Book Review: Suited by Jo Anderton

Pros: learn more of the greater story (puppet men's origins, etc.), lots of action

Cons: Tanyana's character starts to grate, climaxes twice

Following directly after the events of Debris, Suited begins with Lad and Tanyana following the voice of the Keeper into ever more dangerous situations.  When they fail to reach their debris quota twice because of their other activities the collecting team is split.  With Kichlan on one team and Tanyana and Lad on the other, Tan vows to keep Lad safe.  Debris is hard to come by, and the new teams are scared of further repercussions from the Veche.

Meanwhile, Tan and Kichlan are asked to join an underground movement to stop the Veche and help the Keeper.  By releasing debris.

The opening is a rehash of the previous book, as discussed by two puppet men.  It reads oddly, as it's clear the characters both know what's happened and are talking about it for no purpose except for the reader to get caught up with the story.

There are several new subplots in this book, as well as revelations about a few character's backgrounds.  It was nice to learn more about some of the supporting cast, and realize that they have their own motivations for keeping outside the Veche's radar.

The relationship between Tan and Kichlan heats up.  This was something I was hoping to see after the first book, though I wasn't happy with how it played out.  While Kichlan was open and trusting, Tanyana went out of her way to hide quite a number of things from him.  Relationships can't work without trust and respect, and she gave him neither while expecting both.  As such, his attitude towards her at the end of the book didn't surprise me.

The book seemed to climax at the three quarter mark, with an important event.  I thought it was going for a long denoument (which I tend to find wearying), but then ramped up for another climax, with even more devestating consequences.  It is during this period of the novel that we finally learn more about the puppet men, what they are and what they're trying to achieve.

I wasn't very happy with the ending, especially Tanyana's lack of concern for anyone but herself and Kichlan.  However, the revelations at the end intrigued me enough that I'll likely pick up the next book to see how things turn out.