Review: Sandorn’s Prison by Thom Bedford

Review: Sandorn’s Prison by Thom Bedford

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I picked up the Sandorn’s Allegiance series, I was not entirely sure what to expect. Having finished this second installment now, I can say that I am really starting to get seriously invested in the narrative Thom Bedford is creating. While I did have some minor issues with the prequel, I feel like this sequel manages to fix some of them. I’ll discuss those issues in more detail in the writing section.

I honestly think this sequel improves a lot of issues I had with the last book, and I found the overall narrative very compelling! I see a lot of expansion of the setting and the world here that I greatly enjoyed.

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, let’s get into it!

Summary

It has been three months since the war between the Alliance and the Union began, and now Sandorn and his comrades find themselves sent on a mission to liberate their Alliance comrades from a Union prison ship. However, when there is some difficulty working together during the ensuing battle in the Alliance’s fleet, Sandorn finds himself questioning his own place in the conflict once again.

As the war drags on, Sandorn and his friends must contend with the Union army as they continue to learn more about the enemies they are up against.

Will they be able to succeed against the Union before it is too late?

Thoughts

There are so many things that are handled here that make the conflict more personal here, which I had a blast with! Seeing Sandorn and his friends again, seeing the Alliance again, and even seeing more of the Union all worked to draw me right into the story!

Just as a concrete example, I really enjoyed seeing more of the Union side and who they actually are. I was invested last time based purely on the suspense and danger, so I love that Thom Bedford is giving us something new to look at and we’re seeing the people involved, not just the ships with the weaponry.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at some of the characters!

Characters

Tanic Sandorn

Sandorn as a character continues to interest me. What I like about this particular story with him is we see a bit more – for lack of a better term – personal involvement in the conflict presented. Bedford allows serious stakes to be thrown in with Sandorn, and seeing how he reacts to the problems because they directly impact him is amazing.

One great example of this is when Commodore Flynn gets more involved. As a result, we see a lot more emotional investment here, and I like that a lot. Not only is it an intriguing change of pace, but it also builds Sandorn up to have even more layers than he did in the prequel. I really look forward to seeing how Bedford continues to develop the character arc he is building for Sandorn as time goes on.

Amilia Rosso

I like what Bedford does with Rosso in this installment, allowing for some stakes to be built involving her that help move the plot along. I also enjoyed the role she played, because it was new, and it allowed her character to be seen in action in a more intimate manner. Seeing her be thrown into the situation she ends up in and take her own stand in it is really awesome.

Seeing her take on the tasks she does reveals a lot more to me than I expected to learn. I did expect some more development of her relationship with Sandorn, but Bedford allows another side of her to be shown alongside that, and it’s a side that I really admire her for. She has courage and a degree of skill that I did not realize was there before. Either way, I am thrilled that we get to see this side of her in this story, because it is both captivating and awesome at the same time!

Commodore Flynn

After finishing this story, I went back into the prequel to see what role Flynn played (I admit, I did not remember), and what I found shows me that Bedford is expanding the universe of this narrative and the characters in it. I admit I liked seeing more of Flynn and how his character contributed to the story. I really feel like Bedford is taking the foundation laid in the first book and building on it bit by bit.

This character is a great example of that expansion. Seeing how his character is built upon and given more of a personality is fantastic! I am still greatly curious about what overall role he will play as the plot continues to unfold down the line. I am not sure where Bedford is heading with this, but I do want to find out and know more about what comes next.

Structure

I feel like the structure of this sequel is different from the last installment in a couple of aspects. In Sandorn’s Command, the reader does not have a lot of time before the main action kicks in and the plot takes over. Here, I feel like Bedford gives some time to build some parts of the society before going into the action that carries the rest of the story.

Just as an example, early in the story we see Lieutenant Muniz of the the Lynx applying for a position at Exeter Station. We later see her talking to Sandorn where they discuss the higher-ups. I did not realize this while reading because I was too wrapped up in the story, but the conversation the two characters have works to give context for certain things that occur later in the novel. The only difference between the setup for this novel versus the prequel is that it is much subtler here and helps set the tone and mood that ultimately carry the narrative.

Writing

While I largely had more fun with this installment than I did with the prequel, I will admit that there is one small thing about the writing that bothers me a bit. While I greatly enjoyed the characters, the story, and the suspense built, I think the prose can be a little dry in places. I think it mainly occurs when Bedford is discussing certain technological tools. These descriptions ended up being rather cold and hard to get invested in when they did show up, and I did find my eyes glazing over when they occurred. I am wondering if there could have been a way to have a little bit more fun with language being used, play with it a little bit to get these elements to come to life. Otherwise, there are points where it all becomes so technical that it runs the risk of throwing the reader out of the story. That said, there was also a major improvement with an aspect of the writing that I need to discuss.  

I said in the previous review that there was some distance between the reader and what occurred at moments of great tension. Here, Thom Bedford brings us closer to moments of conflict and I found myself significantly more invested in the events of the plot as a result. There is more of a spark to his combat-related writing here that made it easier to get wrapped up in the story being told. That distance that was present in the prequel is gone, and I was drawn right into the conflict, which I think is absolutely fantastic!

Conclusion

I’m surprised that – out of the two stories in this series so far – I liked this one better than the prequel. I love what Bedford is doing with the world, the characters, and the action, and I really enjoyed seeing the conflict take another step up. While I admit there were moments where the writing didn’t grab me the way it was most likely intended, within the grand scheme of things, that’s a mild issue and I am actually even more invested in this world and these characters than I was at the start of this!

Given this is the second installment in a planned series, I would recommend this to anyone who has read the first book and wants to know what comes next. In the end, there are highly intriguing elements being played with here that are hard to forget! I highly recommend continuing this series with this installment if you want to know what comes next for Sandorn and his allies!