Bitter Angels by C.L. Anderson
Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at 10:19PM 
Published by Spectra on August 25, 2009
Terese Drajeske, a former guardian of the saints, is called back to active duty. The saints do good works on the planets comprising the United World Government. The guardians endeavor to keep the peace without killing anyone (usually by gluing people to walls). Drajeske goes to the Erasmus System to circumvent an attack upon certain of its planets. She brings along Siri (who hooks into a communications network) and Vijay, who works undercover. Other principles are a cop on Erasmus, Amerand, who is working to find his enslaved mother (he arranged for his enslaved father to work for him), and a doctor, Emiliya.
Bitter Angels tells its story from shifting points of view. That technique can be difficult to execute but Anderson handled it nicely, merging the different perspectives into a seamless storyline. The concept of a guardian force that keeps peace without killing is a nice departure from plots that rely on violence for an easy (if unimaginative) injection of excitement. The twisty plot, while a bit Byzantine, builds suspense with a mix of political intrigue and fast action. Terese is a fully developed example of the reluctant hero--and for that reason is a more interesting character than is standard fare in fast-action sf novels.
If C.L. Anderson (the pen name of Sara Zettel) writes a sequel to Bitter Angels, I'll buy it.
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