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Review #16788 - Dated: 18th of April, 2016
Author: Tucker |
Of the five books I have read in this series thus far, this is the one most unlike all the others. While the other books have a high focus on the alien bio-machines, this book has a lot more focus on the human dramas - a planetary coup, interplanetary war between human factions, subversives, family dramas, long-hidden dirty secrets coming to light threatening to destroy bonds, new bonds forming between the unlikeliest of parties during the direst of situations... you know... Shortland Street in Space. ^:D
While the whole "alien mystery" is still a clear part of the "Expanse" universe, this book really does put it to one side and we see very little of it until the very end of the book - a couple of pages with sparse comments about the proto-molecule, and a brief paragraph about the 'other' alien tech, the one that killed the promo-molecule-makers' civilisation. I admit, I have a vague grasp of what kind of 'life' it is, and it terrifies me to think such a form of life could potentially exist somewhere out in the vastness of space. What I also admit is that I am deeply, madly in love with the way their universe is described, and how it appears to the human sensorium. Seriously, I'd be LOVING that... albeit until that freaky-as life comes a-hunting me.
Overall, for a die-hard sci-fi buff like me, this book came across as a bit weak in terms of the plot elements I have become accustomed to in the series thus far. Don't get me wrong, the character definition and development is top-rate, it's self-consistent, has some great tech in it, solid drama and thrills, you name it... it just doesn't have the one part that I love the most - the freaky alien goo. I'm hoping something akin to that, or more of this new alien life, appears in Book 6.
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