Uncertain, Fugitive, Half-fabulous

This is a weird one. The cover refers to "One Man" who would "fire the guns of rebellion!" and yet this one man, our ostensible hero, Owen Deathstalker is, I think, in about two chapters of the book. That isn't exactly a complaint, but the novel feels a little uneven because of it. What's more, it's really less a novel and more a chapter itself in a long story, moreso even than most series books I've read.

Also, in this book: everyone starts going Super Saiyan.

I.e. They all start getting way too powerful in deus ex machina ways that make me hope it's really going somewhere, because as it is now, a lot of the challenge is getting drained out of the story at large. Green's universe here is full of cool shit, and every five minutes he throws a new amazing idea at you: but if there are too many of them all stacked up against this evil galactic empire, the empire stops looking quite so scary.

The "main characters getting too powerful thing" really comes to a head in the last chapter. It's a 150 page novel in and of itself of a crazy world and the war going on there, concerning characters who have, pretty much to a person, been very much underdeveloped side characters before this point. One of those small, small characters who suddenly takes center stage is a journalist, and I found his story waaaay more interesting than that of our "heroes" who could reach out with their minds and burn everyone now, or whatever. Toby, the journalist, has an actual skill which we see him put to work.

All of that said, this was still more rip-roaring, insane space opera craziness with a big space war brewing and crazy shit around every corner. That's really all I want from the Deathstalker series. So still, a good time.