Chapter By Chapter features me reading one chapter of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.
Three chapters and we’re still on the same scene. I guess he’s dividing by good story breaks, which is actually not a bad idea. Chapter one, introduce the main characters. Chapter two, bring out the early antagonists. Chapter three, show their initial fight to further define everyone. I don’t have a problem with this.
So now Joanna is going to hopefully show the punk kids a lesson for mouthing off to their superior while they’ve had less battle experience than I have, and I was never in the military. I’m hoping the whole chapter is just Joanna schooling the test tube brats, and I’m not a supporter of any of the Clans, given I’m coming to this franchise from the show and comics. To find out let’s return to the book later that same day and see what happens.
Unfortunately we only see two of them get schooled. I guess the fight is going to be a few chapters long. (I didn’t peek ahead to the outcome, just if the fight continues. It’s the fight with the lead brat Cholas we want to see but in typical villain fashion he’s going to sent the flunkies in to wear her down. Well, if he thought starting with the most muscular he planned poorly. The big dude is taken out rather easily though it does waste time, the big girl, who shows they’re planning to kill her whatever the rules say, also gets downed easily. Normally this would be a battle to the death and I’m betting you’d have five dead kids. However, the Jade Falcon ranks are depleted after the war with the Inner Sphere so at least Joanna is honorable enough to fight by the rules…no death battles.
I’m guessing we’re going to have this and the next chapter being the preliminaries before the main event the following chapter, and I guess if you want to offer an opening for someone reading on their lunch break or something that’s not a bad approach. If you have the time and interest you can read more, but this is Chapter By Chapter. I only break that title’s rule when the chapter is way too short. At least the fights are well staged within prose limits. There were a couple points I didn’t quite follow but that could be me more than the story given most of the time Thurston sets the scene well enough.
So join me next time as Joanna takes out the weaker brats. Maybe they’ll prove they have some talent. I’m not placing bets on that.
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