SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Will to Battle (Terra Ignota #3) by Ada Palmer

SF/F Review: The Will to Battle (Terra Ignota #3) by Ada Palmer: https://t.co/r13mb8bI0M Short Review: 7.5 out of 10 (1/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 7, 2018

Short Review (cont): Palmer's philosophical scifi series of a world where Enlightenment philosophy has led to a new world order in the 25th century continues with the major powers relearning and preparing for war and the influence of Thomas Hobbes. Still Incredibly unique (2/3)

— garik16 (@garik16) February 7, 2018

  The Will to Battle is book 3 of Ada Palmer's philosophical SciFi tetralogy "Terra Ignota," following last year's Hugo Nominated "Too Like the Lightning" and "Seven Surrenders."  The series, which features a 25th century world that has based its governments and ways of life on the ideals of Enlightenment thinkers, is one of the most unique* works I've ever read in the genre, featuring an unreliable narrator, a constantly shifting textual style between multiple formats, and frequent interjections by philosophers and a fictional reader in the middle of the story.  I'm sure such a thing has been done before (everything has) and the result is something that very likely inspires people to either love or hate the series with little in between, but for me it creates a really fascinating story.

*Yeah I know I'm using "most unique" here - I can't think of a better phrase for this, so I'm using it anyhow.  Sue me.*

  That said, The Will to Battle shares some of my complaints with Book 1 in the series (Too Like the Lightning).  TLTL was quite clearly half of a book (with Seven Surrenders as its final half) and while The Will to Battle is more of a complete story with a more logical end point, it still ends the story just before the part the reader is anticipating from the very beginning.  The result is a 3rd book that is somewhere in between the first two in terms of quality, and a not quite satisfying ending.

Note:  You CANNOT begin this series with The Will to Battle, you will be HOPELESSLY lost.  Don't even try it.  As you might imagine, mild spoilers for books 1 & 2 follow, but I've limited it as much as possible.


------------------------------------------------Plot Summary--------------------------------------------------
Having chronicled the week that pulled the seemingly peaceful world into upheaval in the last two books, The Will to Battle is Mycroft Canner's chronicle of the events and preparations for the seemingly inevitable war to come, the first war the world has seen in over two centuries.  As each of the major powers - the seven Hives - grapple with the events that threaten their existences, the sides of the coming conflict become clear:  On one side, J.E.D.D. Mason, the self-declared God who threatens to become the simultaneous leader of all of the World's powers - on the other, there's Sniper, who seeks to legitimize O.S.'s actions and prevent that unification at all costs.

And then there's Achilles, the soldier of both past and future myth who is the only one who seemingly knows what war entails.  His decisions and support could change everything and throw the world into one side's hands.

But in this mass of political actors - some depraved, some irrational, some pragmatic, etc. - there are others in the shadows, with their own unknown agendas for the world. And whilst all the rest of the world muster up The Will to Battle, these shadow actors could further throw the world into chaos.
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You'll note I'm very vague in the above plot summary - while some of that is me trying to spoil as little as possible about the first two books, a lot of that is that again, The Will to Battle covers a LOT.  The book is listed at only 352 pages, but this is a book that has so many relevant characters and factions that even Epic Fantasy series may start to feel small in comparison.  For the most part, this works - most of these characters are established at least in part by the prior books, so there's enough background there for it not to feel too much.  We also learn a bit more about parts of the world not fully explained in the first two books - for example we learn a lot more about the seemingly anarchist Blacklaws.  Still, I'll admit that a few characters seemingly get lost (major character from the first two books, Carlyle Foster, appears on a few occasions but is then forgotten, which is a disappointment).

As with the prior books, the book is told mostly by an unreliable narrator in Mycroft himself, whose narration switches forms repeatedly without warning.  Our story changes from a standard narration to a transcript of dialogue on repeated occasions without warning, with the transcript headers including some playfulness at times as well (one conversation between two characters has each of the characters described differently before each response, for example).  Moreover, the book features frequent interjections by a future reader that Mycroft imagines is reading this chronicle, as well as comments on the nature of things in Mycroft's world by the imagined mind of Thomas Hobbes.  Hobbes' ideas are in large part explored in this book, and his comments on them are.....let's just say interesting.

Really a minor thing, but my favorite character from the prior novels, detective (kind of) Martin Guildbreaker has his own narrated chapter in the middle and he's hilarious in his methodology and maybe my favorite character.  Again, he's minor, but just fantastic.

Anyhow, it's not a spoiler to say that this book does not contain the actual war setup by the prior two books - the book tells you first thing that it is the chronicle of the lead-up, and so it's not really a surprise it ends before the "action" begins (there's an action sequence at the end of this book mind you).  Still, even with that forewarning, I do wish the book had gone a little bit farther before the end, as the ending chapters introduce/re-introduce a seeming new threat and then doesn't follow up on same and leaves it a mystery, which isn't a satisfying ending.

Oh and obviously if you're into Enlightenment philosophy and are well-familiar with the works of Hobbes and Voltaire and others (as I am not), you'll probably get more out of the series than I do.  But I still find the series truly interesting, even with the large # of characters making it hard to get close to anyone other than Mycroft (although again I love Martin), and so I don't regret reading this at all and am looking forward to the series' conclusion sometime next year.