Fleet of Knives by Gareth L. Powell
Review by Cyndi J. (cyndij)
FLEET OF KNIVES is the second in the SF trilogy by Gareth Powell. It starts almost directly after EMBERS OF WAR, which I reviewed earlier and needs to be read first. EMBERS OF WAR introduced us to most of the main characters: Trouble Dog, the sapient spaceship; Sal Konstanz, captain of Trouble Dog; Nod, the Druff engineer; and Ona Sudak, the war criminal who exterminated an entire planet. This book also introduces “Lucky” Johnny Schulz, the captain of the ship Lucy’s Ghost.
At the end of the first book, Trouble Dog had managed to escape the murderous intentions of her sister ships, found the Marble Armada – a fleet of one million ships hidden in a pocket universe, just waiting for someone to lead them – and brought out Ona Sudak to face justice. But now it’s all going to come unraveled.
Trouble Dog and Sal are answering a distress call from Lucy’s Ghost, who has been mysteriously attacked in hyperspace and then crashed on a moon-sized generation ship left by the alien Nymtoq. The Nymtoq are going to be very unhappy that someone is messing around on their monument, but Johnny and the rest of the crew from Lucy’s Ghost have bigger problems just trying to stay alive. It turns out they are not alone in this place.
In the meanwhile, someone has broken Ona Sudak out of prison only moments before her scheduled execution. The Marble Armada has decided it needs a real leader, a biological entity, and Ona Sudak is the one. “What should we do?” it asks, and Ona Sudak says “End war. By whatever means possible” and thus begins more thousands of deaths as the Armada systematically destroys anything that can be a weapon – including Trouble Dog.
As befits the middle of a trilogy, it ends with our heroes beset on every side and managing to barely escape. None of the POV characters will die but just a warning, everyone else is fair game.
This is a fast-paced action-filled space opera. As before, the POV shifts every few pages between characters. Sal and Johnny are the captains desperately trying to keep their crews alive, Trouble Dog more dispassionate but also needing her crew. Nod has few scenes but still gets some character development. Ona Sudak seems rational on the surface but is just despicable – you will be irresistibly reminded of “We had to destroy the village in order to save it.”
There’s a surprise appearance at a crucial moment of someone from the last book. That was a little deus ex machina for my taste – Powell had better use him in the next book. Nod and its children were a delight and I know it has to play a bigger role next time. I would have loved to see chapters from the POV of Lucy. I liked Trouble Dog’s emotional development. There’s good dialogue with some humorous moments, very good imagery, and lots of mystery to make you impatient to read the end of the trilogy.
