A review by friarzero
Extinction Horizon by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

2.0

There's no third act. The situation is established, it gets worse, and then it ends. I know every book has to be a trilogy these days but I still expect each entry to be a complete story. This is just the cherry on top of the cake of mediocrity. In this world characters are assigned a job and one personality trait, so it's hard to feel invested in these cardboard people. When the guns are out the prose shifts to short declarative prose shotgunned at us to create the illusion of tension but the descriptions are so flat and matter of fact that the effect wears thin fast. When the guns aren't in sight the story proceeds down an assembly line of things that happen. There's not a lot of build up or reflection, a thing happens and then it is done happening and another thing happens. It's as lifeless as the protagonists.

Honestly this feels like a hastily assembled work made to fill contract obligations, so the author can go back to the books they actually care about. I don't know, maybe all this author is capable of is this recycled grey pulp? I'm in no hurry to find out.