Source
r/KTF•
johnpatricko

KTF:P2, A Rushed Departure, and Unsatisfying Conclusion

I just finished the audio book an hour ago, and I can't help but get some things off my chest. This is all a bit off the top of my head, but I'm just gonna go with it. Spoilers are hidden.

So... First off, I am a Galaxy's Edge long-time insider subscriber. I've listened to every book up to KTF 1 and 2 at least 4 or more times. I love the world building and the intricate stories they've woven. However, this book represents a major departure from their modus operandi. I lost count how many times I said, "Wait, what? What did I miss? What happened?", just to rewind and realize entire segments were just not there. This story was as if they had a storyboard outline for the conclusion of all these story arcs and wrote only the parts that were bulletin points. There's nothing to build there. Too many things are skipped over or are told to us without showing us. They spent a big chunk of the book writing an inconsequential battle and skipped over the parts of the story that really needed to be told.

I feel like I had a lazy tour guide who walked me through a museum in 5 minutes when the brochure said it would take 3 hours. Sure, I SAW all of the exhibits... but only in passing without explanation.

It reminds me of the last season of Game of Thrones, just time skipping and hitting the big points to quickly draw a conclusion so they could go direct Star Wars. I'm not sure why JA and NC would treat the ending like Season 8 of GoT, but perhaps they've got their next project lined up also. It's a shame, really. Let me give you examples...

!How did Prisma live a thousand lifetimes in the Savage Hulk and become an adult? What was her journey? How did she become more powerful than everyone else? Don't know, happened off page. The Golden King had an entire plan to deceive the galaxy through his orchestrated invasions, and then you never hear of it again. How were the dark ones enslaved, and how did the Ancients fail to do whatever was done? Who are the Dark Ones? Neelo's AI betrayed him, as did his most trusted lieutenant, but any more details than simply that? Neelo surely had communication still. What were their fates? Don't know, happened off page. What happened to Rechs' AI Lyra? What happened to Maestro or his betrayal plans? What happened with Kill Team Ice? Who knows or cares, I guess. How did Wildman teleport planets and somehow end up helping during a battle? What happened to him? What happened to the preacher bot, and why/how was he receiving savage doctrine? What sort of being was Bubbles, and what happened to it during the final battle? Makafee just kinda vanishes, and we are simply told he undertook a huge mission and accomplished it successfully. Why was he a dirty wizard? What was his fate afterward? Don't even get me started on Crometheus and his 50 parts randomly introduced, and just as quickly abandoned. What happened to the bots and DDOW? How did Keel react to DDOW's actions and subsequent freedom? Why did Garrett suddenly disappear from the story? What happened to Zora? Did Kel Turner survive? What happened to Carter? Did he talk to Neelo again? How did the reunion go between Carter and Keel? What happened to Bear? What about Praxis or the Cybar? Did Keel ever get the memory reversal treatment that Carter got? Are we to assume that literally never came up? Ravi was on deaths door and can't move... oh wait, nevermind, he's fine now. Andine was an afterthought and inserted into the last 5 minutes as a corpse on the floor. Then there's Skrizz and the Koobs. An entire storyline abandoned in both of their instances. Skrizz vowed to steal a ship and go to Prisma (this doesn't happen for some unknown reason until after the battle AND the book is over, clearly patched as an afterthought), and the Koobs were supposed to learn the fate of their homeworld. PEOPLE JUST DROP OFF AND NEVER GET MENTIONED AGAIN, IN THE MIDDLE OF A STORY THEY'RE INVOLVED IN! What the hell happened to everyone, and how the hell did anyone get to where they were going and how did those relationships react and evolve to what occurred?!<

I could keep going and write a thesis here on how they crammed 5 books of story conclusions into one book without so much as an explanation to how anyone truly got there, but this is already going on too long. These are simply the plot points, but beyond the big questions, there are entire stories left out. How did X character get where they suddenly appear? How did they come to make their actions? How did the people around them respond to their actions? How did the final moments of X character play out? What led them to that moment? What were the results of their actions? Frankly, the entire battle sequences of this book, which are hours long, could've been cut, and it wouldn't have impacted a thing. I love a good battle, but if we are counting words, those words should've been on the story that mattered. This is their biggest franchise, and they D&D'd it.

The authors say they're done with these characters, but even if they weren't they would have to release KTF Part 1.1, Part 1.2, and so on to even correct the mess they're leaving behind. I understand leaving holes for Crometheus and Thomas Roman for their own respective trilogy series, but the rest is inexcusable. This end is completely unsatisfying, unlike "Season 1".

I have no doubt other people have other story points and setups that disappeared or were skipped over that I didn't even mention or touch on. It was strictly all off my head just now in frustration. If I were to re-listen with a notepad I could come up with many, many more no doubt.

Discuss with me.

Posted Apr 29, 2023, 6:02 AM UTC

3828
Blpdstrupm0en•

You put word to all my thoughts. I just have not digested it enough to put words to it like you did.

If they are done wirh all the characters like you said they really let their fans down. I hoped they let some stories stay open to expand upon in separate books. But if not it seems like they made a ton of characters and paralell storylines, got creatively burnt out, and focused on their favorites and axed the rest fully or partly (bear, skrizz, neelo, prisma, chrome etc)

Giving a satisfying end for every character would need 2-3 additional books and they probably wrote themselves into a corner and lacked motivation to end it properly.

But it happened very suddenly, from spending a lot of time on several points, like Carter on kublar and prisma meeting Wildman/Mcafee on the old savage hulk etc to just rushing it in KTF 1 and 2.

11
MasterAd6657•

I was hoping for a Kill Team Ice missions spinoff. You can mix and match characters to suit your missions and time periods.

2
Blpdstrupm0en•

Listened to the after action report from the audiobook now. What i got from it is that while ktf2 is the end for the main characters they will keep them alive by expanding upon whats happening between ktf1 and ktf2. And we'll get more savage war books, and other spinoffs similar to star wars expanded galaxy books.

So i think we'll get more KT Ice, Prismas story on how she got so strong, more on Maestro etc. Still will make KTF2 feel a bit thin, but it might come together for fans of the series as more books are released.

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smb275House of Reason Delegate •

A couple of those questions are answered, but the salient points stand. KTF 1/2 had terrible pacing and just haphazardly tried to tie some knots off without really resolving anything.

There was so much text wasted on pointless scenes and moments that could have been much better used on the actual story being told.

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johnpatrickoOP•

Maybe I'm being too vague in my complaints, or maybe I genuinely missed answers. I know Lyra helped Makafee, but ultimately she was still partitioned with a savage AI. I know that Neelo's top guy was Netherops, but we never got any story out of that. Just a "yeah so his AI was a savage and his employee was nether" and brushed past it like it meant nothing else. I know that Prisma was "in the quantum" with the Golden King, and she utilized that to grow and learn. But seeing nothing of that journey from her POV means I actually have no idea how that worked.

Those are just examples of answered, but not really answered. Was something legitimately covered that I accidentally skipped over in my list? I'd be interested for sure

4
MasterAd6657•

They kept thinking that Rechs had a weird relationship with an AI, Lyra. I was surprised Garrett or Makafee, whichever she told about the nano-virus, didn't immediately clue in that she would have had to be a person to get it in the first place.

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johnpatrickoOP•

Yeah I kept expecting with every new chapter that Garrett or someone would find out Lyra was a digitized person. In fact, that was my first thought when the storage capacity almost filled up way beyond what a normal AI was, and not that the Strand somehow followed her. Which still makes no sense to me.

3
cashbonus•

I get the authors might have gotten bored or tired of writing these books, but the way they wrapped things up didn't "opened" the expanded universe like they claim in the ARR but made hard for any other writers to fill in the blanks when they "clear the board" of so many meaningful character. The new writers would be effectively writing "pre-quels".

Agree 100% on the battle scenes. There are many readers who enjoyed them greatly, but for some of us, they get repetitive. There is only so many ways you can setup a scene to defend/assault the wall. The time would have been better spend developing the plot.

For example, how did Prisma managed to hide her thoughts and comeup with her ops plan. As powerful as she is, it would be far more believable if she didn't do it alone. She needed help from the inside. Heck it makes far more sense if she made a deal with Meastro. You can have an entire book where these two matched wits against each other and the golden king.

Broxtins was brought back but awfully under utilized. She represented the alternative "post human" faction to the savages. How is her faction of "humans" different and is their place in the universe post KTF2. If the authors wanted it, they would have easily brought her back. She is immortal for practical purposes as a digital life form.

7
Mehhalord•

I don't think they could have butchered the ending any worse. I've been reading since the beginning and theory crafting in this subreddit for years and I feel like they just threw it all away at the last minute. I'm extremely disappointed.

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julius_sphincter•

I mean the ending was at least a little more flushed out than the ExFor series but ya I agree with you big time

1
Potativated•

If I had to guess, there are going to be some spin-off stories to fill in the gaps the same way the Savage Wars, Contracts and Executions, Forget Nothing, etc. turned out to be pretty relevant to the story as opposed to Order of the Centurion. There are probably going to be some standalone books about Prismas time on the hulk as well as the Golden King and other stuff that fleshes out the story more. It’s just annoying that people would have to wait for them and it feels like a kind of cop-out that you have to read every spin-off series to have very good context of the main story.

5
crankfurry•

I agree. I am a huge fan and have listened to all the audio books. KTF2 felt rushed - with how they have written the other books it should have been spread out to at least another book. Ending a sprawling series is hard, but they both did too much by briefly trying to mention a bunch of different folks to tie up storylines, but then also lacked depth and didn’t paint the picture. I get that you don’t have to explain everything in excruciating detail - as the writers tried to explain in the AAR ‘Wildman’s gun went silent’ - but for something they built so many storylines they ended it weakly.

5
gibbyboy69•

I was disappointed with ktf part 2 and to think this is the end of the main series im even more disappointed but after listening to part 2 and seeing how it was treated its probably for the best

5
Festivefire•

I definatley felt that they introduced plot points that were never wrapped up, as well as leaving some plot points from earlier in the season unaddressed. It felt almost to me as if there was meant to be one more book, or that this book was meant to be quite a bit longer.

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MasterAd6657•

One thing I never figured out, or read through too quick. In Roman's museum, the creatures preserved in glass tubes. Doro, Zhee, Moktar, etc.../human highbreds. Was that because Roman was trying to cross humans with these pre-existing alien races, or were they telling us that all these races were actually made by humans?

3
johnpatrickoOP•

It was never explained. I assumed it was genetic engineering experiments from the earth based animal and humans, since this is an old place on earth. However, the Zhee were originally from that culture that was wiped out I thought.

3
KobraKittyKat•

I thought they mentioned about how the Doros were a engineered race that eventually just kinda broke off and did their own thing and I assume that might be the case with the rest and some time later they found the zhee and enslaved them again

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MasterAd6657•

From the beginning I assumed they were all engineered, since they all seem to be species from earth. The time gap for their cultures was the sticking point for me, until they talked about The Quantum. In The Quantum they could advance the species and cultures by many thousands of years, while only a couple thousand earth years passed. They could have been experiments they kept in reclaimer type holodecks to observe. The Zhee claim their four worlds are each the Homeworld, when none actually are. The Savages could have worked on them for many millennia, then transplanted them back outside The Quantum. Same with the other species, as they were planning to use them all for their final invasion. Inside The Quantum, they had unlimited time to work it out. Slowly transplanting each species bit by bit.

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Aeson_Ford_F250•

Sadly, I agree. I also get a feeling they farmed out a lot of the writing on the last two books.

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TempestPaladin•

Did you listen or read it? I listened, and I definitely know some of the answers to your questions.

That being said, I do agree with some of your criticisms.

If you listened to it, maybe you got a corrupted version? I listen to the book when I'm driving at work, but the vehicles are sort of communal, so sometimes people move or use them and don't turn off the ignition leaving my book or podcast to continue playing without me realising.

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johnpatrickoOP•

Listen, but which ones can you answer? Spoiler tag if you want.

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TempestPaladin•

So my understanding at least, and I should add that I've only listened to the main series including imperator and the Carter/Bowie interlude, savage wars(minus most of the gods half of gods and Legionnaires), and 4/5 of the order of the centurion books.

Let me know if the spoilers didn't work please, haven't had to do it before, and it doesn't show as blacked out for me, hopefully just because I wrote it.

! I believe Prisma's thousand lives was on the Ermo planet, where Goth Sullus was forged.

The Golden Kings Invasion plan was to weaken and corrupt the legion, then stage an invasion by the Gomari and their mind slaves (like the zhee, drusiks, moktar, and the like), then when the legion were completely unable to defend the galaxy, the Golden King would descend with his army as the galaxy's saviour and then do a Goth Sullus and wipe the House of Reason, and replace them with himself and his uplifted. Goth Sullus doing this first messed up his plan because the legion hadn't been fully infiltrated yet by points and the house of reason. Goth Sullus made things go too bad too quickly which led to article 19, which let the legion purge its corruption and allow for a legion capable of fending off the staged invasions, not perfectly, but enough.

No idea on the Dark Ones ending up in the ring, my guess would be that he was going to destroy them so they put themselves in his ring to survive like they did for Goth Sullus. No idea exactly what the Dark ones are, or why the Ancients were unable to contain or destroy them like Goth Sullus, The Golden King, or to a lesser extent Prisma.

Neelo's AI was made from savage code, which I believe was orchestrated by Maestro. Serber was a plant in his organisation by the Savages. When Neelo went to Uptopion/New Vega to check if it was Earth the Savage invasion plan began and he was betrayed. I believe he was unconscious when trapped in the vault/safe room with Zora, or didn't know who he could contact in his organisation after the betrayal by Serber and Sarai.

Lyra was stored in a data cube with a Savage worm. Garret seemed to be able to immunise her against the worm.

Maestro's betrayal plan was to find Earth in secret, which he used Neelo for, and then use the information in Thomas Roman museum to usurp power from The Golden King, not sure on the exact specifics of that plan.

Kill Team Ice began to dwindle in number over the centuries, as members were released back into the galaxy to live the rest of their lives after a personally determined number of years without Savage contact. The remains of Kill Team Ice were left to Kel Turner by Rechs. Members of Kill Team Ice were also hunted and killed by the Mandarins (Savage agents within the republic) which is why Carter's family was attacked. The remains of Kill Team Ice defended the museum on earth with the remains of Kill Team Victory.

Wildman seemed to have no problem killing the metaphysical entities, and had visions of his dead wife and baby, this leads me to believe that he had a strong connection to the metaphysical and functionally had a sixth sense for where Savages were going to be. Not sure how he got a ship to get to Earth though. He died in the forest, JA or NC said that they intended for "his rifle going silent" to signal that.

Preacher bot I don't think was mentioned, but may have been destroyed in MacRaven's artillery barrage. It had access to the Strand which is why it knew what it did. Not sure how though, I think it alluded to it scanning frequencies while in proximity to the museum.

Bubbles was a malinois, I believe he was the same dog from another book, but was with a different handler. I don't why or how he had metaphysical abilities.

Macafee goes into the Strand with the aid of Lyra. While in there he helps two Crometheus' to find and rescue the Billy Bang Crometheus, then help those three find rescue more copies until they have a majority of the 50 copies. The Majority of the Crometheus copies fight against Maestro to stop/Kill it, and Macafee exited the Strand. He was the dirty wizard because that's what he was called when he went into the Savage Network in book 3 of savage wars while being defended by Strike Team Dagger.

Not too sure what bots your talking about specificly. G2 as far as I know was just left on the battle phoenix, KRaSh was super mangled, but Garrett was able to bring him back for a brief time to say goodbye, DDOW was put in the Samurai Mech (disables the Savage hulk, then provided to heavy fire support for the legion and shovels defending the museum, then flew off towards a city when it was taking to much fire), the cyber were killed on the hulk by the Dark ones with victory company.

We don't see any of the aftermath of the battle past like 5 minutes. Probably going to be books like covering that, maybe order of the centurion novels. I think Zora was shuttling reinforcements around to the museum defense, but yeah, I also can't remember/ don't know her fate, maybe a book on this to come. My impression is that Kel Turner was still alive, just unconscious when Keel carried him out of the museum before it was destroyed. Carter was outside the museum alive after The Golden King was killed and recognised Keel as Fast. Bear I believe was doing what Owen's used to do in running Dark Ops teams. As above, I'm pretty sure that Praxis and the Cyber were killed by the Dark Ones. As of the end of the battle Keel had not had his memories returned, but I have no idea as of the end of the book as the King of Andurion. Ravi I believe just heals much faster than a normal based off of his dual nature, but yeah I get you on that point.

Skrizz flew the ship that dropped off the Koobs to the museum, I'm not sure if they were told about Kooblar before though, then Skrizz flew to the hulk to find Prisma. Skrizz knew about Keel and Ravi's plan to trigger nuke the hulk as he would roam the Phoenix unnoticed. !<

I hope that helps, and just take all that with a grain of salt, it's just my memory and impressions from the book.

8
johnpatrickoOP•

Thanks for the reply! So I think the problem is that I was too vague in my complaints. I was trying to keep the post from being too long, and I just made it too broad. I will address each thing you said in order of what you said, and hopefully we will all enjoy the discussion.

1.>!I do know that prisma lived a thousand lives on the Ermo planet, but she was still effectively a kid under Reina when she arrived aboard the Savage Hulk. She was asking her "mom" if she ever loved her daddy, and if she left her daddy for this new man. She was very much still a child. By the time she speaks to Keel, she is speaking like a wise old woman to him. She has grown way beyond what she was when she arrived, and it was stated that this was because the Hulk was parked in the quantum while she was on board. This is such a cop out explanation to me, and it doesn't explain at all how she matured another thousand lifetimes. It also doesn't explain how she surpassed Reina so easily in power, when Reina was the master of the reclaimers, and second only to the king. Keep in mind that these people were also parked in the quantum... for millenia before her arrival. She maintained communication with Ravi, and Ravi made a statement or two about her progress, but we were never privy to any POV there or what she went through. As if it was cut out completely!<

2.>!I also know that the invasion plan was to weaken the planets with Gomarii and swoop in as the savior. They even mention that several planets already fell as part of their ongoing campaign in a throwaway line. But the big master plan was to frame the Savages as the saviors. There should've been a whole section here about Oba, the Republic religion, and how the Savages were his disciples returned. There should've been segments about planetary governments embracing their savage saviors as the Golden King explained. There should've been diplomatic intrigue and pressure on the new Republic and thus the Legion with this schism occurring that the Golden King planned for millenia. Except literally none of that happened. We are told once of his plans, and then it's never brought up again. Oba wasn't even mentioned in Part 2. Come on...!<

3.>!The Dark Ones WERE in a ring once... now they're in an amulet of some kind. The Golden King somehow implemented some plan to stop the invasion after the Dark Wanderer was killed, and we never got to experience that. The biggest invasion in galactic history was fought and won off screen. I was under the impression it was just the fallen cybar under the control of the Dark Ones in Goth Sullas' ring before, and the extra galactic invasion occurred when the pact was broken by Ravi. Then somehow we have yet another object imbued with Dark Ones and everything is done and over. There's a whole book in there somewhere... maybe more than one.!<

4.>!I know Neelo's AI was savage code based, and his top lieutenant Serber was netherops... but we never heard a single thing about these beyond the revelation. Neelo was attached at the hip to his AI girlfriend. We went from that, to the cruiser being attacked and overrun by, presumably, Sarai. We find out in passing that Sarai was savage controlled, and that's all. No POV from Neelo before, during, or after these revelations. No argument with Sarai about what she's doing and to stop. No debate about her mission or her masters. No discussion about how Neelo found out Serber was netherops, or how they knew to target and infiltrate his organization so early on. There could've been a POV of Serber or Neelo before, during, or after the betrayal. There's an entire story about the inner workings of Neelo's circle of trust and we were relegated to a paragraph saying he was betrayed by everyone - now go to the next chapter, please.!<

5.>!KTF Part 1 after action said they had to cut Neelo's story about the goings on in the vault with Zora, but that story never happened in Part 2.... They must've forgotten or just kept it scrapped. We have no idea how he was hurt so badly and what led up to it. I kept waiting for his POV or at least Zora in combat explaining what went wrong. Oh!!!! Jack Bowie... what happened to him in the vault? What happened to him at all? Who the hell knows. We never got another POV from him either.!<

6.>!I know Garret partitioned Lyra from the savage intrusion, but both Garret and Lyra dropped out of the story. She's still trapped on a data disc, partitioned or not. How did the Strand end up on the partition? How was it part of the worm that was also somehow part of Sarai? None of this is ever explained. Just, hey the Strand that we needed has appeared right when we needed it, inside our own systems... like a gift wrapped present from the Savages. Deus ex machina style. Maybe Sarai provided it out of some sentient loyalty to her friend Neelo? Who knows. It won't ever be explained.!<

7.>!I know that Maestro betrayed the Golden King to use Earth against him, but we were never told HOW he would use it against him. We were never told what the plan of betrayal was. If Maestro secured the earth cave, what then? Another unexplained plot line. What happened to Maestro? Where is he, really? Where are his servers? His plan was still underway, and it just kind of stopped without so much as a throwaway line to acknowledge him or it.!<

8.>!How did Kill Team Ice link up with Kel Turner? We know how Carter got back to Kill Team Ice, but we know nothing of how they got together before him. We know nothing of any of their modern day story. They rescue Carter, and then they appear on Earth in the museum, and then the book ends after a battle without another word about the members. Some died, some lived, and no information beyond that was ever imparted. Is Kill Team Ice still active? Did they reincorperate into the Legion or did they go do something else? There's almost zero information about these critical people that appear at the last battle. That's what I mean when I say "what happened to kill Team Ice?" It's a major storyline with no information past, present, or future provided. No elaboration and no POVs.!<

9.>!Wildman did appear on Earth without knowing where Earth was or that there was even a battle going on there. Yes, I heard the AAR discuss that Wildman died, but I'm going to ignore that and go off the book. The only mention of Wildman is that his rifle is heard and recognized by a Kill Team Ice member at the exact perfect opportunity, and we never see or hear from him as the reader. We know nothing of his situation, his mental state, his ghost wife, where he came from, where he was, where he was going, and at some point his rifle firing was no longer a point of discussion in the chapter. That's literally all we got. They can say whatever they want in the convention, but that's all I got from the pages. If they wanted a story about his last stand, it should've been included.!<

10.>!Preacher Bot was still there in the cave with Masters as far as I know, and yet you're right - he wasn't mentioned. Not in Part 2. He's a completely neglected plot line, and a rather important one at that. There's all kinds of questions about how he received information, and why the information he got was what it was. He wasn't getting tactical readings from the Strand, but religious and historical doctrine upending everything we knew about the Republic. Then he's just no longer talked about... kind of like Bubbles. The cyborg abomination said that Bubbles was not just any ordinary animal but an entity. Some sort of harbinger. Bubbles vanished like the preacher bot, in that he could be dead or alive, but he was dropped off the book like a bad habit. For a final entry these loose ends are pretty unfair to the reader.!<

11.>!Moving on... yes I know Makafee went into the Strand with the aid of Lyra, but it was never explained how he really did this. We got a SMALL glimpse of Crometheus and his fractured counterparts, but they only had 3 out of 50. Where did the 50 come from? Why did he get split up so much? Where did he start and how did he end up there? How did they gather other Crometheus'? How did they travel through that realm to find other Cros? We can infer that they were fighting Maestro, but we never got to see or hear anything about that fight. I know Makafee was named the Dirty Wizard long ago, but he demonstrated no special powers then or now to the reader. If he helped Crometheus gather 50 copies, then it was left out. Does he have some sort of coding ability inside the virtual realm? We didn't even get a glimpse of his Wizarding role! I don't care if they do a whole series on that, we deserved at least some idea of what was going on. How did gathering 50 Cro's bring down the Savage Hulk defenses? What did any of it actually do or accomplish? Did they kill Maestro? How was the Savage Hulk containing the Golden King made vulnerable? None of it made any sense, because none of it was even attempted to be explained.!<

7
johnpatrickoOP•

CONTINUED FROM ABOVE...

12.>!DDOW was provided a Mech, yes, but he was also provided with independent freedom with it. What did he do after fulfilling his mission in the battle? He's never even circled back to. The discussion of what Garret did for him and the consequences are never addressed. In fact, neither Garret nor DDOW are mentioned or seen again in the subsequent 30 years or however long passed.!<

13.>!We don't actually know that the cybar were killed with Victory company because, as far as I know, there was never a POV including them in combat on the savage ship. Would the dark ones have struggled overcoming a race birthed by the quantum?!<

14.>!Yeah, we don't know whatever happened to Zora, and it was never clarified if Kel Turner was unconscious or fatally wounded or dead. Something that could've been cleared up with a single line. Carter recognized Keel as Fast, and yet there wasn't a single paragraph about that. Bear was just left out of the book AND the subsequent 30 or so years. He's not even mentioned as meeting up with Chhun for this new mission. Ravi stated very matter of factly that he was about to die. He wasn't even able to move or speak because he was almost dead. Then suddenly, he's swinging and slashing so fast he chops the Golden King up and retreats out of the ship like nothing happened - only to find out that he was fine after all.!<

15.>!Skrizz was completely left out of the battle, and his mini story was tacked on after the AAR. Skrizz was uniquely qualified for the boarding action mission against the Savages who existed in multiple realms, and yet he was left out of the story. His end was nothing more than a copy/paste of Chhun's ending with the exception that he died and Chhun did not. Lazily tacked on after the book was already over at that.!<

5
shinsainDO-51 "Lostboy" (Nick's Favorite Commie Fag)•

To be fair, you missed a bunch of things. Some of the answers to your questions, I remember very clearly.

Other than that, I finally just finished KTF part 2 last night, and have my own questions about it and will make my own thread.

I definitely agree that I feel like they put too much stuff in here and too many loose ends were not tied up (WTF happened to Wild Man, Kel, Skrizz... DDOW???)

1
julius_sphincter•

The hours long battle sequences have become a staple in their last few books and are ENTIRELY unnecessary. They're tedious, slow and do nothing to move the plot forward. I don't know if it's just one of the authors really REALLY needing to get them in the books or if they're truly just trying to use them as filler. Truth is though, this book beyond all others didn't need filler because as you pointed out, there's just so so so many open plot holes and storylines they could have and should have filled

1
Outrageous-Pin-555•

Can someone spoil for me what happens to Neelo? I'm only a few books into chapter 2 and I don't want to hurt too much if he just fucking dies.

1
Silver-Lie9536•

Agreed. I think the Anspach and Cole could fix things if they gave the readers short stories to finish the character arcs. Authors many times have us invest in these characters and then in one sentence say "that person laying dead", wow what happened? Did that person go out glorious, like a coward, saving, sacrificing one self etc. They have done short stories like Tin Man that actually to my surprise brought me closer to the character. I lost what Skrizz did other than do a drop. There were a few that really were forgotten, brushed over, or were significant in past books but never mentioned and would have likely been at the battles.

​

I will say this, Galaxy's Edge series is by far anything better then what is being produced for scifi fans right now. We have literally seen the destruction (careless, lazy, or on purpose) of some of our most beloved franchises.

1