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A review by angethology
Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton
4.0
"Here's a moral quandary for you: Which takes precedence — a promise to a living enemy, or a promise to a dead friend?"
Antimatter Blues directly continues the narrative from Mickey-17, this time with Mickey Barnes attempting to reap what he sowed — by trying to retrieve something he had hidden. Although Mickey is now retired, Marshall suddenly demands Mickey to get that object, claiming that it's the only thing that'll keep the colony alive for the foreseeable future, as antimatter is running out. Mickey, having successfully kept himself alive by hanging that object over Marshall's head, is now sitting on a powder keg, and looks like he's running out of time.
While the kind of tone and register are similarly adopted as in the first book, I find this one much more engaging and action-packed. This time, the high stakes actually have the gravity they deserve and the more trivial stuff isn't constantly highlighted (like the constant bickering between the Mickeys about being hungry and rationing in book one). I also think that their interactions with the creepers (especially Speaker) allow the other characters to shine much more. And all that is accomplished with the same, lovable and charming humor that the readers are familiar with. Speaker especially is too fucking adorable, and thanks to it I became much more emotionally invested.
The philosophical aspect isn't as underlined as much as the previous book (although they still mentioned the Ship of Theseus which I liked) but I think the redirected focus on friendships and exploration of aliens make it overall a lot better.
Antimatter Blues directly continues the narrative from Mickey-17, this time with Mickey Barnes attempting to reap what he sowed — by trying to retrieve something he had hidden. Although Mickey is now retired, Marshall suddenly demands Mickey to get that object, claiming that it's the only thing that'll keep the colony alive for the foreseeable future, as antimatter is running out. Mickey, having successfully kept himself alive by hanging that object over Marshall's head, is now sitting on a powder keg, and looks like he's running out of time.
While the kind of tone and register are similarly adopted as in the first book, I find this one much more engaging and action-packed. This time, the high stakes actually have the gravity they deserve and the more trivial stuff isn't constantly highlighted (like the constant bickering between the Mickeys about being hungry and rationing in book one). I also think that their interactions with the creepers (especially Speaker) allow the other characters to shine much more. And all that is accomplished with the same, lovable and charming humor that the readers are familiar with. Speaker especially is too fucking adorable, and thanks to it I became much more emotionally invested.
The philosophical aspect isn't as underlined as much as the previous book (although they still mentioned the Ship of Theseus which I liked) but I think the redirected focus on friendships and exploration of aliens make it overall a lot better.