Monday, May 28, 2007

Dynasty of Rogues - Jane Fletcher

Like To the Lighthouse, the latest of Fletcher's "Celaeno's World" series divides into three parts. In this case each of very different character. First off we are in the familiar surroundings of the Rangers, with a "difficult" youngster being given a final chance in a new unit and her bad reputation proving impossible to escape when a serious crime is committed: so far, all very reminiscent of The Wrong Trail Knife (now re-issued as Rangers at Roadsend). The second section sees our heroine in a surprisingly passive role in a Machiavelian scheme to free a prisoner, a scheme that runs like clockwork with no mistakes, no "plan B", no on-the fly adaptations: all works out just as the plotters predict. The final part is a gentle coda as the romantic side of the story comes to fruition, everyone returns home and all wrongs are righted. Unusually for the books in this series, there are no shocks or unexpected upsetting of expectations in the final workings out of the plot.

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