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caryndi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Note: I'm writing this review a bit after I finished the book, so my apologies if I missed any content warnings.
I guess we've had enough Expanse books for side characters to filter back in as main characters now, with both Basia and Havelock returning for their very own POV chapters. We also got Elvi, who is (surprise!)in love with Holden! Only not because she's just horny! So she decides basically agreeing to marry one of her scientist friends is a good idea after sleeping with him! Looks like someone needs a sassy gay friend. I was also amazed that someone (well, a POV character, at least) could be more of an asshole than Miller but it turns out Havelock had him on that.
Parts of this book were really interesting. I liked getting a bigger/deeper look into the astounding tech the makers of the protomolecule had. I liked considering the mysteries of an alien ecosystem that didn't work in the ways humans would expect. I did not really like the idea that on the "frontier" (as it were), lawlessness had to rule;while Murphy was definitely shown again and again to be asshole, I'm not sure his view was fully rebuked by the narrative. . I also did not like Holden being there to mediate the conflict, honestly. In the other books, the crew of the Rocinante feels like more natural protagonists given what they've been through. On Ilus/New Whatever, they were called in and had no real connection to the planet. Miller gave Holden that, at least, but it didn't dovetail very well with the main story theme, which seemed to be about settling a harsh environment and the inherent struggle between corporations and the people.
Since I'm not writing this review until after having finished the 5th book, I also think there were some questions raised that were just discarded.Like, did Holden turn off all of the planets' defense mechanisms, and if so why could he do that from Ilus but not from the hub inside of the Ring? If not, what the fuck is happening to all the other settlers heading to other worlds? Where do this planet's defenses and role as basically a recycling plant fit into the larger systems the creator of the protomolecule created? The previous books' main plot/question was based on questions raised by their discovery in whatever book came prior. This one was loosely related in that we went through a gate to another part of the universe, but tonally the humans vs. aliens conflict seemed very similar to that in the previous book and with the conclusion being that Holden turned off the bad thing , it didn't really set us up for a next adventure either.
As I said earlier, I've already read book 5 as of writing this review, so I obviously didn't drop the series because of it. But it's definitely not a book I'd hold up as an example of why to read The Expanse.
Recommend? If you've made it this far, yeah, but don't expect to be wowed by the story.
I guess we've had enough Expanse books for side characters to filter back in as main characters now, with both Basia and Havelock returning for their very own POV chapters. We also got Elvi, who is (surprise!)
Parts of this book were really interesting. I liked getting a bigger/deeper look into the astounding tech the makers of the protomolecule had. I liked considering the mysteries of an alien ecosystem that didn't work in the ways humans would expect. I did not really like the idea that on the "frontier" (as it were), lawlessness had to rule;
Since I'm not writing this review until after having finished the 5th book, I also think there were some questions raised that were just discarded.
As I said earlier, I've already read book 5 as of writing this review, so I obviously didn't drop the series because of it. But it's definitely not a book I'd hold up as an example of why to read The Expanse.
Recommend? If you've made it this far, yeah, but don't expect to be wowed by the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Violence
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