frankvanmeer's review
3.0
As much as I loved the first book, and I could read about Dev all day, somehow this sequel seems "a bridge too far".
Thing is, I think if the whole story had been condensed to a single volume, it would have been exceptional. As it is, the plot drags on, just to fill another book. Granted, it is a rollercoaster of action, but gets a bit tedious failry early on, and it does the story no real good when the plot goes off on a tangent and tries to entertain us with things like rescueing a polar bear and teaching Dev how to surf.
The plot is solely focussed on the action and as such, the romance suffers. And while Dev is as charming as ever in all her innocence, the fact is that she just follows Jess, no questions asked. I had hoped the sequel would see Dev assert herself a bit more. She pulls a couple of heretofor unknown tricks from her sleeve, but there really isn't much in the way of character progression. And I think that's a shame.
Anyway, there's a lot of flying and fighting going on, but halfway through I couldn't be bothered anymore. The thing I hate about science fiction in general is that it is too easy to rely on the tech and whatnot, and charcters start pulling up stuff that just seems to be "invented at the moment" because the author didn't really know how to get out of a situation. The book almost lost me completely when Jess. I mean, really? The answer of course is that her mother was thoughtful enough to genetically manipulate her eggs. Sigh.
Another thing, something I overlooked in Partners 1, is: where the hell do they get all the resources? The planet is covered in water, with a few islands where people scrape by a living, yet no matter the destruction, it is always immediatly replaced. How?
Thing is, I think if the whole story had been condensed to a single volume, it would have been exceptional. As it is, the plot drags on, just to fill another book. Granted, it is a rollercoaster of action, but gets a bit tedious failry early on, and it does the story no real good when the plot goes off on a tangent and tries to entertain us with things like rescueing a polar bear and teaching Dev how to surf.
The plot is solely focussed on the action and as such, the romance suffers. And while Dev is as charming as ever in all her innocence, the fact is that she just follows Jess, no questions asked. I had hoped the sequel would see Dev assert herself a bit more. She pulls a couple of heretofor unknown tricks from her sleeve, but there really isn't much in the way of character progression. And I think that's a shame.
Anyway, there's a lot of flying and fighting going on, but halfway through I couldn't be bothered anymore. The thing I hate about science fiction in general is that it is too easy to rely on the tech and whatnot, and charcters start pulling up stuff that just seems to be "invented at the moment" because the author didn't really know how to get out of a situation. The book almost lost me completely when Jess
Spoiler
starts breathing water out of nowhereAnother thing, something I overlooked in Partners 1, is: where the hell do they get all the resources? The planet is covered in water, with a few islands where people scrape by a living, yet no matter the destruction, it is always immediatly replaced. How?
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