Bitter Angels

by C.L. Anderson and Sarah Zettel

An Imploding Star System. A Murdered Galactic Spy. A Woman Seeking the Truth--and Finding the Unbelievable... The Erasmus System is a sprawling realm of slavery, smugglers, spies--and constant,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553592173
• ISBN13: 9780553592177
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: Spectra Books
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.1" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Peacekeepers - meant literally.

[Disclaimer: I received this book for a twitter RT contest run by the publisher. There was no expectation of any kind associated with it.] Bitter Angels is based on an interesting twist: What if an entire society was based around keeping the peace? Not through oppression, not through violence (or at least, lethal violence), but through a combination of technology, diplomacy, and sheer dedication. What would that society look like? It's an intriguing twist to a sci-fi spy novel, and it works rather well. The plot is complex and multilayered, but Anderson takes care to make sure we're no more confused than her protagonist Terese. Characters speak and think differently and are well differentiated. Things that first appear as tropes or sloppy thinking reveal themselves to be anything but, as the story really rollercoasters its way to a satisfying finish. The one annoyance I had with the novel directly grew out of its strengths. In the first hundred pages, Anderson makes sure that we know the background and history of both the complex world and the complex characters. For someone extremely familiar with sfnal works, those chunks seem a little like overexplaining. At the same time, those expositional passages would work wonderfully for someone who was just starting to get into science fiction - especially given Anderson's strong portrayal of both male and female characters as equals. Lord knows I've confused members of my writing group before with allusions to sf standards they've never heard before. So if you're new to sf, this book is friendly to you. And if you're not new to sf, the exposition isn't particularly onerous - and it disappears entirely once Anderson's set the world up around you (about 50-odd pages in). The rest of the book definitely makes it worth it.

Well done, especially for a first novel

I bought this after reading an interview with the author on John Scalzi's blog, and really enjoyed the book. There was a saying by . . . I forget who, exactly, Heinlein, maybe, that in order for the bulk of us to enjoy peace, there have to be a group of people willing to do violence. "Team America" explored the same idea, and came to the same conclusion. Anderson agrees, it seems, but takes things down a different than expected path, which is always good for science fiction. It's not hard SF, but it's good, and does take some of our current technology to a future extreme. It was well written, with a number of interesting and well put together metaphors and similes, if you like that sort of thing, but the prose never got in the way of the story. I'd be interested in reading more about the universe she's created, and those who enforce/create the peace.