The Praxis
by Walter Jon Williams
Author's Description:
“All will must bend to the perfect truth of The Praxis
For millennia, the Shaa have subjugated the universe, forcing the myriad sentient races to bow to their joyless tyranny. But the Shaa will soon be no more. The dread empire is in its rapidly fading twilight, and with its impending fall comes the promise of a new galactic order . . . and bloody chaos.
A young Terran naval officer marked by his lowly birth, Lt. Gareth Martinez is the first to recognize the insidious plot of the Naxid -- the powerful, warlike insectoid society that was enslaved before all others -- to replace the masters’ despotic rule with their own. Barely escaping a swarming surprise attack, Martinez and Caroline Sula, a pilot whose beautiful face conceals a deadly secret, are now the last hope for freedom for every being who ever languished in Shaa chains -- as the interstellar battle begins against a merciless foe whose only perfect truth is annihilation.”
For millennia, the Shaa have subjugated the universe, forcing the myriad sentient races to bow to their joyless tyranny. But the Shaa will soon be no more. The dread empire is in its rapidly fading twilight, and with its impending fall comes the promise of a new galactic order . . . and bloody chaos.
A young Terran naval officer marked by his lowly birth, Lt. Gareth Martinez is the first to recognize the insidious plot of the Naxid -- the powerful, warlike insectoid society that was enslaved before all others -- to replace the masters’ despotic rule with their own. Barely escaping a swarming surprise attack, Martinez and Caroline Sula, a pilot whose beautiful face conceals a deadly secret, are now the last hope for freedom for every being who ever languished in Shaa chains -- as the interstellar battle begins against a merciless foe whose only perfect truth is annihilation.”
My Review - Rating - 4.5/10
Overall, The Praxis is a book with a lot of good elements and one fatal flaw that ruins it. The book has good writing, interesting characters, a cool premise, and an awesome story. Unfortunately, it also has too slow of a pace for any of that to matter. The first three-quarters of this book is spent getting characters’ backstories, hearing about the character socializing at events that play no real role in the plot, and doing mundane things. These interactions take up way too much space in the book for there to be a decent story in the meticulously crafted world. I won’t spoil the book, but let’s just say that the combat is boring, there’s almost no suspense, and there is very little excitement in the latter part of the book. I’d never thought I’d say that a dinner party and petty social intrigue was more interesting than a massive space battle, but that’s true for this book, although both topics almost put me to sleep. I expected this book to be about navigating the fall of an ancient empire, not two boring navy officers navigating their mundane social lives in an archaic society. Overall, this is one of the few books that I’d just recommend not to read, as it goes overboard on character interactions instead of creating a compelling or suspenseful story.
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