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Title: Rath’s Gambit
Series: Janus Group #2
Author: Piers Platt
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 210
Format: Digital Edition
| Synopsis: |
Rath is on the run. With other Operatives from the Janus Group tasked to hunt him down, he has to escape, disappear and then hook back up with Operative 339 so they can begin their campaign against the Group and hopefully live through it.
Things start to go off the rails when Operative 339 doesn’t show up at the rendevous point. Rath waits for quite awhile before realizing something is wrong. What he doesn’t know is that Operative 339 was caught by some civil authorities on another planet while she was free-lancing. She was sentenced to a prison term and her her plan was to serve for a year or two and then get early release for good behavior. Of course, Rath knows none of this.
Rath enlists the aid of the man who has been investigating the Group on his own. They track down O339 and Rath breaks her out of prison. Bungling up all her careful plans of staying under the radar.
The book ends with them trying to escape a whole batch of Operatives that had been following Rath, hoping he would do exactly what he did, ie, lead them to O339.
| My Thoughts: |
I enjoyed this BUT between the non-resolution ending, Rath acting like an idiot (for an Operative who made his 50 kills, he sure is incompetent and stupid) and the continued prison reform schtick, I’ve decided to not read any more by Platt.
When I finished this book and it ended with them being chased, I realized I simply didn’t care how it turned out. Rath is a bungler who can’t seem to plan out even basic strategy. I couldn’t tell if that was deliberate on the part of the author or what, but it wasn’t what I wanted to read about. I wanted a story about a highly trained Operative who kicked butt, oh you know, like say Operative 339. But nooooo, I get Rath the Bozo who can’t seem to find his own bum with both hands, a wall mirror and someone directing him.
The parts dealing with O339 were great. She kicked butt. She was smart and knew when to lay low and when to fight back. She had a plan and she knew how to adjust that plan as circumstances changed. WHY couldn’t this series have been about her?
Overall, while Platt hasn’t written any atrociously bad books, he certainly hasn’t written any very good books. I’m done sampling the Mediocre Buffet.
★★★☆☆
One word for you: “Aftershocks”. You won’t find better contemporary MilSF… I wrote a review iof you care to read it.
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I saw your review. But Kloos is on my “authors to avoid” list so it isn’t an option. Thanks for trying though 🙂
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You should give this one a go though.
Why is he on your crap list?
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Homosexuality… from his Frontlines series…
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I just read the second volume. Nothing strange so far.
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Book 3 or 4 I believe. I’d have to go look it up…
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It’s really telling when a book ends on a cliffhanger and you don’t care how it turns out. Sounds like being done with this series is the right decision.
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Yeah, Platt just didn’t write grippingly enough for my tastes…
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That’s unfortunate! But at least it means you’re not too bothered by leaving the series unfinished.
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Yep, clear out another series! 😀
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“I get Rath the Bozo who can’t seem to find his own bum with both hands, a wall mirror and someone directing him.” Bro this killed me! lol! where do you come up with this stuff… In Afrikaans, plat means flat… This totally makes sense to me seeing as as it seems this series has run its coarse and fallen “platt” on its face…
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My mind just works like that I guess. Definitely has its upsides AND its downsides.
What an interesting coincidence about the word platt. It certainly does fit here 🙂
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I love my home language 🙂
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I laughed at your description of Rath the Bozo! I’m trying to have a clear out of book series. The rest of this reading year, I’m trying the first books in a ton of series I own. Those I like will form the basis of my series catchup challenge for next year, those I don’t like will be headed to various charity shops. Hopefully it’ll reduce the pile in my house!
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That is a great plan!
Honestly, I wish I had abandoned Platt sooner. Oh well, but late then never 🙂
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There is nothing I loathe as much as a main character who’s painted as needlessly stupid: that’s the worst way to ruin a story that might otherwise have been entertaining….
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And he’s supposed to be a highly skilled super secret mercenary. Sigh…
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Well, if they make a movie out of it, they should give the role to Rowan Atkinson a.k.a. Mr. Bean: he will be perfect! 😀
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Oh man, I pictured that in my head and just cracked up! Johnny English, In Space!!!!!!!!
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Possible spoiler below, as I can’t remember where it occurred in the series:
It turns out that Rath was a throwaway. The assassin organization didn’t think he would cut it, so they put him out there without investing much in training, hoping he might make them a bit of money on a mission or two, but he bumbled his way forward through luck and some abilities. It’s kind of a funny reveal when 339 starts talking about the training and he’s like “what are you talking about?”
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Huh, that explains a lot. But waiting until Book 3 (it was in the first 2) definitely didn’t work for me…
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I would recommend continuing to book 3 if you can stomach it. It wraps up the story nicely, and then books 4-6 start a separate plotline with the same characters. I didn’t like 4-6 as much as 1-3, so if #3 doesn’t inspire you, it’s a good stopping point.
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I really don’t care enough to bother with book 3. Maybe if I hadn’t read some of his other stuff I’d be more willing to keep going, but I have read his other stuff and nothing inspires any confidence that I’ll really enjoy what I read.
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Sure doesn’t sound like much of a protagonist I’d want to follow around. By the way, I feel like all the insults you dish out are always so colourful but super polite with no cursing. Is cursing something you frown upon in reviews and general use? I imagine you tolerate them in movies/shows since I know you’ve seen some that I’ve seen where cursing is… pretty present.
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As a Christian, I do believe that the Bible calls upon followers of Christ to forswear (ha!) such language. The book of Ephesians, written by Paul, states that “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. `Ephesians 5:4
Obviously that isn’t the whole context, but it is within context enough for me to not use obscenities and profanities in my day to day language. There are other verses as well. I’ve also found that when I do swear, it is usually because I am out of control and so such behavior isn’t what Jesus exhibited when He was on earth. Obviously, a Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ and He is our example.
As for tv and movies. I won’t avoid a movie JUST because of the language, but I certainly do take note of it. I had to wrestle for some time about John Wick and whether I wanted such language in our place. I eventually did buy the bluray, but if I were to ever watch it with someone or recommend it to someone, warnings about the language and the violence would be the first words out of my mouth to that person I was talking to.
Ok, that turned out a bit longer than I anticipated. Thanks for hanging in there 😀
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Ahhhh no worries, this helped me keep in mind that for a Christian, this might be the reason why they don’t use swear words. Thanks for the exhaustive answer! 😁
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Shame this was such a mediocre buffet! Onto bigger and better feasts!
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That is the one consolation about reading. There are ALWAYS more good books out there 🙂
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