Reviewed: Killswitch

After writing the general review on Joel Shepherd, I could barely wait to find, purchase, and read the final Kresnov novel entitled Killswitch.

Killswitch is another solid entry into the sci-fi universe Shepherd has created. I’m happy to report that this book boasts all of the strengths I mentioned in my previous review. It also does better in all of the weaknesses I mentioned in regarded to his other two books. He weeded out almost all of his sentence fragments. Dialogue tags were not nearly as annoying, and he made the female characters seem more feminine. In addition to all of these improvements, Shepherd demonstrates an ability to clearly describe a large-scale firefight involving multiple parties. I never lost track of the action, the strategies involved, or the characters’ positions. It was very well done.

It’s clear that his writing style has matured over the span of these three novels, and I look forward to reading his new fantasy series.

Shepherd ends the novel in such a way that more may be written in the future, and I hope he does, because I really enjoy the characters, the predicaments they get into, and the ways they save the day.

Despite the following nitpicks at certain plot points, this is a fine novel, maybe the best of the series. The series overall has very few weaknesses. I’m satisfied that the time I spent reading these books was time well spent.

My complaints about Killswitch are very minor, but of course I must have a few. Most require me to discuss portions of the book that you won’t want to know about if you plan to read the novels. Massive spoilers await in the following paragraphs. You’ve been warned.

Ayako Kazuma was a secondary character introduced in Breakaway. Actually, she was the very first character acting in the very first sentence of the book. After the first chapter, she played various minor parts throughout the book. She was Ariel Ruben’s right-hand and primary muscle, a heavily augmented female fighter. She’s not even mentioned once in Killswitch. In the two years between the end of Breakaway and the beginning of Killswitch, where did Ayako go? What happened to her?

At one point in the story, Kresnov severely injures her arm. I haven’t counted the exact passage of time, but I think she should still be healing when the book ends. However, her injury is no longer mentioned after the story line makes it too inconvenient for her to be less that 100% operational.

I was disappointed that Shepherd resorted to the “evil twin” storyline. I realize the rogue GI wasn’t Kresnov’s exact duplicate, but she was essentially Kresnov’s mirror image when it came to fighting. This concept has been done, and done, and done, and re-done. *yawn* I wish he’d conjured something more original for his ultimate badass for the story.

Lots of people die in Killswitch. A couple of the primary characters come close, but none of them actually die. I think Shepherd failed in this regard. Over the course of three books, no important character dies, despite that they are engulfed by violence. Considering some of the military engagements these characters fight through, the actual chances of ALL of them surviving is very slim. I think Shepherd should have killed one or more main characters, just to show readers that he would if he needed to. Many of the tense scenes were dampened and bleached of suspense by the realization that Shepherd couldn’t kill his darlings. Hell, if I had written it, I might have even killed the main character. I’m just heartless like that.

Last of all, I need to address the killswitch, the driving plot point from which the novel is named. Kresnov learns that she was made with a failsafe, a device that will vaporize her brain if activated. It can not be removed or shutdown, but it can be activated remotely over the wireless network. (If you’ve ever played Shadowrun, we’re talking about a very nasty cranial bomb.) She struggles with it more than once through the book. Jane mentions that Kresnov can be rid of the switch somehow, but Jane never delivers the information. At the end of the book, this plot point is left unresolved, perhaps intentionally, I suppose, but I would like to know if it’s still a threat, or if it’s no longer a serious danger. I feel as if the entire concept was overlooked during the battles and action that cumulate at the end of the book. Considering the mercy Kresnov shows Jane at the end, one would hope that Jane or her creator would reciprocate in kind by sending Kresnov the codes she needs to deactivate the killswitch. Instead, we get nothing - no further mention of the killswitch - as if it were utterly forgotten. If Shepherd was planning to end the series here, I wish he’d tied up the loose ends.