Promise by Nicholas Olivo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A very good followup to Imperium, the first book in this series–I’m torn between 3 and 4 stars but settled on 4 for a couple of reasons. Olivo’s writing is fast-paced, lively, and extremely enjoyable to read, and I just love these characters. With a lot of look-alike stories on the market today, these are definitely unique and memorable. What I didn’t like about this book won’t stop me from reading another one.
MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD: My only quibbles with this book are plot-related. I was very annoyed with Vincent at the way he got into trouble in this book–he signed the contract in far too cavalier a manner when all his instincts should have been screaming at him to run away. I think as a character he’s smarter than this, and I hated to see him do something dumb for the sake of advancing the plot. I also felt that he should have questioned the Keepers’ definition of “fine”–because locking someone away in stasis really doesn’t make them “fine” in any sense of the word. I felt that they broke the contract right there, but it *never came up.* Even if they had argued about the definition–but it seemed like such an obvious thing to not even address.
However, these issues nothwithstanding, I did enjoy the book and read it quickly. A great series and I hope there’ll be more!