Minor Thoughts from me to you

Darkship Renegades
by Sarah A. Hoyt

My rating: ★★★☆☆
Read From: 22 July 2013 - 24 July 2013

Goodreads book summary:

Entry number two in Sarah A. Hoyt’s rollicking and popular Darkship series, sequel to Darkship Thieves,and winner of the Prometheus Award. After rescuing her star pilot husband and discovering the dark secret of her own past on Earth, Athena Hera Sinistra returns to space habitat Eden to start life anew. Not happening. Thena and Kit are placed under arrest for the crime of coming back alive. The only escape from a death sentence: return to Earth and bring back the lost method for creating the Powertrees, the energy source of both Eden and Earth whose technological origins have been lost to war. But that mission is secondary to a greater imperative. Above all else, Thena must not get caught. If she does, then suicide is to be the only option.

I had trouble reviewing Ms. Hoyt's previous entry in this series, Darkship Thieves. At the time, I ended the review by saying "It felt very uneven and not all that 'real'." After reading this book, I have a better understanding of what I don't like about this series.

Sarah Hoyt is a strong libertarian and an admirer of Robert Anson Heinlein. (She dedicated this book to her son, Robert Anson Hoyt.) I think these books are intended to be an imitation of, and homage to, Heinlein's more openly political novels.

Hoyt has her characters sharing political asides with each other and also shares their inner monologues and thoughts. In these novels though, it doesn't really work. Hoyt is not as good of a writer as Heinlein (but who is?) and isn't able to pull off what he can pull off. The political insertions feel awkward and contrived rather than natural. It makes the story limp along and is, in my opinion, what drags this down from being a 4-star adventure story.