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"Galactic Confederation series - Volume II"
Anderson Gentry returns with Volume Two of a planned four volume set of his Galactic Confederation series. Much like "The Crider Chronicles", this volume features 3 books of seperate stories with a unifying thread. But, while the first volume could be defined succinctly as "First Contact", "Forming the Confederacy", and "The Galactic War", I'm having a hard time finding a simple description to each of these books.

The author told me that he is concerned this book won't do well as a 'stand alone' book, because it is very much a bridge between the first volume and events towards the end of the Confederacy series. I can see where he... More > feels that way. The 'present day' of this volume spans a few decades (although it also spends time in the past) while the first volume spanned centuries. It also lacks the epic feel of "The Crider Chronicles", and instead harkens more to the author's previous novel, "Barrett's Privateers", which is a collection of three short tales concerning the ship and crew seen towards the end of the "Chronicles".

"Diamonds" is an enjoyable read, although much like his other works could use a better editor; spelling and grammatical errors pop up just like in "Chronicles". I was also surprised by the inclusion of a standard fantasy element in a science fiction series. The element is explained away by scientific means, and is a clever means of it, but it still kind of pulled me out of the story at times. I did however, love the inclusion of historical figures during the chapters taking place in the past and how they were used or referenced. Nicely done.

Over all, an enjoyable entry in the Confederacy series and I eagerly look forward to the next one. < Less