Possibly because it's the only one featuring an underdog, and actually - to an extent - addressing the incredibly White American Male viewpoint that pervades the series (as, in fact, it does a lot of Scalzi's writing). This book was interesting, but still ultimately centrist, and of course the premise of the series - which this book can't really help, being a sequal - is still kind of weird and nonsensical. I guess The Power of Colonialism is so great that it is an important goal in and of itself, not even because resources or population exploring or whatever else: all of these are explicitly mentioned as being unimportant. War for war's sake, colonialism for colonialism's sake. It's not even about expansion.
Again, though: this book was interesting and had a better perspective, so I can't complain all too much.
Possibly because it's the only one featuring an underdog, and actually - to an extent - addressing the incredibly White American Male viewpoint that pervades the series (as, in fact, it does a lot of Scalzi's writing). This book was interesting, but still ultimately centrist, and of course the premise of the series - which this book can't really help, being a sequal - is still kind of weird and nonsensical. I guess The Power of Colonialism is so great that it is an important goal in and of itself, not even because resources or population exploring or whatever else: all of these are explicitly mentioned as being unimportant. War for war's sake, colonialism for colonialism's sake. It's not even about expansion.
Again, though: this book was interesting and had a better perspective, so I can't complain all too much.
What the first book lacked in character buildings, the sequel makes up for with room to spare. The world building expanded some, answering questions the first book left me asking. Looking forward to the next in the series.