In The Works: Book Two's Aesthetics

Reavers of the Void is a pirate story in frontier territory. Book Two is not; it's a tale of intrigue in the heart of Civilization, albeit no less fast-paced and action-packed. While giant robots and space battleships, singularly and in great numbers, are present the action's scaling down closer to the man-to-man level for much of Book Two; we scale back up for the climax.

Besides, you don't do this sort of thing without taking the time to show off the scenery, and Book Two has some truly fantastic locations:

• The Court of Stars, based out of Rome. While many affairs regarding the Court can be--and are--done via remote conferencing, the most sensitive matters are only done in person and this time we see that happen. You don't make use of a location with Rome's history and majesty without making time to make the most of those very qualities. As George Lucas showed with his location choices for Naboo, you can expect some furious fights to occur in this ancient capital of Civilization.
• The Barsoom War College, base on Mars. Located in geostationary orbit over Olympus Mons, tethered by beanstalk to the ground and serving also as a transit hub for the planet, this is the school for Solar Guard officer candidates as well as the graduate school for those career officers looking to make it into the upper ranks and join the Admiralty. As such, experts lecturing on a vast array of applicable subjects (such as military history) can be found here either as faculty or visiting fellows. The orbital museum is the key tourist attraction.
• Lord Roland's Estate, based on the shores of Lake Mille Lacs in North America (present day Minnesota). This is my backyard (so to speak), and how it went from resort to feudal manor is a long story, and if you've never been to the Minnesota lake country then you don't know the glory of being able to see the horizon on a fresh water lake (and then be surrounded by literally hundreds of other lakes). I spent many weekends and summer vacations here, so you're going to see what this is like when violent men with mecha stomp around it.
• St. Mayo's Hospital, which is today's Mayo Clinic. In the feudal future, this is a Church holding- specifically held by the Hospitallers. A Very Important Person is kept here in secret, guarded 24/7/365 by the Knights, and the key of the plot revolves around discovering that this location has the VIP and then what happens when the villains move to deal with the VIP.

You can see why you're not going to see giant robots right away, or a lot. But you will see mecha, just smaller mecha. We're looking this time to see more stuff that you'd see out of Armored Trooper VOTOMS, Bubblegum Crisis, Genesis Climber MOSPEADA, Megazone 23, and so on. Maybe as big as Orguss, and the ships we see will likely be the smaller ones until we get to the final act.