Fall of angels Book

This is the third book of the Recluce series in chronological order. The first two dealt with Cyador, a country based on chaos most of which was left over from the original colonization effort by those of the Rational Stars (Rats). We're never told where they came from nor why they set up a colony & abandoned it, just getting hints of what happened 2 centuries before.

This book starts out with a space battle that is told from the side of the Angels (They speak Anglican.) who have a base planet of Heaven. They get blown out of their universe & wind up landing high up in the Westhorn mountains, previously mentioned, but quite distant. Although we're not given a date, there are quite a few hints that it is some time after the events of the first 2 books & according to this timeline of Recluce, it is about 400 years later.

The Angels land in an area that is little used, but run into a lot of troubles with the locals anyway. The main reason is they are mostly strong women surrounded by lands to which that is an anathema. To survive, Captain Ryba has to become a tyrant with no mercy to any who may stand in the way of her new colony. Her engineer, Nylan, one of the few men, has to push to create the basic infrastructure of a civilized society. And this universe has changed many of them in some respects, another issue to grapple with.

The ongoing issues of building & fighting to survive mingle well with the local rulers' issues, both mundane & those caused by the Angels. The story also focuses on the differences between Ryba's mercilessness & Nylan's inability to deal with it. Both are strong, pragmatic people, but Ryba knows people & societies better while Nylan knows tech better. It's an interesting dichotomy, but Nylan keeps coming off as whiny, especially in audio, the biggest reason I've never cared for this book as much as some of the others. His character is just too whiny. Still, the rest of the story, especially all the tech that society requires, even a low tech one, is very well done. The political issues are gripping & very realistic.

The next book, The Chaos Balance, takes place just a couple of years after this one. I can't wait to listen to it.