Judge

The Wess'har Wars #6

by Karen Traviss

The Eqbas have come, bringing justice, change, hope to some . . . and death to many.

Seeking to punish the human gethes who caused the near destruction of an ocean-dwelling race in the distant Cavanagh’s Star system, the Eqbas have finally landed on Earth. But another, equally important obligation has drawn them across the galaxy: the salvation of this environmentally ravaged world, a mission that could entail the annihilation of billions of humans.

Former police officer Shan Frankland has come as well—along with her two lifemates, one alien and one human—carrying in her blood the parasite that makes her virtually immortal. Though she once vowed never to let the powerful contagion reach the homeworld she left nearly a century ago, she feels compelled to play an active role in the unfolding drama—and to follow the catastrophic events that have devastated civilizations and defined her life to their shocking, inevitable end.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Science Fiction Fantasy, Ebooks, Aliens, Novels

391 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 25, 2008

About the author

#1 New York Times best-selling novelist, scriptwriter and comics author Karen Traviss has received critical acclaim for her award-nominated Wess'har series, and her work on Halo, Gears of War, Batman, G.I. Joe, and other major franchises has earned her a broad range of fans. She's best known for military science fiction, but GOING GREY and BLACK RUN, the first books in her new techno-thriller series RINGER, are set in the real world of today. A former defence correspondent and TV and newspaper journalist, she lives in Wiltshire, England. She's currently working on SACRIFICIAL RED, the third book in the Ringer series, and HERE WE STAND, book three in the NOMAD series.

Reviews

[Johannes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is as much a review of the last book as it is of the whole series.

So I think the whole series is pretty much a masterpiece.

I realise people might fight me on this, and they have every right to. Was it boring at times? Sure. Did it re-use themes and moral conflicts over and over again? Definitely. Were six books too much? Maybe. Was it still good sci fi? Absolutely.

The sixth book was pretty much half action half extended epilogue. I have to say that I was kind of shocked when Shan and company returned to Wess’ej and my kindle told me I was only 58% done with the book. What else was going to happen? The answer was: loose ends.

As far as a series as this can ever be neatly tied up, Karen Traviss manages it pretty well. Sometimes maybe too well, in that a lot of events fall together that wouldn’t necessarily have to fall together, and the coincidences sometimes feel too neat (but then again, having the series drag out further would have just been plain unnecessary). The big questions were answered, all possibilities explored. All that remained was putting all the characters back in places were they (*cough* Shan *cough*) wouldn’t start any more shit.

I’m going to say though, I will miss these characters.

Granted, Aras was put a bit on the back burner for the last books (a fact Traviss tried to remedy, I guess, when she gave us some more of his backstory by having him visit Jejeno), but he had his last shining moment in book six as well. I have to say, I liked him better in the first two books, now it just felt like he was letting himself be dragged through the narrative unwillingly (which is funny, coming to think of it, because he’s really not that enthusiastic about anything that’s happening in-universe). He really got one-upped by Shan when it comes to pure awesomeness.

Shan though. I mean, here we have a character who is really #relatable. Okay, maybe not for everyone - but I work in environment conservation, and having a character who’s butch and tough, with a no-nonsense attitude and a gun tucked into the back of her pants who is really into green stuff was like. All my fantasies fulfilled. Oh my god. I love her so much. It’s a trademark for Traviss’ characters that they keep second-guessing themselves, but it was also a very defining trait for Shan - I’m not sure if she’s a person with a very clear set of morals and she keeps second-guessing herself because she’s afraid that’ll turn her into a fanatic, or if she’s not sure whether or not she’s a good person. In the end, motive doesn’t really matter, I guess (heh). What matters is that her character was the most exciting premise, and also very-well executed.

I never really warmed up to Ade. I honestly don’t know why. He showed up on my radar rather late during the first book, which feels weird because I know he was there but I just didn’t realize his place in the narrative. He had his moments, but to me, his character, to the end, felt kind of slippery. Eh.

A special mention, at this point, goes out to Eddie Mitchallat, though. It is a well-known fact that if you throw a fictional journalist at me I will probably take them home and cry profusely about them, but Traviss was a journalist and I guess that makes the character of Eddie just that much more interesting. And it’s not just the questions of journalist ethics he struggles with, not just that he accidentally raises an alien child (god how I loved that plotline), it’s that underneath it all, he has to live with the fact that he’s friends with all these people that he’s reporting about. He’s just. Such a good guy. I’m gonna cry again.

All in all, throughout all six books, I never reached a point at which I considered putting it down for good. It had its ups and downs, but Traviss makes it worth sticking through the slow parts. You know it’s always going to be good again eventually.

[erforscherin · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a terribly weak ending to a series which started out so strongly! After two books of plot invested in the bezeri, their plot thread is almost completely dropped in this one, with absolutely no explanation (an aspect which makes even less sense in light of the ultimate ending). Five books' worth of hinted intrigue about events back on Earth are also completely punted - nothing interesting ever happens with the FEU's desire to get their hands on Shan (I would have expected at least a kidnapping attempt!), and all the events which should have caused a massive political uproar... don't.

I know that this is set up to be a very one-sided book, with events seen only from the perspective of the Eqbas, but I can't help feeling like absolutely none of the interesting points which could have come from this invasion were ever covered. Why did nobody try to kidnap Aras, or Shan? Why does nobody seem to care about the sniper, and why is there no followup to this? Surely the Skavu must be having some interesting run-ins of their own with the Earth populace. Why the heck is none of this covered?! I would have loved to hear more about the people who holed up in their homes against the "invasion," personally. It saddens me to see such potential richness of content completely swept under the rug in favor of (yet more) chest-beating and angst by Shan et al.

Equally bizarre is the fact that Aras nearly disappears in this book, having only a handful of speaking lines while Shan and Ade gallivant around the local pubs. It's pretty clear what Traviss is trying to do here, in foreshadowing the ending, but I would have expected to hear more from him, given the circumstances...

The ending is another big sticking point for me. Eddie's fate was touching and well-done, but - just as with the bezeri plot line - I'm still scratching my head over the moral inconsistencies which would lead Shan and Ade to be so completely, utterly okay with staying infected (not to mention the wess'har's decision to keep them that way). Why would a "peaceful" planet need such a thing... especially with the still-infected bezeri right around the corner? (That is, I'm assuming they would need to stay infected; taking c'naatat away means they return to their original forms, and are forced back into the polluted, irradiated waters that just killed the rest of their kind. But, uh, something tells me this slipped Traviss' mind.)

In short: None of this makes any sense! The sheer number of plot threads which are outright dropped or otherwise completely bungled is absolutely astonishing, given how incredibly tightly-written this series started out. What a shame. I might reread the first three books, but I think it'll be a good while before I ever come back to these last three...

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have thoroughly enjoyed this entire series. That being said, I don't feel like it's a series that you can pick up in the middle (or at the end) and completely grasp the nuances of what's going on. I'm not entirely sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing? I've had discussions with friends, and feelings go both ways. Some friends feel that books (even in a series) should be able to stand on their own regardless of their position in a series. I'm not exactly sure what my position is on the matter - but this book, in this series, clearly is a part of a greater whole, and should be read as such.

I *really* don't want to say too much - because in saying much about this book, there will be spoilers. If you are a fan of the series, there is much in this book to think about. If you are picking up this book for the first time having never read anything in the Wess'Har books? Please *please* do yourself a favor, go pick up City of Pearl and start at the beginning.

If you are a fan of Traviss' Star Wars books and are likewise picking up her Wess'Har books for the first time, thinking this might be a good place to start...please see about re: City of Pearl :D

Enjoy!

[Just_ann_now · Rating 3 out of 5]

This entire series was just excellent - meaty, thought-provoking plotting, unique and well-drawn characters, absolutely fascinating worldbuilding.

[Booknerd Fraser · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fitting ending to the series - not with a bang but a sigh. No huge battles, but a lot of tension, and release.

[Pete Aldin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Positives first. It’s extremely rare for me to maintain interest in a book series, so kudos to Ms Traviss for keeping me hooked through six of these. This book was a fitting and satisfying end to a long saga. It contained one of the best dying scenes I’ve read (moving, pitch perfect, happy).

There are some truly wonderfully written sections and moments where the author’s journalistic skills are there for all to see. If it’s a bit preachy at times, that’s ok because we know what we’re signing up for there from book one and it’s core to the story arc.

Some negatives?

The main one is that this six book series went on too long. Much of books 3-5 felt like padding and the series would have been better IMHO as a tight four book series.
The other big one is not the author’s fault. I have a bugbear about the criticism indie books often receive for the proofing errors they may contain. As if that doesn’t happen in equal measure with books published by big “publishing houses” like Harper Collins in this case. What follows is about half the errors I picked up...

She could never shed that Detective Superintendent persona “I’ll do that,” she said, a carried a big plate of (missing a full stop (period) and has “a” instead of “and”)

I’m happy to open to this up to (extra word)

“Can’t shoot dust, unfortunately. “So who’s going to drop ... (extra “ dropped into wrong place)

“What’s that? Shukry asked. (Yep, missing “)

“Before we left,” said Ade. You crashed into his (missing “ as speech continues)

He glanced at Shan for a moment, “She betrayed us... (, instead of.)

I don’t think Shan’s even told to Giyadas yet. (Either missing a word or the “to” shouldn’t be there)

What’s going to waiting for the crew? (Missing word)

“I’m glad you think if me that way.” (If instead of of).

I’ll stop there but there were many many more, Harper Collins 😬

Anyway, I enjoy Karen Traviss’s writing so I’ll definitely look for more.

[Chani · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really did not like the ending of this series. It was slacking after the third book and felt like a lot of filler was used to make a book deal. Spoilers to follow: I was so mad that Aras and Shan split up. It just didn't make sense and I really didn't like Ade all that much. Not enough to justify being with him forever. He seemed more like a girl-ish crush that Shan had which was very out of character. Aras was amazing and for Traviss to just throw him by the wayside and pretending it was because he wanted to be a father, blah. And the whole decision about c'naatat really made me angry. Not that they ended up keeping it but that Shan was so wishy-washy. I felt Shan really fell apart in this last book and perhaps Traviss was trying to show that she was 'human' but it was really disenchanting and not enjoyable.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't want this series to end! I loved the characters and how they evolved. Karen Traviss is extremely good at world and character-building. This final (?) book in the series gives us the answers to what happens to Earth and the issues with the Eqbas and the Skavu. It also gives deeper understanding of Aras and his need to be Wess'Har. And what happens to Shan and Ade and Lindsay and Rayat and.... All throughout is the background issue of how does one decide what is best for others? Would you want to be immortal and should you? Who should live and who shouldn't? Does emotion get in the way of doing what must be done to preserve life for an entire planet? Deep questions with many possible answers, and it left me thinking about many things.

[Stacey Lunsford · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final book in the series moves on at a much brisker pace. Shan, Ade, and Aras accompany Esganikan Gai and the rest of Eqbas to Earth to begin its remediation. The Federated European Union attempts to play politics, with no understanding of the futility of their actions. The discovery that Esganikan deliberately infected herself with c'naatat from Mohan Rayat starts a chain reaction of decisions on distant Wess'ej and Eqbas Vorhi that ends in violence. There is more action and less agonizing over ethics in this final installment. A good end to the story.

[Helen Erwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this series. I wish there were more authors that write about interesting alien cultures like this.
Ever since I read Eifelheim by Michael Flynn, I've been on the look out for real good stories like this, and this series truly hit the mark.

I think the first five novels in the series is better than the sixth book, but I really enjoyed the very end of Judge. A sad but perfect finale that made me cry both sad and happy tears. Well done!

[Jacqueline Langille · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was sort of skimming in the second half of this book, the sixth and final in this series. I think I'll avoid 6-book series going forward. Judge was fine, and tied up most of the stories in the series.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit slow but a fine ending and wrap up to this series.

[Hypatia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly satisfying end to the series.

[David King · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Judge" by Karen Traviss is the final book in her science fiction series known as the "The Wess'har Wars". If you haven't read the previous books in the series then I do advise that you avoid reading this review as some of my commentary is likely to spoil some aspects of the previous books.

The story follows on from the previous novel with the Eqbas fleet finally arriving on Earth to undertake a massive environmental cleaning campaign. Shan and her two life mates have travelled with them even though they all carry the parasite that makes them virtually immortal. This is because she feels that she should be involved in the attempts of the Eqbas to deal with the various governments and ensure that the environmental damage can be reversed without the need to wipe out humanity for good.

I have to be honest and say that I was a little bit disappointed with this final entry in the series. Traviss' writing is still competent enough but the entire plot was quite simply rather dull. There is no doubt that things get resolved, but it was all done with a whimper rather than a bang. For example, the Eqbas fleet finally arrived at Earth which is something I have been looking forward to for ages, but there was no real conflict here. After thirty years of forewarning, humanity hadn't bothered trying to improve their defences, they just rolled over and accepted their fate. This lack of excitement isn't helped by the way in which Traviss uses the time period that passes during space flight to jump the story forward. It results in the reader getting to skip to the end and rely on an aging Eddie to give both the main characters and the reader a brief of what has happened.

In addition there are the various plot points which had been built up in previous books but went nowhere such as the threat of the Skavu, the antics of the Bezari, humanity's attempt to get C'naatat or Esganikan's self-infection. These aspects were all touched on during the novel, but I was expecting so much more in relation to these aspects and I felt let down by what I did get. It just feels like Traviss has intentionally tried to avoid any aspect of conflict within the novel which leads to a rather disappointing conclusion to the series.

It isn't until the final third of the novel that I really began to get some enjoyment out of the story as I witnessed Shan, Ade and Aras return to F'Nar and attempt to put their lives in order. This section of the story was at times very emotional and it highlighted how much I appreciated and liked these characters. The way in which the relationships, friendships, desires and difficulties were resolved was handled very well. It was specifically interesting to note that by the end of this novel, Shan turned out not to be that important after all, she was side-lined and shown to be no more than any other person. It was quite brave of Traviss to do this to her main character and I appreciated that this tied in nicely with the overall theme of the series in that we as individuals and as a species are not the be all and end all.

Overall, whilst this isn't the most exciting book in the series if you have made it this far then you surely have to finish. I think that Traviss has missed the chance to create a truly enthralling novel and finish the series in style. However, she does at least give the characters some form of emotional send-off which was nice to see after watching them grow and change over the previous books.

[Paradoxical · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last book of the Wess'har series, you'd think Judge at least would have something more going for it than the same old story of earth reclamation and c'naatat, but no. It's hard to say what I really feel about this series, but in turn I found it bad and then good and then I was rather indifferent. This isn't going to be any sort of proper review, but I write these things mainly for myself, so here we go.

Everything is very circular. From the c'naatat and how immortality isn't really, especially with the can-we-turn-them-normal scenario to earth becoming something a little older and a little newer at the same time. There is progression, but the progression is slow and limps along, and the characters that helped move said progression along aren't necessarily ones that I cared about. You'd think that Shan would at least have a little more agency, but she's pretty much relegated to the background. And I get it, that she's not a special snowflake in the end, but it bugs me and it's not really how I like my books operating. It's very pointed, the ways that she could just mess things up rather than not, and so she's quietly shunted off to the side with no real fanfare.

Which is a problem for me because I read books for the plot, yes, but characters are of equally large importance to me. I like it when they're special; not going to lie. I like it when they actually do things and accomplish their goals, and are important to the plot. This, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of what the book/series wanted to show/tell the readers, and that's part of the reason why it bothered me. I get the point, series, but I just don't like it. Personal preference.

The book still felt rather top heavy, like you could take away chunks of it and leave a book that, well, is essentially the same story, but slimmer. You get to see how people evolve over the years, how people change throughout the books, and it's always interesting to see how one person begins from the beginning of book 1 and then ends up at the end of book 6. If sometimes I don't like how that progression goes, well, that's my problem too.

The end was. Well. Rather quiet, actually. The wrap up with pretty quick and somewhat abrupt, and the events at the end made me want to throw things at the wall. I could see it coming from a mile away, but the actual decision in the end just made me profoundly unhappy. It's, again, one of those things that I understand, but just don't like.

The series isn't bad. It's still preachy in parts, but the way it evolves from showing a very one dimensional view of the universe into one a little more complex is well done. Shan, full of flaws, was a great character that I appreciate if only because she's so different from others.

It's hard rating this. This is a solid book. It probably deserves at least 3 stars. But it's definitely not my sort of book, and it's somewhat amazing that I read through all six in the series in a matter of days. Heck, I should bump up the score just because of that (in fact, I am). So it pretty much comes down to this: my personal enjoyment was 2 stars. It's not a series I will ever reread, unlike a few others. But it's not bad. It probably deserves more like 3 stars, which is what I'll use for the rating.

[Zack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not the bombastic conclusion I'd hoped for coming off of Ally , but it was satisfying enough not to be disappointing.

Ever since instant communication was established with a 25 lightyear-distant Earth early on in the series, I wondered how the eventual remediation of Earth would come into play. Judge took the deceptively obvious route of having the primary trio board the ship to Earth, allowing the seemingly far-off development to carry the same sense of immediacy as the rest of the series, while also keeping firmly in touch with the now decades-older characters who remained on Wess'ej. Set on multiple planets up to 30 lightyears apart and spanning decades of realtime, this novel is the series at its grandest.

And yet, despite having the widest scope yet, the stakes are smaller and more personal than ever before. The remediation of Earth is at the forefront of the narrative, yet only concerns Shan so long as she's physically present, and Aras and Ade insofar as it concerns Shan; the main trio are effectively immortal, yet the advent of a successful and permanent way to remove c'naatat from human hosts completely changes the narrative of how they choose to live; and many of the impersonal but potentially catastrophic sideplots simply cease to be an issue. For how large the focus was on the primary characters rather than the broader world and its implications, the final developments and emotional climax could have been stronger, but it still served its purpose well enough.

4/5 (B+), not the peak of the series but still a well-deserved conclusion.

[Parallax]

I'm not sure what to make of this book as the end of the series. I expected the book to focus more on the Eqbas' efforts to environmentally balance Earth. I wanted more exploration on the colonialist aspects of the Eqbas imposing their standards on other life forms, and more stuff on collaboration and resistance. (I did like Shan acknowledging that she was forming a less idealized impression of the wess'har, and realizing their shortcomings.)

This book seemed more focused on the cast of characters, which I thought did well by them. It struck me how much the characters had changed and grown and been affected by events. They struggled with trying to do right by the world, by their friends and family, by what they personally need, and how little or big their sphere of influence was. I liked how the decisions were never easy, and how there were always consequences.

The series also focused more on c'naatat and the various uses. I liked the stuff about immortality, life cycles, and the time lags of interstellar travel.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Judge concludes Karen Traviss's six-book cycle about ecologically-responsible, Vegan aliens come to Earth to "help" (read: use military might to force Earth to) clean up its global warming, reduce its teeming population, and repopulate some extinct species from a gene bank taken from Earth centuries earlier.

But the story line is not what makes this series so compelling. It's really about the people and Travis does characterization really well. This book is a closure and a farewell to the characters we've come to know over the years and she ties everything up nicely, dealing smoothly with issues like increasing age differential between one friend who travels through space and another who does not.

In light of the current situation on our own 21st century planet, this story line is also very timely. Really makes you think.

[Karen Ireland-Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the conclusion of Traviss' Wess'har series. Unfortunately, the series probably should have ended with The World Before, or at the latest, with Matriarch. The last three books in this series (Matriarch, Ally, Judge) felt as though they'd been written to outline, or to fulfill a book contract, rather than to tell the stories of the fascinating main characters and the endlessly inventive worlds explored in the first three books. The plots wandered; the same three or four situations/plotlines (alien parasite, ecological revisionism, and romance) drag through these three books without resolution. Each of the major plot points (deftly explored in the first three novels, with plenty of action) just sort of . . . petered out. The denoument is out of character and not particularly believable.

[Lisa Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to review this as a series. Some volumes were stronger than others, but overall, very thought-provoking.

As a concluding volume, 'Judge' was perhaps not completely satisfying. I suspect this may be because we did not really see the billions of deaths on Earth, or fully understand how they occurred. We saw more of, and were more distressed by, the demise of the isenj.

Why did we hope for more? There was never going to be an Eqbas silver-bullet resolution. After all, Traviss is a gethes —just like the rest of us. If any human had been able to come up with something better than massive die-off, let's hope we'd already have done it.

[Rift Vegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wess'har War #6. Last book in a great series. And entirely not what I was expecting... I definitely wanted some death and destruction happening to the humans on Earth, and it never happened. oh, hmm, I guess that's some spoilers! And also, what the heck happened to the oh so terrifying Skavu?! Weren't they supposed to get loose?

Darn. oh, well. I do still wish that some vegan aliens would come down and sort us stupid humans...

[L · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of those dreadful sci fi novels that starts in the middle of something, so that if you don't know the characters, the species, the back-story, etc., it is unintelligible. Too bad, because the description of the book promised a great story. Perhaps instead of bringing it directly to the library I'll just tuck it away somewhere, in the hope that the next time I pick it up I'll be more patient. Don't know.

[Brendan · Rating 2 out of 5]

despite the fact that the aliens in this book are militant vegans culling humans to make earth more habitable for other animals, i just haven't been able to get into it. i'm not sure if it's a problem with her writing style or what. it's enjoyable though and i've been picking it up now and again between other books.

[Kimm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book, but didn't stand up to the previous books in the series. Not much really happened. On the other hand, I heard that several people were angry at the ending and I did not have that reaction. I thought that she took the story where the characters went and I liked that part. I would have been annoyed if she hadn't.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a long time to finish this one. I usually read to escape how horrible
people can be, not read about it, so I really didn't enjoy the periods of the book that
death with Earth. It was good however to see some resolution to the characters' lives
and issues at the end.

My least favorite of the series.

[Martin holley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weakest of a great series, but a pretty good conclusion. If you have read the others, you will have to read this one, but don't expect it to be as good as the others. But it is a better final book than many series manage.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the way she wrapped this up. Enough of an ending to be satisfying, but open-ended enough to write more if she's so inclined. Some pretty surprising things happen in this one. Not entirely Hollywood Happy Ending.

[Honnah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it wrapped it all up in a nice, neat bow even if I wasn't fond of the ending. That's life. Writing about the reality of decisions, circumstances, and pragmatism is definitely Karen Traviss' strong point.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

a fitting end to series

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good end to a great series. Although I was enjoying the world and the characters so much I really didn't want it to end.