Dark Robe Society I & II by Jason Edding

How to review this....its very odd. The first story, Dark Robe Heart, which appears in the book Space Escapes (along with an unrelated story by Angela Fiddler), is a good action story. The story centers on two male clones, Jack and Edge, and the relationship they build, the world building is good, the history is interesting. Then, it just ends, very abruptly. I won't even call it a cliff hanger. There is no ending, it just stops.

The second story, the Edge of Desperation (published along with an unrelated story by James Buchanan) picks up a couple months later and begins with different characters. This story would not do well at all as a stand alone. This one tells of the relationship between Tees and Toren, in addition to the relationship between Jack and Edge. Tees is very unlikable, and I really didn't enjoy reading about he and Toren much. I wanted to read about Jack and Edge, but in this story they really didn't have much to do. They were like leaves blown about in the wind, with no control over where they were going. The story started well enough, but fizzled. The point of view changes were very jarring, and happened quite at random, without warning. As a whole, the story was confusing. The ending was blah....no real end to the central story at all. It might mean another episode is pending, but after this one, I don't know if I can bring myself to read any more.