Raven Stratagem (Machineries of Empire Book 2)

Simply fantastic. I usually only re-read books where I've completely forgotten everything, but after a couple of chapters of Raven Stratagem I went back to Ninefox Gambit after less than six months simply because I enjoy the characters so much I wanted every bit of their stories and their world fresh in my mind. (Plus that book is a tremendous pleasure to read with the benefit of hindsight and with a better grasp of the world building.) Raven Stratagem was a worthy sequel, with fascinating new POV characters, and an epic plot unfolding with just as many twists and turns as you'd expect after the first book. The visuals continue to be stunning; the world harrowing and terrible but full of people who try their best to be... if not good, then maybe better than the world would like them to be? And this book even more than its predecessors has a gratifying cast of queer, trans and non-binary characters of all sorts. (Except of course they don't think of it in those terms - and I do love getting glimpses of what gender expression and family and such could be like with different sets of societal expectation, especially presented like this, as a matter of fact part of another universe.) And the whole thing hits my buttons like whoa, though I feel it would take a lot of digging to get at exactly what those buttons are, and why this particular series is pushing them so hard.

Raven Stratagem (The Machineries of Empire #2) by Yoon Ha Lee A stunning conclusion to the first book. We peer ever deeper into the Hexarchate, and the various way it works, and doesn't work, to keep the galaxy under it's thumb. Never mind the mysterious Calendrical Warfare and Exotic Technologies, that's just the dressing. The real stuff is the characters. And in this book we really get a better handle on Shous Judeo, obviously at the expense of Kel Cheris. Or not? And we have some new friends to meet and greet as well. Soon Ha Lee has done a superb job of interweaving the disparate plots, and various and sundry folks, into a very consistent, and well appointed whole. The pace is as fast, or as slow, as needed. The people feel very real, and are many layered. Plus a few surprises along the way, and it all makes for a great read!

Although I am posting based on the audiobook edition of this book, I also received an ARC copy from Solaris and Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. I also bought the Kindle edition of this book. “What good is immortality if nothing has been done to repair the fault lines of the human heart?” At the outset I want to recommend to any reader of the Machineries of Empire series that they check out Yoon Ha Lee's extremely helpful Hexarchate Faction Cheat Sheet. Please note that the individual links he offers, which link to the Solaris website for his series, provide some extra information, especially about the Heptarchate Liozh faction. As much as I wanted to reread Ninefox Gambit before reading Raven Stratagem it was not possible, due to timing of completing my reading for voting on the Hugo Awards. Shortly before the publication date of Raven, Solaris had been kind enough to gift me with an ARC and I was already sooo late in getting a review out that rereading or even relistening to Ninefox seemed like a luxury I couldn’t afford, especially since I was sure I was going to end up wanting to reread this new book just as much. My feelings of the shock and awe of the immersion into the Hexarchate world of Cheris and Jedao in Ninefox still lingered. I felt like I had been tossed on a tempest for most of that book, much as I loved it. I wasn't sure I really understood it as much as I wanted to. So what to do before I embedded myself fully in Raven? (Which, btw, let's think about raven, shall we?) I felt like I needed a bit more grounding on the world I was reading about. Last week I spent a fair amount of time exploring the Machineries world on Yoon Ha Lee's website. I checked out the very useful cheatsheet he provides (as I mentioned above), plus I enjoyed reading some of the back stories of Jedao and Cheris. (Link with a full list of the short stories here, reviews of the shorts to follow on the weekend) And it's a result of especially one of those short stories that I found that maybe I had a leg up on a bit of the endgame in this, the second book in the Machineries trilogy. In contemplating the puzzling political world with mathematical zealots, exotic technologies, and the vast array of hexarchate terminology that gets thrown at us, at times it’s been all too easy to be lost in the details and not see the broad view of what’s going wrong at the heart of the world of the Hexarchate, and the ultimate reasons for Heptarchate’s fall. It is little surprise that calendrical heresy is at the root of all. There is an inextricable bond between the technological power of the Hexarchate and its reliance on a faltering, cruel system that places no value on life, while it perpetuating faith and formation instinct based on arcane rituals and the assumption that sacrifice is a fantastic destiny. While the reason for Jedao’s use in Ninefox Gambit was made quite obvious, I had puzzled over what Jedao’s goal or ultimate purpose would be as we move forward in the series. We knew that ultimately Jedao wanted a better world but how to create it? Certainly Hellspin Fortress wasn’t a great start and frankly, after a passage in this book, I'm still wondering about what the hell happened in the seeming fugue state Jedao was in at Hellspin. But, going back to basics, looking at Cheris and Jedao, we see characters that never fit neatly into their factions. Cheris, a Kel with reportedly stunning mathematical abilities that should have made her a Nirai, chose Kel. And then, that sneaky Ninefox Crowned with Eyes, Shuos Jedao, seemed to choose the Kel, as well. Why? Those that don’t fit their factions, in almost every sci-fi or dystopian world, are those who will broker the greatest change. (We could call them Divergent but this is so much deeper a world.) When making change on this scale, you're talking war and in a war, you need an army. Among new and equally rich characters, we finally meet Shuos Hexarch Mikodez in all his glory. Mikodez is a true delight, probably my favorite character of the new set. From his growing onions, to his knitting, Mikodez, is a character almost as compelling as Jedao. Mikodez is a wonderful addition to the Machineries series, as is General Khiruev. Even Brexan, a character I occasionally wanted to give a good, hard shake, is an interesting mirror reflection of Jedao’s path re: Kel, Shuos and crashhawk status. The depth, quirkiness and complexity of the characters that Lee gives us are a marvel. They are really a pleasure to read. Many have written about Lee’s masterfully smooth world with respect to gender fluidity and sexual orientation. The world he has built with respect to gender and sexuality feels so natural it just flows. There are horrors here, like attempted genocides to get the attention of Jedao/Cheris, or the Hafn, who horrifyingly use their children as energy sources. Where Ninefox Gambit introduced us to the failings of rigid political systems based on religion, Raven Stratagem offers us a world where, in spite of the slimmest of odds, hearts and minds prevail. Right now this is my top choice for nominations for best novel for the Hugos next year. Such a great read. Worth all the effort to dig into Lee's vision. Those wanting some insight into this book are directed to the short story The Robot's Math Lessons which you can find on the author's website.

This is a worthy successor to "Ninefox Gambit", and continues the story in that world well. If you haven't read the first book, please do so, but don't expect Lee to give you any help - Lee shows you a lot, but doesn't tell you a lot, so you have to pay attention and figure out what's going on. If you're a lazy reader, stick with Harry Potter. My only complaint about this book (and the reason it got four instead of five stars) is that the last 10-15% of the book seemed to be rushed - I was expecting a lot more story there. Instead, it appeared Lee rushed through a few weeks of book time to get to a satisfactory ending, and a different book 3 setup. I was disappointed, as I thought there might be a lot more to talk about there. However, I'm still hooked - when the 3rd book comes out, I'll re-read both Ninefox and this to make sure I've got the complete story down before starting it.

This is less a review and more me working out the thematic logic of the book for myself. I liked the book, for me it didn't have the usual issue of the second book dropping in quality compared to the first. The interesting part for me was about calendrical coercion, the coercion of a populace into making and carrying out and suffering from monstrous decisions by its ruling bodies. I lose track as soon as I finish working it out so if i get this wrong just ignore me. The idea behind calendrical orthodoxy is essentially using the calendar as a structure to get everyone to believe the same thing, because believing the same thing allows the hexarchate to use fancy magic stuff to kill people and maybe live forever. The problem is obvious, it's fundamentally impossible to get or force any sizeable group of people to believe the same thing, hence the spies and the teacher-torturers who keep everyone from committing heresy and the constant and continuous heresies because all the re-education and murder wasn't very effective, and the calendrical (technological) coercion that keeps the population from revolting, or at least gives the government a bunch of fancy ways to annihilate them if and when they do revolt. It's interesting that in order to break this system the characters have to consistently make irrational choices, that's not a criticism by the way. Structure reifies belief in the hexarchate, and just like a landlord letting a tenant live rent-free is absurd by our standards, the context in which the hexarchate exists renders anything that could truly harm it into the realm of the ridiculous. That absurdity of seeking the active consent of the governed, which I have so much trouble trying to wrap my head around, was the central conflict of the book. The way the characters resolve this situation (how do you allow a coerced population to make a choice out of their own free will) is by removing/transforming the structures that constrain the choice and will of the governed and then allowing the governed population to make their own decisions so the characters can hopefully forestall the hexarchate from becoming even more monstrous than it already is and maybe even change it for the better. Because a hexarchate that requires the active consent of its parts in order to function has less discretion to unilaterally commit genocide in a fit of peak. I keep thinking about something I read by Herbert A. Giles about Qing Dynasty China being a "democratic" form of empire, precisely because, whenever a change in law had to be made the government officials sought the active consent of the people beforehand, in tax rates etc. This of course isn't to say it was a utopia, but it's interesting to think that what's absurd by one standard was often the law of the land in another. It's the sort of book that makes me put it down and start pacing and mumbling to myself as I try to figure it out, I like it a lot.

If you loved the initial book in the series, this review probably won't be much help to you, because I found the original Ninefox Gambit to be an uninterpretable mess for the most part with some interesting character dynamics at its core. Raven Strategem has more character dynamics, which makes it more readable, but the general approach Lee takes to the universe where math=magic and very few of the results are described except with proper nouns, like "the Knives are Our Walls", is unchanged. Though hypothetically military science fiction (or maybe a space opera with a military focus), the pivotal battles in the story are described in this impenetrable, arcane way that make it seem to some like there's no action in the book at all, based on some other reviews. As an aside, he takes the same approach questions of gender and sexuality. If I had to guess, I'd say the fluid and nonspecific nature of gender in the story is some sort of social commentary, but to me it mostly made characters harder to visualize and did more to take me out of the story as I tried to figure out whether a character was a man or a woman, or looked like a man or a woman, or what. Maybe the point is I shouldn't care? But I'm a human, and do. The many characters the story introduce generally have good and interesting dialogue (even if there's a slightly tiring over-prevalence of effete ADD geniuses in the story) that moves along a plot that's decent if not all that surprising. But the story does suffer from a lack of character conflict. Even when Lee sets up a showdown between developed characters, those showdowns are routinely anticlimactic. In a nutshell, good dialogue and a decent story made it readable end to end, but I didn't fall in love with any characters, I didn't understand the action scenes, and most importantly, I will not be giving the series a third try. Maybe I'd be willing to sample the author's work with a new setting that isn't hamstrung by inherently incomprehensible mechanics.

A second part of a series that was even better than the first part, if that's possible. While the first part was military action and strategy, this volume concentrated more on politics and intrigue: it was all plots within plots within counter-plots, with a bit of military action thrown in to keep things interesting. Interesting characters, an illogically logical universe and lots of intrigue. What more can one want?

One of the biggest challenges in any genre, including science fiction, is keeping it new and fresh. That's a difficult thing; if one accepts the statement that Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN is the first science fiction novel, we realize that science fiction has now been around for 200 years. I'm not a scholar of the field by any means, but I'd be willing to state that the field really didn't pick up steam until the early 20th century. Even taking that into account, the idea of keeping science fiction fresh, new, and interesting is tough for a genre that has been going strong for well over a 100 years. Back in 2016 Yoon Ha Lee gave the world RAVEN STRATAGEM, Book One of the Machineries of Empire. Yes, it was military space opera, which certainly wasn't new, but it had a different idea - that of, for the lack of a better term, calendrical mechanics - which governed the way people lived their lives. As I said in my review of NINEFOX GAMBIT, "It is a way of life, a belief system, a way to hold moral fabric together. And it can be a weapon." With RAVEN STRATAGEM, we see Lee take that idea and ultimately change the way the world operates. Mad Shuos Jedeo has taken over the body of Kel Cheris, a genius at mathematics who was having difficulties with formation instinct, a way of keeping things in order and focus, a way of getting things done. Think of always doing what you're told, always deferring to someone in authority. Jedeo/Cheris board the ship of Kel General Khiruev, who is about to go into battle to try and defeat the Hafn, who are trying to invade the Hexarchate. Jedeo is of higher rank than Khiruev, so formation instinct kicks in and she defers to him. Jedeo claims he is after the same thing that the rest of the Hexarchate is after: the defeat of the Hafn. But no one knows if that's really true or not. There are factions within the Kel that are trying to kill Jedeo because he is indeed a rogue operative that they've lost control of and no longer want to deal with. He is a madman who has killed his own troops and they feel he can no longer be trusted. And yet, all signs point to him doing exactly what the Kel want anyway. So, what's up with all that anyway? The novel is much more complex than what I've described above. Really, all that is just a starting point for all the political intrigue and espionage that takes place. And yes, there's action, as you would think there should be in a military science fiction novel. But what's really going on under the covers is much more insidious, and when the big reveal is made the reader almost has to stand up and take notice. The reveal not only involves a character we thought we were following all along, but a shift in the nature of the Hexarchate. I can tell you that I did not see it coming and I do so enjoy when a novel surprises me. Yet, the change is internally consistent and while it wasn't telegraphed by any means, I think that if you put the two novels together and recall what happens back in NINEFOX GAMBIT, you should have been able to see it coming. So, yeah, keeping the genre fresh and interesting. Yoon Ha Lee has done that in the first two books of Machineries of Empire. I'm betting he can do it in the third as well, REVENANT GUN, which will be released later this year. I'm looking forward to seeing what he surprises me with next.

At this point I love Machineries of Empire with my full heart. The story is captivating from the start to the end.

Sometimes confusing to separate the personalities from their people- but I suppose that was mostly the point- it’s captured my imagination and I’ve chosen my heroine/hero, the only integrated Shuos/Kel, that’s both immortal and mortal and male and female. Complex and captivating space warriors

I enjoyed the increase in characters plotting / pulling of crazy plans. New characters were introduced - all of whom were interesting and many of whom I came to admire. Getting to read the POV of the head spy was defy a treat.

I've been looking forward to this book for ages, and it didn't disappoint. It's a hard thing to follow such a stunning first book in a series, but Yoon Ha Lee has done an utterly marvellous job. Compelling new characters that you can't help but care for, haunted all the while by the presence of the uber-competent and more-than-a-little-unhinged Shuos Jedao. A deeper look at the Hexarchate, its factions, and its exotic tech. Space battles galore (OH MY THE BATTLES!), but that's only scratching the surface of this delightfully devious and thought provoking tale.

Retour dans un univers complexe… Le Gambit du Renard nous plongeait dans l’univers de l’Hexacart, une société humaine occupant un vaste territoire interstellaire sous la coupe d’un régime autoritaire tenu par les hexarques, représentants six branches fonctionnelles de la société : les Rahal contrôlent le Calendrier et les lois, les Andan sont financiers et diplomates, les Shuos sont espions et assassins, les Kel qui sont la branche militaire, les Vidonia en charge de l’éducation et des tortures cérémonielles, et les Nirai qui sont les scientifiques et mathématiciens de l’Hexacart. La cohésion de l’Empire est assurée par le Haut Calendrier, à la fois système mathématique et système de lois imposées sur les populations. Pour plus de détails, j’avais expliqué dans la chronique du premier tome l’importance du Calendrier en tant que métrique en lien avec le fonctionnement des technologies au sein de l’Hexacart. Le Gambit du Renard était le récit d’une bataille menée contre une rébellion par un improbable couple formé d’une jeune capitaine Kel, Cheris, artificiellement liée à l’esprit d’un général criminel, Shuos Jedao. Le Gambit apparaissait alors comme un roman de science-fiction militaire, possédant une inclination hard-SF car Yoon Ha Lee, mathématicien de formation, s’appliquait à y développer l’aspect mathématique et technologique de son univers. L’Hexacart y semblait un environnement politique et social monolithique et impénétrable. … qui se complexifie encore un peu plus. Dans Raven stratagem, Yoon Ha Lee inverse le point de vue et offre un regard de l’intérieur sur la politique de l’Hexacart. Le monolithe se fissure, révèle des failles, voire des abysses. Si la répartition en castes de la société de l’Hexacart m’évoquait déjà le roman Dune de Frank Herbert, ce sentiment de filiation est encore plus fort dans Raven stratagem. Yoon Ha Lee décrit un monstre politique incestueux et obscène, une hydre à six têtes dont chacune cherche à dévorer l’autre, qui s’ébat dans des intrigues politiques que les Harkonnen ne renieraient pas. Ces craquelures touchent bien évidemment les peuples et si l’on imaginait précédemment une stricte obédience, certes conditionnée, au Calendrier, Yoon Lee Ha construit son roman autour de personnages qui n’y croient plus, qui craquent et se crashent (crashhawks). De nouvelles têtes font ainsi leur apparition dans ce second tome. Du simple soldat Kel à l’Hexarque Shuos, ces figures prennent le devant de la scène, reléguant les héros du Gambit au second plan, mais pour une très bonne raison. Le scénario de Raven stratagem repose sur un mensonge. Le lecteur, ayant lu le Gambit du Renard le sait. Lecteurs, nous avons été les témoins privilégiés de la scène finale du Gambit. Mais personne au sein de l’Hexacart ne sait exactement ce qu’il est advenu de Kel Cheris et Shuos Jedao. L’intrigue qui se met en place dans Raven stratagem possède ainsi un twist qui n’en n’est pas vraiment un puisque le lecteur est déjà au courant. Et pourtant, cela fonctionne, et on joue le jeu. Il n’y aura pas de surprise au moment de la révélation mais le plaisir d’une confidence et d’un tour bien ficelé. Si dans Dune l’épice doit couler, dans les Machineries de l’Empire, l’horloge doit tiquer. Ce sera le cœur du roman. En conclusion Après le Gambit du Renard, Raven stratagem est une très belle réussite qui confirme largement l’intérêt suscité par le premier tome. Le roman est tout d’abord nettement plus facile à aborder que son prédécesseur. Nous sommes maintenant habitués à l’univers, aux technologies étranges et exotiques, aux néologismes et aux factions. Tout ceci coule désormais de manière transparente et l’attention est entièrement tournée vers l’histoire. Yoon Ha Lee peut donc développer et complexifier un univers déjà fort riche et le faire vivre. Même s’il est encore très présent, l’aspect militaire n’est plus au centre du roman, mais laisse la place aux intrigues politiques. De nombreux personnages, particulièrement bien développés, font leur apparition. De nombreux éléments, plus ou moins discrètement disséminés dans le premier tome, trouvent ici leur raison d’être et s’assemblent pour délier le scénario. On pourra éventuellement reprocher à ce scénario de manquer de surprise, mais on assiste à la mise en route d’une mécanique lancée dès le premier tome. Et comme il s’agit d’une belle mécanique, je ne boude pas mon plaisir. Yoon Ha Lee nous offre avec cette trilogie du très beau space opera, politique et militaire, audacieux et complexe, créatif et réjouissant.