A review by octavia_cade
The Ashes of Tomorrow by James Swallow

adventurous dark medium-paced

3.0

This is a significant improvement from the earlier book in the series. Gone is (I'm sorry to say it) Ward's leaden prose, the life sucked out of it by an over-reliance on technobabble. In its place, a more readable style, and characters who are actually allowed to feel things. Swallow's version of the characters seem more like people than compartmentalised chess movements, and it's so much more appealing to read. The plot is pacy, some of the deaths are affecting, and everything regarding the destruction of the wormhole was genuinely exciting. Kira was excellent. I was all set to give it four stars, and then...

I don't know why I was feeling horribly suspicious as the last few pages ticked over. I got that sinking feeling that I really only associate with one element of the Star Trek universe, but I thought "No, it couldn't be."

Reader, it was. If Bashir's last-minute suggestion is anything to go by, the next book will involve the mirror universe. I cannot overstate how much I hate the mirror fucking universe. Every time this overused lazy goddamn trope turns up I hate it, and it turns up again and again because it is, apparently, the shit well that never, ever runs dry.

It ruined the ending of an otherwise decent book. But that's the mirror universe for you... constant disappointment.