Review: The Praxis

The Praxis by Walter Jon Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A second read-through for the series, and I enjoyed it very much the second time too. It's a detailed, believable universe with realistic-seeming space battles that don't just wave a hand and disregard all of Newtonian physics. No artificial gravity or warp drives here. That, combined with the stilted, stratified society of the Praxis, makes the whole thing read a bit like one of those 18th century naval stories. There's action, and politics, and a bit of romance.

On that latter count, I quite like the turbulent relationship between Martinez and Sula. I despise the standard sit-com (or Shakespearian, for that matter) setup where two people who like each other end up at each other's throats through a misunderstanding that could easily have been avoided by them, you know, actually speaking to one another. But here Williams pulls that off with believable reasons why they wouldn't or couldn't communicate, and the result is compelling. None of the characters is defined solely, or even primarily, through their role in a relationship, and that makes their relationship feel all the more real.

Without spoiling anything, the ending of the series is a bit of a bittersweet victory that deftly avoids the more obvious cliches. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

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