Cloak of War by Rhonda Mason

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Space Opera
Content: Strong language, A fade to black love scene


 
The bloody tournament to determine the new empress of the intergalactic empire may be over, but for exiled princess Kayla Reinumon, the battle is just beginning. To free her home planet from occupation, Kayla must infiltrate the highest reaches of imperial power. But when a deadly nanovirus threatens to ravage the empire, it will take more than diplomacy to protect her homeworld from all-out war.

I read the first book in this series The Empress Game 4 years ago, and although I liked it, for some reason I didn't get around to continuing until now. I think I liked this book a little better than the last one, although I felt it dragged a little at one point. I also feel like the character development could be better, but this is a good mid-series book. It didn't feel like filler the way a lot of middle books can, so I was pleased with that..

There were several things that I had forgotten in 4 years, but most of it came back to me as I read. Quite a bit happens in this book as it switches back and forth between where Kayla is, to where her brothers are. I enjoyed the parts with Kayla the most, but both were good. One thing I find interesting about this series is that, despite it being a space opera with all that technology, the main character still prefers to use her kris blades in a fight. She is very good at hand to hand combat, so this makes sense. In my opinion, the best part of this book, was the kick Kayla gave someone who so deserved it! Talk about satisfying! I felt as betrayed by this person as she did.

While I liked this a lot, I will say that, despite the predicament the characters are left in, I am not eager to start the last book in this series any time soon. I'm not sure why I don't feel that urgency to read on, but maybe that is why it took me 4 years to come back in the first place. I am not going to wait another 4 years to finish this trilogy though. I plan to finish it up some time in the next couple of months.