Brother Death

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as Perry's other books, but still excellent.
Review: Nobody does martial arts/action/sci-fi novels better than Steve Perry, and even when he's not at his best, his work is still well worth reading. This book does a good job of adding more human depth to the excessively-muscled Bork of the other Matador novels.

The story focuses on Bork's life, his history with his father, and his search for a sense of self-worth as he encounters an opponent who might finally be able to beat his physical strength.... Of course, you're probably not looking for introspection when you read a Matador novel, so you may feel the angst detracts from the action. I know I did.

For more background to some of the more obscure references in the novel, see if you can track down the Omega Cage.

Rating:
Summary: Not up to the standard of the others in the series
Review: This was trite in comparison to the previous novels, and Bork's introspection isn't enough to carry the whole book. The Matadora Trilogy(ish) had a lot of depth for space opera, which made it very enjoyable... I was disappointed with Brother Death - however, I'm still looking for a copy of Albino Knife, so I couldn't have been THAT disappointed... :)