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A review by adelaidemetzger_robotprophet
Inheritance by Jennifer Foehner Wells
4.0
Heads up: New protagonist, new villain, new journey.
Although the last chapter hints that Jane Halloway is possibly nearby, this is not a direct continuation for the main protagonist in the first two books. But judging by the high general rating for Jennifer Foehner Wells’ third installment of the Confluence series on both Goodreads and Amazon, the change in main character and story doesn’t seem to be putting anyone off from the creativity and passion the author has for space-faring adventures.
My take away?
This was solid with interesting elements. But after Remanance it’s hard to dive into a new Wells novel without the expectation of getting the freaking rug pulled out from under me and like having the story and characters slam me on my ass. But this was still good.
Story
Brief, non-spoiler, summary: Inheritance follows the story of Darcy, a human who finds herself abducted and separated from her boyfriend as they are placed in intergalactic slavery, but Darcy finds she isn’t completely who she thought she was and must learn to adapt to her situation in order to survive.
I know I should keep this story seperate from the previous books, but I can’t help myself because I love them so much. Wells keeps the world-building basic by using the same method of having most of Inheritance from a human’s point of view like with the first two in the series, but I think this was necessary because this is a whole new situation with new species and a new conflict that needs to be explored. That being said, Inheritance’s plot is much more condensed with stakes isolated strictly to Darcy and her survival. There’s nothing wrong that.
When I realized that was it for this book I had to keep telling myself to lower my expectaions. Remenance was like one of the epic, high-stakes films of the Star Trek franchise that just built up speed the closer it got to its conclusion. Inheritance was more like a three-part episode of Star Trek with an intense final showdown. Also like with the first two books, this was an origin story for the main character. Darcy discovered something strange and incredible about herself that I only got a sample of here and was left wanting very badly to see where her story goes.
Characters
Female characters who are written to be tough and extremely lucky because...you know...feminism, really get on my nerves. It’s hard for me to find a strong female character that I don’t find annoying--and my feelings about that range in both the young adult and adult genres. But thank God Darcy is not one of those kinds of characters. Wells knows how to write characters that are strong because they had to earn it for the right reasons and I’m here for it.
I haven’t seen Darcy’s ethnicity mentioned much in reviews for this book, but I thought that was one of the coolest pieces of intrugue for me because Darcy draws on the words of her grandmother for strength and uses that drive to fight and survive even when she’s pushed to the brink of death. Darcy is African American and can’t help but compare her kidnapping situation to her family history, thinking back on how her grandmother explained to her what slavery was. Darcy’s newfound power could be an allegory, or it could just be a hell of a cool element to a character who organically has to learn to adapt if she is to be victorious. Darcy fights for her freedom and I freaking love it.
As for the other characters, I have to admit that I haven’t read Wells’ novellas that actually explain the backstory for a few of the races Darcy encouters. But I’m glad I didn’t because that would have spoiled one of the reveals regarding the relationship between Darcy and her antagonist. We get to see a whole ship-ful of new alien species which I thought was really cool, the most interesting to me being a character named Selpis who Dacry befriends. The tone of that whole situation of Dacry being a human who is imprisoned by aliens and adapts to fight her way out reminded me so much of the animated series of Samuri Jack, just thinking of all the times Jack interracted with alien races and robots but adapted to his environment was a distant vibe for me while reading this.
Conclusion
I am really enjoying this series so far, and even though this was a different kind of direction in story, I am REALLY looking forward to the moment when all of these characters converge to save the galaxy or something.
To inifinity, and the fourth book!
Although the last chapter hints that Jane Halloway is possibly nearby, this is not a direct continuation for the main protagonist in the first two books. But judging by the high general rating for Jennifer Foehner Wells’ third installment of the Confluence series on both Goodreads and Amazon, the change in main character and story doesn’t seem to be putting anyone off from the creativity and passion the author has for space-faring adventures.
My take away?
This was solid with interesting elements. But after Remanance it’s hard to dive into a new Wells novel without the expectation of getting the freaking rug pulled out from under me and like having the story and characters slam me on my ass. But this was still good.
Story
Brief, non-spoiler, summary: Inheritance follows the story of Darcy, a human who finds herself abducted and separated from her boyfriend as they are placed in intergalactic slavery, but Darcy finds she isn’t completely who she thought she was and must learn to adapt to her situation in order to survive.
I know I should keep this story seperate from the previous books, but I can’t help myself because I love them so much. Wells keeps the world-building basic by using the same method of having most of Inheritance from a human’s point of view like with the first two in the series, but I think this was necessary because this is a whole new situation with new species and a new conflict that needs to be explored. That being said, Inheritance’s plot is much more condensed with stakes isolated strictly to Darcy and her survival. There’s nothing wrong that.
When I realized that was it for this book I had to keep telling myself to lower my expectaions. Remenance was like one of the epic, high-stakes films of the Star Trek franchise that just built up speed the closer it got to its conclusion. Inheritance was more like a three-part episode of Star Trek with an intense final showdown. Also like with the first two books, this was an origin story for the main character. Darcy discovered something strange and incredible about herself that I only got a sample of here and was left wanting very badly to see where her story goes.
Characters
Female characters who are written to be tough and extremely lucky because...you know...feminism, really get on my nerves. It’s hard for me to find a strong female character that I don’t find annoying--and my feelings about that range in both the young adult and adult genres. But thank God Darcy is not one of those kinds of characters. Wells knows how to write characters that are strong because they had to earn it for the right reasons and I’m here for it.
I haven’t seen Darcy’s ethnicity mentioned much in reviews for this book, but I thought that was one of the coolest pieces of intrugue for me because Darcy draws on the words of her grandmother for strength and uses that drive to fight and survive even when she’s pushed to the brink of death. Darcy is African American and can’t help but compare her kidnapping situation to her family history, thinking back on how her grandmother explained to her what slavery was. Darcy’s newfound power could be an allegory, or it could just be a hell of a cool element to a character who organically has to learn to adapt if she is to be victorious. Darcy fights for her freedom and I freaking love it.
As for the other characters, I have to admit that I haven’t read Wells’ novellas that actually explain the backstory for a few of the races Darcy encouters. But I’m glad I didn’t because that would have spoiled one of the reveals regarding the relationship between Darcy and her antagonist. We get to see a whole ship-ful of new alien species which I thought was really cool, the most interesting to me being a character named Selpis who Dacry befriends. The tone of that whole situation of Dacry being a human who is imprisoned by aliens and adapts to fight her way out reminded me so much of the animated series of Samuri Jack, just thinking of all the times Jack interracted with alien races and robots but adapted to his environment was a distant vibe for me while reading this.
Conclusion
I am really enjoying this series so far, and even though this was a different kind of direction in story, I am REALLY looking forward to the moment when all of these characters converge to save the galaxy or something.
To inifinity, and the fourth book!