Confluence

enjoyable and quite unique storyline, bought sequels

loved the story

I've read all three of these books in quick succession and enjoyed them all. They are set in far away space with different species aboard ships or stations, but also on supporting planets that live in frictional political and sometimes combat relationships with each other. The "lines" element of spaceship and space station control is unusual but quickly accepted and interesting in the way it is exploited. Read them in order: Linesman, Alliance, Confluence.

The final book in the trio was the best written, as I might expect, and I felt it really wrapped up the story in a satisfying way without making future books impossible.I read all three of the Linesman books in less than a week. What drew me forward was the evolving story of the ship lines and the development of character relationships--a slow build toward understanding and trust that is completely different from so many stories where people bond into a team for no perceptible reason.Political intrigue is a theme, as well as developing self-confidence and strength. The main character is a classic engineer/programmer/savant, completely immersed in his work, but is kind and caring when he interacts with others.There are no sex scenes, but there are a couple of very slow burn romances I enjoyed. The violence is not graphic, though it has an impact.Scenes and dialog are well-written. There are very, very few copyediting issues, (none that I noticed), and the writing is practically transparent. I love that. These books are all about story.As others have commented, the female characters in this story are strong, whether they are good guys or bad guys. I was a little surprised to find a future with emperors and planets on which women are merely partners to men, but the narrative voice disapproved of those, so it didn't reduce my enjoyment.

Brilliant trilogy; I say that because you need to have read volume 1 before tackling the others. Rather than an all-out action series( it is based on a war situation after all), it's very much about political intrigues as well as learning to control alien technolgy. I found it very absorbing, and would recommend all 3 books. I also liked the physical size of the paperbacks, nice and compct.