A review by ergative
The Vela: Salvation by Maura Milan, Nicole Givens Kurtz, Sangu Mandanna, Ashley Poston

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

3.0

 As much as I was invested in the characters, this season couldn't compare to the standout qualities of the first season, and now that I see that the entire writing staff was different, that makes sense. The politics were trivial--no longer the sophisticated multiway allegory for climate politics on earth. No, instead we have evil mad scientist who wants to destroy a planet vs. good people who want their families that were left behind. The solution to the problem is a real deus-ex-machina: magic fungus can make everything ok again! And the believable constraints on interplanetary travel from the first book---must wait 17 years for the orbits to line up if you want to go to Hypatia---suddenly disappear: as long as Asala has a space ship she can seed the fungus on other planets in other solar systems. If it's that easy to go to other solar systems, then the whole constraint on evacuating the original solar system no longer exists, so why are we bothering with wormholes? Even a throwaway line from the fungus 'oh, yes, I can generate enough exotic matter for a mini temporary travel wormhole, no problem! Not enough for whole planets, but certainly enough for one tiny ship' would have solved that problem, but it's not even addressed. Boo.