Reviews

Not for me. Probably not written for me, so OK.
But.
You can take found-family bonding a bit far, and here's your proof.
Here's the plot, as far as I got: Everyone hugs. Some things happen. Hugs are exchanged in every possible pairing. More things happen, and everyone needs a hug.

There are, implausibly, two brother-sister pairs in the middle of the action. And the entire cast seems to be people with trust issues, thrown together in a team. And it's all cemented together by having Stephan be an utter prick, well beyond the usual format in which all the top officers are only stuffed shirts except the heroine's mentor, who is Yoda and Buddha at the same time.

We don't see much about the implausible Boarding Games, but we already know they're going to win. Sapphi is the best hacker in space. Jenks, at 159cm (5'2" and a bit) is the best fighter in space.
There's a reason fighting tournaments have weight divisions and I see no evidence that the Games are held in zero G. And oh look, the n00b Just Happens to be the best pilot who ever lived.

This is also a cover-all-the-bases primer in gender identity, pronouns, multi-faceted relationships. This is all OK but it's heavily overplayed. And I hope that by 2250 or whenever this is, we don't need pronouns on our name tags.

We learned in the previous book that these guys seem to have instantaneous transport, despite occasional stuff about the energy needed for a wormhole. See, we are patrolling "between Jupiter and Saturn." Cool. Those planets can be anywhere from 4.3 AU to 14.7 AU apart, with an average separation of 646,000,000 km or 402,000,000 miles. I'll leave it to you to calculate the volume they are patrolling.

Finally, there's one of the most obvious Chekhov's Gun tropes I have ever seen, where an idea early in the book is presented as "Hey Rookie, be sure you NEVER do this." You know the rest.

Really, this is only just SF. It's a cozy relationships book, set in sort-of-space. That's fine for some, not for me. I need an early Iain M Banks now.

lauralauralaura's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.5

Same as my review for the first installment in the series. I also appreciate the competent writing and plotting.

quasarignition's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

tessa_b's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

cassimiranda's review

Go to review page

mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

There is so much going on here, and if you're not starting it immediately after book one it might take a minute to understand who is who. That's the bad. The good is that the plot is tight, the character work directly connects to the plot, and the world building is on point. It is tense, political, militaristic, and involves serious personal stakes for the entire crew. I do which that the NeoG wasn't this universe's version of a police force. I found that a little more detracting this time around. Still, given the writing craft it's a good adventure.

More...