The Will to Battle

This is a 6,400 words analysis of The Will to Battle. The conceptual questions I voiced in my analysis of Seven Surrenders are not resolved in this next book, and there isn't that much new information on these matters to analyze. Still, there's enough to build upon what I wrote.

In my analysis, I will limit myself to two things. First a further discussion of the epistemic nature of the text and its relation to the metaphysics of Palmer's future world. I've also changed my opinion a bit on the science fantasy matter, mainly because of an essay Palmer wrote online.

The second thing I'll look at more closely is J.E.D.D.'s motivation for his involvement in the coming war: it is linked to utilitarianism and the trolley problem -- things I wrote about in my text on 7S as well. J.E.D.D.'s motivations are problematic to say the least -- not wholly out of character.

Before I'll get to the analytic part, I'll do a quick assessment of the novel without spoilers -- that could be of interest to those that have read none or one or two of the first books.

Just to be clear: I liked The Will to Battle a lot, probably a bit more even than Seven Surrenders. It was a bit less exuberant, less cartoonish, and it dwelled less on the problematic sides of 7S.

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