the pov shifted, there was a handy title to the sections (Armand, Terese, etc.)



It turns out that Bianca (Terese's murdered ex colleage) was involved in a plot somehow nd Terese has to figure out if her friend was essentially a traitor or was kidnapped and murdered.



Bitter Angels had a lot going on - a few subplots that all tied together into one huge conspiracy. The world building was pretty interesting, from the futuristic earth to the Erasmus system, the space ships, the history of a few different planets, and yet it was written in such a way that I didn't lose interest. Anything that even closely resembles textbook learning is a sure way to get me to stop reading something. ( I suffer from Lazy Brain Syndrome....it's closely related to Book Attention Deficit Disorder - a horribly debilitating disorder...lol ) After all, I don't want to sleep my life away. :)



Anyway, I really enjoyed the novel, and there was a few action scenes that were pretty good. The last scenes in the book were also pretty intense.



If you like SciFi with planets, spaceships and sinister plots, this is a good book to read.



Speculative Reading Challenge