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kblincoln 's review for:
Emissaries from the Dead
by Adam-Troy Castro
Counselor Andrea Cort of the Human Confederacy also happens to be one of the few survivors of a mysterious mutual genocide of aliens and humans years ago who were supposed to be living together in peace.
She murdered, quite bloodthirstily, her alien "father." She spent many years of her life locked up "under observation" and then practically enslaved in the Diplomatic Corps for the Confederacy, doomed to extradition and death if she ever tried to leave her protected status.
She's not a happy person. She's not easy to be around. And she's been specifically requested to be the investigator of a murder on a world created by AI sentient beings who seem to be the only ones capable of carrying out the murder, but are the very ones her bosses tell her not to find guilty.
Read Andrea's thoughts and reactions to people as they react to her brusque and unforgiving nature is fascinating. The author does a very good job of dropping just enough hints about the characters Andrea finds suspicious, as well as the nature of the murder itself, that you start to puzzle out some of the greater political secrets...and then the story wipes you away with another, even more deeply buried secret.
From the Brachiators species engineered by the AI, to the cy-linked pair who become Andrea's friends, the main sub characters are deeply engaging. Yes there are some throw away "general characters," but the ones that matter reveal enough depth when Andrea delves into their pasts and personalities, that you can't help visualizing the places and people as fully realized entities.
Big thumbs up to this book, especially with such a complicated and unlikeable protagonist with which I fell in love, as well a balancing murder, politics, deep character development, and cool scifi ideas.
This Book's Food Designation Rating: A banana, chocolate chip, oatmeal, craisin cookie for the different elements that weave together to a sublimely satisfying whole on your tongue, with a bitter darkness of chocolate running through it.
She murdered, quite bloodthirstily, her alien "father." She spent many years of her life locked up "under observation" and then practically enslaved in the Diplomatic Corps for the Confederacy, doomed to extradition and death if she ever tried to leave her protected status.
She's not a happy person. She's not easy to be around. And she's been specifically requested to be the investigator of a murder on a world created by AI sentient beings who seem to be the only ones capable of carrying out the murder, but are the very ones her bosses tell her not to find guilty.
Read Andrea's thoughts and reactions to people as they react to her brusque and unforgiving nature is fascinating. The author does a very good job of dropping just enough hints about the characters Andrea finds suspicious, as well as the nature of the murder itself, that you start to puzzle out some of the greater political secrets...and then the story wipes you away with another, even more deeply buried secret.
From the Brachiators species engineered by the AI, to the cy-linked pair who become Andrea's friends, the main sub characters are deeply engaging. Yes there are some throw away "general characters," but the ones that matter reveal enough depth when Andrea delves into their pasts and personalities, that you can't help visualizing the places and people as fully realized entities.
Big thumbs up to this book, especially with such a complicated and unlikeable protagonist with which I fell in love, as well a balancing murder, politics, deep character development, and cool scifi ideas.
This Book's Food Designation Rating: A banana, chocolate chip, oatmeal, craisin cookie for the different elements that weave together to a sublimely satisfying whole on your tongue, with a bitter darkness of chocolate running through it.