Reviews

Catalyst Gate by Megan E. O'Keefe

michalski19's review

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

I feel like the first book was a great idea and so much time was spent on the idea that books 2 and 3 had to flesh out a ton of the story and then wrap it all up. Not terrible but not my cup of tea. Also didn’t like how 2/3 of the way through this the main character went from cool and collected to being reckless and thoughtless.

pemdas97's review

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-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

3.75

mary_soon_lee's review against another edition

3.0

This is the concluding book in the Protectorate Trilogy. I read the last few pages in minutes snatched on New Year's Eve. It's good, but, for me, not of the same caliber as the first two books. The plot became too extreme to seem fully credible. And the focus seemed more scattered, or perhaps simply less centered on the characters. For all their epic significance, I cared less about the origin of the interstellar gates and the forcible ascension of human beings than I'd cared about a small robot in book one (the most excellent Grippy).

For me, three and a half out of five sensationalist stars.

About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).

theshaggyshepherd's review against another edition

4.0

I love that I finished this trilogy but I’m also so sad that I did as well. I love these characters and I’m going to miss them a lot. Despite being the lowest rating in the trilogy for me, I still had a lot of fun with this book. The characters expanded in a way that was sometimes unexpected and sometimes just the way you would expect them to (both of which can be a good thing in my opinion). There was also so much more history that we learned, which is always something I enjoy. While I do like how everything was explained in the end, it did at times feel like there was too much thrown at me at once and it took me a while to really get a grip on what was going on in those moments. That’s not necessarily a bad thing if the characters experience it in the same way but they all took it in stride so it made me feel like it just wasn’t always explained as well as it could’ve been. Overall though, this was still a good end to the series and I’m really looking forward to the next one she is working on!

luminositylibrary's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

claytell's review against another edition

4.0

Even though there were some flaws, and the ending was not as BIG/interesting as I would have liked, I did enjoy the series overall. And it was a satisfactory ending. I cannot give it a 5, as I would not read it again. But I might recommend it to the right audience.

samjey2021's review against another edition

adventurous challenging

4.5

rwz's review

adventurous tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

thexgrayxlady's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I was so excited to read this and I had such a blast with it. While there are some fumbles, the author mostly sticks the landing and The Protectorate might be one of my new favorite sci-fi series. 

The pacing is more varied than in Chaos Vector. It still takes you by the hand and says, "Let's fucking go!" but now, it also takes the time to slow down and let some things really sink in and build tension. Some sections, like one of Ranier's bases, feel rushed and in some ways, it feels like it should have been split into two books in order to keep up the fast pace, but not hurry through set pieces. 

I really liked going to Earth and finding out what actually happened to it. It was one of the strongest sections of the book and it's horrifying. We've known for the whole series that the Earth was destroyed, but it feels like standard sci-fi set dressing. Earth was destroyed in a natural disaster, humanity took to the stars. No. What happened is horrifying and well foreshadowed and I loved it. The last book had a reveal that made me go feral. This one was chilled me. 

The characters are still strong and interesting, if not particularly complex. Biran really stole the show this time around. He grows into his role as Director of Ada and you see him come into his own politicking and deceiving and having to put on a good front the face of horrifying trauma. His relationship with Vladsen is really great. In the amount of time that we got with them, I enjoyed reading how his crew comes together and the tension that still exists between them. It took me three books to really get into Sanda and Tomas, but I came around. The new ship, Bel Marduk, is such a good girl, I wish we got more of her and her emerging personality, but it's a long book and she's ultimately a minor character. I also wish we got more of Echo and the person she's growing into outside of being an offshoot of Ranier and I feel like this really was a missed opertunity. Sometimes, what the characters know and how they know it, feels a little muddy. 

While Ranier maybe doesn't deserve to be at the table with SHODAN, GLaDOS, and Durandal, she should at least be in the same room. At first, she almost doesn't feel threatening because she's a very distant antagonist, but once she moves against the protagonists, she's horrifyingly effective and efficient. Reading about the destruction of Ada is a gut punch, especially when you get to the gardens. The narrative takes the time to point out that there are cultivars that were saved from Earth and after learning about what really happened to Earth earlier in the book, it's actually really sad. The scene where Sanda's trying to negotiate with her and realizes that she can't be negotiated with because she can't want anything beyond her corrupted programming is really effective. 

The ending is, unfortunately, really rushed. There's a big reveal about one of the main characters that doesn't have enough buildup for it to have the impact it should have. I wish that humanity had more of a role in defeating Ranier. That being said, I really like that when we get to both sets of alien precursors, they're both assholes. While this series comes to a definite ending, there's enough left open that if the author wanted to come back to this universe, they could and there would be satisfying stories to come out of it. 

tschmidt's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful sad tense 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

4.5