Review: Second, by M.C.A. Hogarth

[jeriendhal]

Summary: In Micah haikujaguar Hogarth's novella, Ensign Taylitha Basil, an junior Alliance Fleet officer finds herself paired up with Alysha, a fellow Pelted and ensgin, as they head groundside for a training retreat with several other junior officer. Together they begin to form a fast friendship as they deal with the dangers of Mother Nature and another officer's obsession with success at all costs.

Review: This story was probably a bad place for me to start in Hogarth's Pelted universe. While it's set at the beginning of Taylitha and Alysha's friendship and reasonably standalone, there are hints towards a lot of things that just fly over my head. This is also one of her earlier works, so it lacks some of the polish and much of the lyricism evident in her Kherishdar tales, though she certainly waxes quite lyrical in the later parts of the tale when describing the countryside they're travelling through.

The major problem is with the character of Ensign Beringwaithe, who has the label "Officer Asshole" stamped on his forehead early on, which stays throughout the story. Given the nature of the retreat's setup, if anyone had bothered to just say "No" to him at any time during the story, half the problems wouldn't have occurred. (which is rightly pointed out during the debriefing at the end of the mess) It's a rare bit of cheap characterization on Hogarth's part, even though there are hints that Beringwaithe is the product of an abusive childhood, little is made of it and he gains no redemption from his idiotic actions.

There faults aside, overall it's a fun story and I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, especially watching Tay and Alysha's friendship develop. I'll be reading more in the Pelted universe later.

Comments

[eric-hinkle.livejournal.com]

I think this is a great review of the story; it's far better than any of the ones I've done of her work.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Not better, just different. :)