At last, back in the universe of Jurisdiction, or what it has become after the single dominating government fell apart. Raiders are slaughtering outposts in the name of the Angel of Destruction, while representatives of the Malcontent are trying to stop them, and in wanders Andrej Koscuisko, trying to fix his past mistakes and screwing up his cousin’s plan in the process. A lot of maneuvering ensues, but somewhat less death after the initial pages. ( )

I read this book as my introduction to the Jurisdiction series, and really didn't like it as a standalone book. However, as a lot of fans of the series like the book, maybe it is better as an element of the overall series.

Basically, it's an interesting space empire built on extreme legalism interfacing with a more freewheeling/anarchic/communitarian society. One of the core elements (and core characters) is the use of brutal torture by medical professionals in the service of legalism. Another element is hereditary/family corporations and extreme hierarchy. I personally find those elements very distasteful, even if they could make a good story, which partially accounts for my disliking the characters and thus book.

As someone new to the series, though, the biggest flaw is that it just seemed like an endless series of the same thing over and over again -- about 20% of the book was detailing how good certain food or clothing was, 20% was the weird quasi-romantic (or overtly romantic) element of the torturer-victim relationship, and another 20% was unwieldily-phrased formal titles or other flair. There was nothing I found particularly compelling in the book, although I could see how it might bring closure to some threads from previous books (possibly).

There was one good theme in the book -- the idea of amnesty or forgiveness vs. blood feuds.

I would definitely avoid this book as your introduction to the series. I'd consider the series independently, perhaps using book 1 rather than book 7 as the entry point, but as far as I can tell, it's just not my cup of tea. ( )

Epic space opera. ( )

Great epic military space opera science fiction. ( )

I’ve been a fan of Matthews’s Under Jurisdiction series since reading the first book, An Exchange of Hostages, back in the 1990s when it was published. so I was pretty disappointed when Matthews’s original publisher, Avon Books, dropped the series after the original trilogy. It was then picked up by Roc, who published a further three novels before dropping it. A seventh novel was published four years later by Meisha Merlin, who went into administration shortly afterward. And now, eleven years later, we finally have the next book in the series, published by, of all people, Baen. Which at least explains the shit cover art. Happily, Baen are also rereleasing the earlier books in omnibus editions, which is just as well as Blood Enemies follows straight on from the previous book, 2006’s Warring States, and would be hard to follow without knowledge of the preceding books, despite Matthews’s lengthy introduction. Kosciusko had sent his freed bondsmen off into the Gonebeyond, but when he tried to follow them he found himself stuck on Safehaven. Meanwhile, Cousin Stanosz, an agent of the Malcontent (the Dolgurokij Combine’s unofficial secret service), has been investigating a series of brutal terrorist attacks on Gonebeyond colonies. He thinks Kosciusko’s brother is involved, and so impersonates Kosciusko to visit the brother in the company station he inhabits in Gonebeyond, travelling there in the bondsmen’s ship. Except Kosciusko manages to escape his house-arrest and tracks his b0ndsmen to the company station, inadvertently ruining Cousin Stanosz’s plan… This book is better-written than I remember the earlier books in the series being, and Kosciusko seems to have settled down as a character. But a lot happens in its 256 pages, and the constant referring back to events and people in the earlier books does tend to confuse in places. The Under Jurisdiction novels don’t have quite the same level of shine as they did back in the late 1990s and, while the genre has moved on in the eleven years since Warring States, although it has moved in much the same direction as the Under Jursidiction books were sort of heading… Blood Enemies still doesn’t feel much like a 2017 science ficiton novel. The world-building is strong, but it’s not the focus of the narrative. Nor are the characters’ emotions. Which does make it feel, when compared to present-day sf, as though everything in Blood Enemies is slightly off-centre. I’m not all that interested in the current sf narrative style, to be honest – world-bling and feels and word salad – but Blood Enemies reads like it’s trying to catch up rather than do its own thing. Having said that, I still intend to continue reading the series. ( )