Ninefox Gambit Audiobook By Yoon Ha Lee cover art

Ninefox Gambit

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Ninefox Gambit

By: Yoon Ha Lee
Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
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The first installment of the trilogy, Ninefox Gambit centers on disgraced captain Kel Cheris, who must recapture the formidable Fortress of Scattered Needles in order to redeem herself in front of the Hexarchate.

To win an impossible war, Captain Kel Cheris must awaken an ancient weapon and a despised traitor general.

Captain Kel Cheris of the Hexarchate is disgraced for using unconventional methods in a battle against heretics. Kel Command gives her the opportunity to redeem herself by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles, a star fortress that has recently been captured by heretics. Cheris' career isn't the only thing at stake. If the fortress falls, the Hexarchate itself might be next. Cheris' best hope is to ally with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao. The good news is that Jedao has never lost a battle, and he may be the only one who can figure out how to successfully besiege the fortress. The bad news is that Jedao went mad in his first life and massacred two armies, one of them his own. As the siege wears on, Cheris must decide how far she can trust Jedao - because she might be his next victim.

©2016 Yoon Ha Lee (P)2016 Recorded Books

Accolades & Awards

Locus Award
2017
Locus Award Space Opera Science Fiction Fiction Mind-Bending Hard Science Fiction
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Captain Kel Cheris is disgraced, having won a battle against heretics using unconventional tactics. Her only chance at redemption is to retake the star fortress called the Fortress of Scattered Needles, recently captured by heretics.

She has a plan. It's a desparate plan, involving reviving an undead tactician who has never lost a battle, General Shuos Jedao. Of course, in his original life, Jedao went mad and wiped out two armies, one of them his own, and he's a famous traitor, but if Cheris didn't believe in taking risks, she wouldn't be in this situation to begin with.

What follows is a battle of wits not just against the enemy, but against her chosen ally, Jedao, and even against the high command of the Hexarchate she serves. Because as vital as it is to retake the Fortress of Scattered Needles, lest the Hexarchate itself fall, they are strangely reluctant to share with her vital information that could make the difference between victory and defeat. She's fighting blind, and her only real ally is Jedao.

Jedao might be mad.

Or Jedao might be perfectly sane, and have her own agenda.

There's lots of action here; it's a campaign to retake a captured fortress. There's also a carefully textured unfolding of the characters of Cheris, Jedao, and the nature of the Hexarchate itself. The technology here calls to mind Clarke's Third Law, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," and at the end of this first book of the trilogy, I'm not at all clear on exactly what calendrical heresy consists of. That's not really the point, though. The real questions here are whose values will prevail, and how Cheris can decide who to trust.

The characters and the challenges completely pulled me in. Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

Space opera and intrigue

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There’s a wholesale explosion of information & very specific cultural data only known to this world and not wonderfully explained, so I understand the folks who complain about that aspect.

That said, 1/4 of the way in, I just decided to roll with it & let the data wash over me & paid attention to the characters & meat of the story, which kept me interested & paid off. Enough for me to buy into the next book in the series.
And I love Emily Woo Zeller. I first encountered her with a Will Wright series and her gruff take on a male character took me a bit to get used to. I kept thinking how sore her throat must be! But I got past that and really grew to appreciate her range. Found that to be the case with Ninefox Gambit, too!

I can see why it gets mixed reviews but I liked it

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The book was challenging at first and I almost gave up, but I'm glad I stuck with it. I ended up listening to the whole book then going to Yoon Ha Lee's website to better understand a few things, then re-listened to it. Great book and a great presentation.

Definitely worth sticking it out!

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A lot of jargon, but a good story if you can get past the first hour.

good

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Calendrical math that yields advanced, magic-like technology. I respect the commitment to the premise, but it wasn't worth the investment for me.

Creative but bizarre concept poorly explained

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