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A review by benmsmith
The Unfamiliar Garden by Benjamin Percy
3.0
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.
After how great an opener [b:The Ninth Metal|53968532|The Ninth Metal (The Comet Cycle, #1)|Benjamin Percy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1620355807l/53968532._SY75_.jpg|65581843] was, this was a little bit of a letdown. This series is going to be a trilogy (at least), and this volume of it felt like a LOT of table-setting for the next edition, to the point where I almost wanted this to be paired with it. There's some cool ideas with fungus going on, but I was able to easily predict some of the plot points that would occur before we were given a triumphant "now we know our good guys and our bad guys" ending, and it felt like the developments from The Ninth Metal kind of pop up here, but are also inessential.
I'm still interested in seeing how this turns out, but this felt like some wheel spinning compared to the first book, and if I was reading this series as it was released I'd probably wait until both books 2 and 3 were out so I could immediately plunge from one to the next.
After how great an opener [b:The Ninth Metal|53968532|The Ninth Metal (The Comet Cycle, #1)|Benjamin Percy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1620355807l/53968532._SY75_.jpg|65581843] was, this was a little bit of a letdown. This series is going to be a trilogy (at least), and this volume of it felt like a LOT of table-setting for the next edition, to the point where I almost wanted this to be paired with it. There's some cool ideas with fungus going on, but I was able to easily predict some of the plot points that would occur before we were given a triumphant "now we know our good guys and our bad guys" ending, and it felt like the developments from The Ninth Metal kind of pop up here, but are also inessential.
I'm still interested in seeing how this turns out, but this felt like some wheel spinning compared to the first book, and if I was reading this series as it was released I'd probably wait until both books 2 and 3 were out so I could immediately plunge from one to the next.