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A review by booksandlemonsquash
Aether Ones by Wendi Coffman-Porter
3.0
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Aether Ones gives you a mystery set in a sci-fi environment, and I think the way we get to focus on the mystery elements but still get such a big influence from the space setting was pretty good.
Unfortunately, I don't think we got to see enough of the world - what we see is really intriguing and I needed more world building to really understand some of the implications of the events. There are some serious political implications, and we don't really get time to establish the players or their motivations. We also don't get to see why Leilani is doing what she is at the start. After that, her actions are mostly clear, but the lack of world building around it makes it harder to follow. This mostly impacts the mystery - the science seems fairly solid and some of the details we do get are utterly fab. I especially love Leilani's little friend doing all the tiny tech things!
The book also jumps around a little bit (one page they rescue someone, the next there are inside jokes about getting them drunk etc) in a way that makes it a little jarring.
Having said all this, I did still enjoy it - it's fast-paced, action-filled and intriguing. I think I'd happily have given it four stars if we had the world-building elements, but because I struggled to follow it a little, I had to knock it down.
3 stars.
Aether Ones gives you a mystery set in a sci-fi environment, and I think the way we get to focus on the mystery elements but still get such a big influence from the space setting was pretty good.
Unfortunately, I don't think we got to see enough of the world - what we see is really intriguing and I needed more world building to really understand some of the implications of the events. There are some serious political implications, and we don't really get time to establish the players or their motivations. We also don't get to see why Leilani is doing what she is at the start. After that, her actions are mostly clear, but the lack of world building around it makes it harder to follow. This mostly impacts the mystery - the science seems fairly solid and some of the details we do get are utterly fab. I especially love Leilani's little friend doing all the tiny tech things!
The book also jumps around a little bit (one page they rescue someone, the next there are inside jokes about getting them drunk etc) in a way that makes it a little jarring.
Having said all this, I did still enjoy it - it's fast-paced, action-filled and intriguing. I think I'd happily have given it four stars if we had the world-building elements, but because I struggled to follow it a little, I had to knock it down.
3 stars.