Seven Surrenders

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It might seem strange for a book I thoroughly enjoyed, but the rest of this review will generally be critical - as I said, check the first review for the laudatory part, all of it still stands, even with the caveats I'll voice after the jump.

I've written 8600 words. You may not want to read it all, so I've provided sections with a heading. Amongst other things, I will discuss the series' metaphysics - tied with Mycroft's status as a narrator, its seemingly essentialist outlook, the embedded case study of utilitarian ethics, the nature of J.E.D.D., the question whether this utopia could devolve into war, a gender issue and the books' politics, intrigues and world building.

For those readers that turn to this blog for critical analysis, this is were I start my dissection of Terra Ignota. Obviously some of this criticism might change after I read book 3 & 4, but as I also draw a lot from interviews, I'm pretty confident the bulk of what I'll say will also apply to the full series. And even if certain things will change significantly in the remainder of the series, I hope in that case my analysis will remain interesting to map how certain themes progress throughout the series.

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