Ut Sementem Feceris, ita Metes – Carlo Zen

A weaker entry in an excellent series.

I started to explain the series, but if you’re reading a review of the seventh light novel, you already know. Or you mis-typed ‘Vol. 7’ when you meant to look for ‘Vol. 1’ - a search that is worth your time.

Vol. 7 takes place on the Federation front - equivalent to our world’s Russian front. The Empire’s army has gone from fighting General Winter to fighting General Mud. And then the Federation armies show up, and they’re reinforced and resupplied and fighting smarter. Tanya keeps pulling military rabbits out of a hat for the general staff, although the tactical situation is bad. The general staff keeps pulling rabbits out of a hat for its civilian masters, although the strategic and logistical situation is horrible. And it’s all for naught, because they are fighting a war that cannot be won and cannot be stopped. (This is clearer to the reader, who has the benefit of historical hindsight.)

So the book is somewhat depressing. It advances the War but doesn’t advance the story. It doesn’t make good use of the protagonist’s interesting character.

The series has been, as noted, excellent, so if you’ve been enjoying it, and are wondering whether to keep reading, and are wondering whether this entry will be as good as the earlier ones, my answers would be ‘yes’ and ‘no’ respectively.