This is my favorite of these books so far, but I will admit that there is just something about Kowal’s writing that doesn’t perfectly gel with my tastes. I’m curious enough to keep going to see how this series turns out, but I may need to rethink reading any more of her books (I also was pretty unenthused about the first book in her fantasy-Austen-pastiche series).
We switch narrators from Elma York (who is on her way to Mars during the course of this book) to fellow original astronette (ugh) Nicole Wargin. I liked this change. Nicole was a much more active and interesting narrator to me than Elma was, who I always thought was too passive. This book also has a different feel to it as the main plot is a mystery, and involves ferreting out a saboteur on the moon. I love mysteries. I love that this is a mystery set on the moon. And even if I thought it was a little too long, I did like this book. Again, didn’t love because the style didn’t let me sink into it the way I wanted to, but I don’t really have an complaints with the book itself.
One thing that isn’t really a complaint but more of a wish: Even though this book features the terrorist organization Earth First as a main plot point, I wasn’t satisfied by the resolution here, and hope we can find some in future books. This is probably the most (sadly) realistic aspects of these books, how people are resisting doing the right and smart thing because of their own concerns, but as the book itself points out, they do have valid concerns. I want those concerns to be addressed. Not sure how, but that is what I want.