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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
danny_thereader's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
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
4.5
whatabetty's review against another edition
5.0
this was a cracker ending to a killer series. it did not disappoint. each character arc and conclusion was perf. I'm so glad I happened across these books. definitely one of my favorites.
aden's review against another edition
4.0
this is such a fantastic and wildly underrated scifi trilogy. i can’t wait to reread this one day
pilebythebed's review against another edition
5.0
Megan O’Keefe’s motto for the third and final book of her Protectorate series, Catalyst Gate, seems to be “go big or go home”. She goes big and she delivers. O’Keefe’s contained and effective debut Velocity Weapon exploded outwards into a much larger and more complex universe in Chaos Vector but left plenty of questions and allegiances hanging. Catalyst Gate does its best to answer those questions (after posing some new ones), unmask various traitors or verify the goodness of some allies, and all within a page-turning, do-or-die plot. Being the final book in a trilogy this review may contain spoilers for the first two volumes. If you love space opera and don’t want to be spoiled, go back and read those first.
Catalyst Gate starts in the aftermath of Chaos Vector. Once again, there is no prelude or recap, readers are thrown into the action. And that action is once again split across three main characters. Sanda Greeve and her team of misfits aboard the intelligent space ship The Light pick up Nazca spy Tomas who has big secrets to reveal but can possibly help them in their fight against the alien Rainier; her brother Biran is trying to weed out Rainier clones from his ranks while also leading a critical mission but finds that Rainier’s conspiracy goes deeper than he imagined possible; and Jules is trying to make amends for launching a biological weapon that has brought an entire planet to its knees. The three stories will wind around each other, dropping both life-changing and galaxy-changing revelations along the way to resolution.
There is a lot going on here but O’Keefe keeps a handle on it all, using her three-focus structure to set up a bunch of cliffhangers for her characters. The action is once again well handled but also balanced against great character work. Sanda herself is the same kick-arse, punch first ask questions later, risk taking hero she has ever been but increasingly desperate as time and options run out. Her team may have felt like they originally came out of science fiction found-family casting in Chaos Vector (the doctor, the tech-head, the ex-soldier, the spy with a heart of gold) but all emerge further from any thought of typecasting.
Catalyst Gate is as good an end to this trilogy as fans could hope for. O’Keefe asnwers more questions about her universe and resolves the main mysteries but leaves plenty of uncertainty for the future. Whether or not O’Keefe ever returns to the universe of The Protectorate it is just exciting to wonder what she might deliver next.
Catalyst Gate starts in the aftermath of Chaos Vector. Once again, there is no prelude or recap, readers are thrown into the action. And that action is once again split across three main characters. Sanda Greeve and her team of misfits aboard the intelligent space ship The Light pick up Nazca spy Tomas who has big secrets to reveal but can possibly help them in their fight against the alien Rainier; her brother Biran is trying to weed out Rainier clones from his ranks while also leading a critical mission but finds that Rainier’s conspiracy goes deeper than he imagined possible; and Jules is trying to make amends for launching a biological weapon that has brought an entire planet to its knees. The three stories will wind around each other, dropping both life-changing and galaxy-changing revelations along the way to resolution.
There is a lot going on here but O’Keefe keeps a handle on it all, using her three-focus structure to set up a bunch of cliffhangers for her characters. The action is once again well handled but also balanced against great character work. Sanda herself is the same kick-arse, punch first ask questions later, risk taking hero she has ever been but increasingly desperate as time and options run out. Her team may have felt like they originally came out of science fiction found-family casting in Chaos Vector (the doctor, the tech-head, the ex-soldier, the spy with a heart of gold) but all emerge further from any thought of typecasting.
Catalyst Gate is as good an end to this trilogy as fans could hope for. O’Keefe asnwers more questions about her universe and resolves the main mysteries but leaves plenty of uncertainty for the future. Whether or not O’Keefe ever returns to the universe of The Protectorate it is just exciting to wonder what she might deliver next.
kerstincullen's review against another edition
5.0
I don't think I can rave enough about this series. Fantastic balance of characters, world building and plot. Minor inconsistencies in previous books were acatually planned out hints to make great twists in this satisfying conclusion.
leighton_cs's review
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0