Rating: 5 out of 5
Perfect ending to this trilogy though perhaps difficult to describe without giving too much away. Suffice to say that Grayland, Kiva, and Marce are still in action against both the end of the Interdependency as well as Nadashe. Scalzi’s tendency to end a book at a specific climactic event, but not to leave any temporal distance means we continue only a few days after the events in ‘The Consuming Fire’.
I didn’t see where we were going with this. It was quite a surprise to see how Grayland’s story changed from what seemed likely as well as how everyone else reacted to that. The domestic politics that were ongoing here—as well as throughout the rest of the series—were truly spectacular in design and scope. Often author’s need a clear blueprint for this à la GRRM and A Song of Ice and Fire broadly basing itself on the War of the Roses. It’s a relief that no such connection is as apparent here though of course we are also dealing with a series much smaller in scope and a cast much narrower.
Nevertheless, the political manoeuvring makes this a page turner which I didn’t want to put down, much like this books prequels. Overall, I have been happy with the action, the setting, and the characters throughout the series, but also for Mr Scalzi’s managing to think out of the box for a thrilling sci-fi adventure. Perhaps it could have lasted for longer (i.e., more pages), but it made an impact!
