4 out of 5

Oh man, sourcebooks are so not for me.  This took me, literally, two weeks to read, paragraph by paragraph, because – sigh – man, it’s just not my bag.  I sorta knew that going on, since I already speedball the world-building stuff in the ongoing series, but you know how it goes… you’re enjoying the series, so you buy the extras.  Partially a collecting mentality, partially a “just in case.”

“Just in case” news: if sourcebooks similarly aren’t your thing, this isn’t required reading.  This definitely adds to the picture we already have, but not in any truly game-changing way.  And I do appreciate that.  The fullness of the Lazarus world is certainly part of its success, but it truly is wended in as a bonus; what you need to know can all be picked up through subtext.

For those that love this stuff, though, Rucka and crew pack an insane amount of content in here.  As we seem to be focused on the Carlyle family in the main book, it probably seems obvious to do the same with this, but Greg could have expanded things if he’d wanted to and examined world politics instead of zeroing in on one region.  However, in so doing, he gives himself (and his assisting team) the ability to really dig in on the geography, commerce, technology, military structure and more, of one specific area.  In that sense, this reads more like an Encyclopedia entry than a traditional source, which is damned impressive.

That being said, this is a freaking book.  And as such, my lack of interest aside, I would’ve wished for something a bit more handy for flipping to content, such as an index or page numbers linked to a chapter listing.  There are clear tabs at the tops of the pages to denote what the focus is, but that isn’t something you can reliably open to as a reference, like the front or back page.  Now, I’m almost positive this concept was discussed, and it was sacrificed in order to include more source stuff, since the content spills onto the inside back cover.  But I would have preferred if the decision had swung the other way.  I can’t be the only reader to get curious if an acronym or person was mentioned in another section.

But yer dern skippy that that’s a minor quibble.  As with that world-building stuff I speed-read, the first Lazarus Sourcebook isn’t really of that much interest to me, but I think it’s a fantastic expansion of the world, and certainly shows a lot of planning, design work, and thought.