latad_books 's review for:

Exordia by Seth Dickinson
3.0

An alien threat to Earth prompts a desperate attempt to save the planet, and a small few have to figure out how to stop annihilation, and which millions of humans get to die to save billions.
It’s a dense, brutally violent, dark, philosophical novel that part dissection of foreign and military policy, and part trolley problem (i.e., who gets to decide who dies to save others?)

This is also a very, very long book with an alien alien, with long conversations/debates between characters that I sometimes got lost in, and that wore me down the longer I read. So:

Interesting stuff: Aliens were refreshing not bipedal. And lots of assumptions, practices and policy were dissected. Though this paled next to the other concerns. 3 stars

Action: Lots of it, though after a while I got tired of all the brutality. 3 stars.

Pacing: Started out ok, but I found it really dragged after awhile. Too much time in long and convoluted debates that left me bored. 3 stars.

Character motivations: I could not parse what the characters wanted or felt after a while of them shooting, yelling, etc. Not complex enough for the alien baddie. 2 stars.

My enjoyment: 2 stars.

Overall rating: 2 stars.