Honor's Knight (Paradox Book 2)

I cannot get over what a fantastic series this is. It’s so slept on and I’m so grateful a friend recommended it to me because not reading it would of been a shame. This being the second book there is so much going on that I couldn’t even scratch the surface by trying to explain it to you. All I can do is gush about the wild ride that these books are. There’s such high stakes, characters you love and characters you hate. I have so many questions and I’ve got feeling book three is going to wrap everything quite nicely.

One thing I love about Rachel Aaron’s writing is that she LOVES to tackle the hard questions. While only a masochist would volunteer to be one of Aaron’s heroes, I’m pretty sure Devi Morris would volunteer to take it on for free lugging along her beloved Lady Gray, because Devi is all about honor, duty, and justice. And Rachel is all about putting heroes through the wringer to see what they’re really made of. Devi just wanted to a quick way to become a Devastator, a member of her saint king’s own armored unit. And The Glorious Fool and Captain Caldswell looked like just the ticket. One year on his cursed ship equals several years of regular service. What could go wrong?First, Devi is missing a lot of memories, the ones that might just keep her alive. The ones that tell her who is a friend and who is an enemy. And now she’s seeing things, weird aliens bumping around, tiny ones that cluster around her and her associates and huge ones that are munching on space ships and planets. Second, there’s an alien virus that’s working its way through her body that could be a bad thing and kill her or it could be a good thing, since it’s capable of killing things that might want to kill Devi. Third, Devi’s seeing something else, someone else, who has her own agenda for Devi. Fourth, Devi’s not certain she knows who wants to kill her and who doesn’t, since the cook seems to have a problem with her, the captain has a problem with her… In fact, almost everyone Devi meets either has a problem with her or is trying to kill her or both. Okay, and they’re all trying to use her. It’s just not Devi’s best year.As usual, Rachel Bach/Aaron has got wonderfully twisty plots that wind their way through the story, growing twistier and darker as each book progresses. (I’m wondering if Rachel has a Lady Gray in her closet!)Honor’s Knight continues the Paradox series with a wonderfully strong female lead who’s not afraid to kick butt and take names, unique alien races, cool tech, even cooler spaceships, etc. I’m going to repeat from my review of Fortune’s Pawn that if you have any problem with the science, simply suspend your disbelief or pretend this is a fantasy, because a few debatable terms aside – which could simply be justified as a transition of definition through simple generational linguistical shifts that all languages have, this is an original and fun ride. In fact, it was so much fun, I binge-read the entire trilogy. Who needs to sleep?!Nothing to disappoint and SO much Devi to love. If you love Rachel Aaron / Rachel Bach, science fiction, strong female characters, and original worlds, you’ll be pleased you grabbed the Paradox series. Way too much fun! Highly recommended.I hope Rachel writes more science fiction. Actually, I just hope she writes more. If you haven’t read Rachel’s Eli Monpress or Nice Dragon series under the name Rachel Aaron, go now. Grab them. Read them! Anything Rachel, I highly recommend to readers who love fantasy and science fiction. She hasn’t disappointed yet.

I hate amnesia plots, so I skipped reviewing book 1. This one ended on a much better note, and I am excited for the final book!

Honor’s Knight slams onto the scene, moving forward with the same ground pounding momentum as Fortune’s Pawn. At this point I wonder if there isn’t a bad situation that Devi Morris can’t get herself into.I loved you once upon a dreamDevi has this extreme nauseous revulsion now whenever she sees her once flame, Rupert, who she at this point just thinks of as ‘the cook.’ And she can’t understand why she’s having such a gut reaction toward him when she doesn’t even know his name. Curiouser and Curiouser, yes? She slowly starts to pick things apart, what with her odd dreams involving Rupert and the way when she’s close to him yet not looking at him things feel so right and natural.To the far reaches of space and beyondThat is the scope of which this plot line in Honor’s Knight is starting to expand to. Devi realizes there is something very wrong with her and this black dust coating her fingers. It’s slowly working itself up her arms and with it comes some very unusual abilities. She starts to suspect there is something about these shimmering bugs that no one else sees but her and when she finds out just what it changes everything.The enemy of my enemyOne of the best parts about the Paradox books thus far is that you really don’t know who the bad guys are. Each character or race encountered has been capable of or committed acts that are morally appalling all in the name of their respective causes. Would I be any less responsible for torturing someone if it was to save the lives of others? I loved how these characters and their actions really call into question my own thoughts on morality and what I would be willing to do. So who can you trust? No one really but yourself, but one can always hope right?My bacon could fry the whole universeWhat the heck is a woman to do when you hold the virus that could very well destroy all living things in the entire known universe? Run? Hide? Kill yourself? Heck I don’t know what I would do – that’s just too overwhelming of a thought. This is the highest stakes game Devi has ever played because now she isn’t just responsible for her life or those of her employers, no no no, she’s got every living person in the galaxy to think of. I don’t envy her one bit.We are who we wereAs Honor’s Knight is the second book in a trilogy you can well expect that there are quite a few things left unsettled. Many issues were addressed, even more problems were created, yadda yadda, all good stuff to keep me eating up every page. That is of course the nature of trilogies – leaving me with a big ‘no we can’t stop now!’ I’ve come to believe that the second book always leaves you with the biggest feeling of anticipation so that the final book can hammer things home. I do however like the place that the characters as well as we readers are left at. This was definitely a perfect scene I could well imagine on a huge screen fading to black with a big bold….To be continued.

If you love action, you will be overjoyed with this second book of the Paradox trilogy... it never stops and twists and turns at breakneck speed, hardly letting the reader pause for breath or to consider whether something really made any sense. Her writing just carries you along through this intense adventure.It is not quite as captivating as the first volume though and perhaps a bit too disjointed, hence 4 stars, although I would really give it 4.5 if there was that option. It's still good stuff for SciFi with a military flavour and a heroine, Devi, who somehow always comes out on top in the end.Faster written than Elizabeth Moon and Lois McMaster Bujold, with less development of the characters, perhaps a little more like the writing of Chris Bunch or David Drake (if you know who any of these authors are?... all worth a try!)Anyway, having paused briefly to write this review, I am about to start the final book of the series and if the reviews are anything to go by, I am in for another treat!

The second in the trilogy, which started with Honours Pawn. This carries on with the story of one intrepid and determined mercenary, Deviana. But this is far from your average mercenary story, with amazingly different aliens and non stop excitement. I read the first book, bought the second and am now reading the third story. Give it a try.

While I've enjoyed this book, it's not as good or as original as the first one. It feels like endless fights where Devi comes out on top each time, even though it's less and less likely. But my main problem is that at some point between writing her first book and this one, the author has clearly read Ryk Brown's series. How do I know that? The references to Hyperspace in the first book are all her own. In the second, she keeps referring to the "white light" of the "jump drive" or "the light of the jump drive washed over the ship". The descriptions are completely different to the first book and it is so jarring and so disturbing it is putting me off.Similarly, it doesn't feel like she can get to an interesting and exciting conclusion so I am not sure I'm going to bother reading the third book. I'm certainly not paying £6 for it.

I really enjoyed this book - a kickass heroine, twisty plot and engaging supporting characters. Will be reading the sequel!

As the center of this new trilogy, it was equally as action packed and memorable as the first and keeps the reader totally into it, with its action-movie-like scenes and one liners! Loved it!Most of all tho, is the way Rachel Bach has structured the civilizations throughout the series, especially the Paradoxian culture. The brilliant Medieval, and partly Roman characteristics is brilliantly portrayed, and displayed in a science fiction context which works unexpectedly well.. After reading it, what i'd give for some of that Verdemonte class armor!As a whole, great sequel and awesome read. Read the first one before reading this, but definitely get both! You wont regret it.