The City and the Ship

This is an omnibus edition with two books in one. The books are The City Who Fought, and the Ship Avenged. This gives the reader a different view into "Brains and Brawns" beyond the Ship the Sang where we meet another brain, Simeon who runs a major space station, the Space Station SSS-900, that finds itself under threat from the Kolnari. The Kolnari are genetically a race of former prisoners that were sent to a prison planet where they were expected to die under the harsh and dangerous conditions on the planet. Rather than dying they rediscover space travel, and have built an entire society around conquest and slavery. There are a number of hard sexual issues in the story line, that might turn off readers, but they are also essential to building on the idea of how depraved the Kolnari are so essential to the story line. What makes the story compelling though is much like many of Anne's books, this one has richly developed characters that you start to care about, and want to know more about. The Brawn Channa, the Brain Simeon, the orphan child who gets adopted by Simeon and Channa named Joat all have complex and in some cases not happy backgrounds. The characters are not two dimensional, and the best part about this book is that you also get the second story line where after the events in the City Who Fought, you find out the super bad guys have not fully left the field and want nothing more than revenge against Channa, Simeon, Joat and just about anyone else who gets in their way. Both stories are complelling, but not for young kids, think age 15 plus on this series. These aer stay up all night reading books, and you start to belive in the characters. Like many of Anne's stories, the hero wins just in the nick of time to save the universe or world against huge odds. The bad guys are believable, the good guys supportable, and it is a fun read. Five of five stars, this is one of those books that will keep you up all night reading.

I adore this series: It is bright, creative and amazing. Exceptional writing. The only complaint I have is that it is a reprint of two previous editions, not a new book. If you haven't read the series, you should really give it a try. If you have, and want a better copy, buy this book.