Aug 192017
 

Behind The Throne, by K.B. Wagers

Synopsis: A runaway space princess is dragged back home to become a reluctant space queen.

Book Review: Ya know, I don’t want to sound elitist or anything, but I kinda want the novels I read to feel like the author put some effort into them. Behind The Throne is the opposite of that. It is non-stop cliches and predictability, and every artistic choice seems to have followed the path of least resistance.

For example, the princess is nominally in her late 30s, but still written with the attitude and mindset of a teenage. She’s a gunrunner, because that makes her vaguely bad-ass, without any thought as to the fact that it would also make her a war criminal (who was she running these guns to??). All her crew are conveniently killed at the start of the book to free her up for ruling the empire again, without much psychological impact on her. And so on and so forth.

It feels like a generic action movie that’s just there to sell tickets to bored kids on a summer afternoon. There is no ambition or emotion here, and it reads very much like something a teenager would write while bored in Home Room.

Not Recommended.

Book Club Review: There are several people in our group who are just fine with generic entertainment, which is why I felt kinda like an elitist jerk for disliking this book. It’s not “bad” per se. There’s just nothing to recommend it. Because of this there isn’t all that much to discuss either. It won’t kick your pets or anything, but Not Recommended.

  2 Responses to “SF/F Review – Behind The Throne”

  1. I wouldn’t call your comments elitist.

    From my experience, some people find a lot of comfort in the familiar.

  2. No obligation to like unimpressive books. Some people like them, some people buy them. Doesn’t have to be you. Or, your readers.

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