Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Vol. 4: Stratagem (4)

If you have read the previous three books you know what to expect. The Europeon Wars of the 17 and 1800's in space with a emphasis on strategy and politics rather than gore and bloodshed. It is all highly entertaining and I will certainly buy the next one.I deducted one star because A. It is a setup novel...a big event I thought would happen in this book barely started upon this ones ending. And B. there was a translator change and the new one is not as good as the one who did the previous three. It wasn't a huge deal, but there was a couple of times I had to reread a passage to understand it fully.That being said I can't wait for book 5!

EDIT: This is NOT the final book. They didn't tell us but there were 2 more books coming. If you stop reading here though, IMO, you haven't missed anything, at least in book 9, which I disliked so much that I didn't bother and will not bother reading book 10.Previous review follows:I liked these books and have now finished reading the final, book 8.I like pulp sci-fi and enjoyed the series, it was, overall, memorable. But I doubt I would re-read the entire series, so though I enjoyed it, it was too long and not interesting enough to slog through 8 books. If it were shorter, maybe. If you made it this far and are enjoying it, do continue, I would say. But its not my favorite series, even if memorable....

As with most English-speaking fans of LOGH, I was introduced to the series by the 80s OVA adaptations. This book, as with the prior ones, captures the same grandeur while patching up the gratuitous German. If you want Space Opera done right, start at book 1 and work your way here.

If you have read the first three, then no way do you want to miss this one. This volume had me on the edge of my seat like the first 3, but I could tell from the thickness of the book that the plot lines here weren't going to fully resolve. I feel like this volume is really building up to something bigger in volume 5 and/or possibly beyond.

Bought this for my son. He got my friend to read it and she is enthralled with the political intrigue.

This series is constantly one of my favorites and book 4 continues that standard of excellence. An absolute must read

Very fun series.

It's been a long time coming. The animated adaptation of the Legend of the Galactic Heroes (LoGH) series (December 1988 – March 1997) had already established itself amongst anime fans in the west, first as a cult classic in VHS and laserdisc rips, and now as a towering pillar of quality science fiction. Now, the books in which they were based are here.The series is extremely faithful to the books, sharing their narrative structure and taste for framing everything as a sprawling portrait of a historical time that really happened, as far as the reader/viewer is concerned. There is nothing here that deviates from that portrait - you get to follow along as Reinhard von Müsel becomes Reinhard von Lohengramm, and even through heartbreak and loss becomes the most powerful man in the universe.You get to follow along as Yang Wen-Li attempts to survive the wars, little and big, internal and external, that plague the Free Planets Alliance, a pastiche of flawed democracies that is somehow amazingly resonant, even some 30 years after it was written.The translation's incredibly on point, as well, the prose flows very naturally, even though you can tell the general structure of it is very Japanese.This series is just something that nobody that loves sci-fi should ever miss. Hopefully the series translation will continue throughout the 10 volumes, and the 2017 upcoming adaptation of the books will help sales.

The translation has become utter garbage. I'm reasonably sure it wasn't this bad in the first volumes, so I wouldn't even hazard a guess for what has changed, but I spent most of the time reading this book trying, with little success, to decode whatever the translator had been trying to say. Garbled sentence structure, plain errors, affirmatives-becoming-negatives, you name it. Plus of course the usual artificiality of translations from Japanese nerd media.I doubt I'll keep reading the series because this translation has effectively removed the single reason why people might prefer the books to the anime.

Ignoring the fact that it became an anime, it is a great science fiction series that I'd put up there in my top 10. It's obvious inspirations is late 1800s imperial Germany hubris vs. democratic American corruption.Of course, the anime is great too. Would recommend both to anyone.

while the story is great, this translation isn't great. there are many instances where the wrong character is named. it is possible though that this cis a mistake of author. otherwise amazing story, plus the anime is awwsome.

Imprescindible soap opera

Good!