Convergent Series Book

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I had a couple of big problems with the second book, but already in the first book I wasn't enjoying the story itself, only the artifacts and a little bit of the strangeness of the characters (like the guy with two brains). So it's not those problems that killed the book for me. The first problem were the Builders. They were supposedly incredibly advanced, but they got all angsty about an unspecified philosophical problem and for some obscure reason they think a couple of new races would be able to help them with that. And then they don't even want all three of the races, they want the help of only one. How do they decide? By gathering a few individuals at random and letting them kill each other. Because nothing says brains like beating someone's head in of course... If the Builders were so smart, why couldn't they figure out that by getting fourteen individuals of one incredibly powerful race and putting them against only one of another, as well as a couple of humans, they were basically deciding the outcome of the experiment themselves? If the heroes hadn't had plot armor, they would have been dead immediately.

Another problem I had were the two lovable bad guys. In the first book, they try to kill the heroes, in the second book they work together. I can buy that the circumstances warranted it, but now suddenly the bad guys don't seem so bad anymore and the farewell scene with them becomes emotional? They may have helped save your bacon, but they're still unrepented killers! Sheesh. (hide spoiler)]