Tim Pratt makes a very good fist of the difficult 'middle' book of a trilogy with the second of his 'Axiom' series. You do have to have read 'The Wrong Stars' to make much sense of the backstory though. This is not a standalone narrative. The key revelations about the activities of the Liars and the reasons for their hiding of the existence of the slumbering very bad indeed super-aliens of the Axiom are all covered in the last book, and are required for un understanding of the challenges of this new adventure.
The action takes quite some time to get going, and Pratt takes the time to flesh out more of the motivations and quirks of the crew of the 'White Raven', plus those collected during the rescue of the lost generation ship 'Anjou' in the last installment. All this occurs during a side trip from our merry crew's asteroid base to Ganymede, where the party crash Callie's 'funeral'. The Liars (the alien race who have saved humanity's bacon, but are absolutely Trumpian in their fabulism and disregard for the truth) take very much the back seat for the duration.
More is made of the relationship between Captain Callie Mechado and time stranded biologist Elena Oh, but the more important character developments are of the Raven's doctor Stephen, and his patient, the Axiom ravaged Anjou crewman Sebastien. They will have a key role in saving the White Raven's hide this time around. A very novel use is made of a VR system in monitoring the success or otherwise of Sebastien's rehabilitation.
But the result of this non-funeral is that Callie and crew get a much needed gig investigating the mysterious disappearances of colonists and asteroid miners in the newly colonised Taliesyn system. On arrival in system, the cause of the disappearances proves to be a massive Axiom base which is progressively turning any mass in the system into Computronium, the better to run a galaxy-spanning VR simulation. Full of deadly Axiom and their minions! If our brave crew cannot stop it, well everyone is going to die!
It is a light and enjoyable read. Pratt maintains the jocular humour and might I say Scalziesque tone of the previous installment, but I thought better switched up the tension in the quite well set up and delivered ending than was the case in the predecessor. There is a predictable way that this could have been resolved. To the author's credit, he finds a much better and more satisfying way to bring it home.
The action takes quite some time to get going, and Pratt takes the time to flesh out more of the motivations and quirks of the crew of the 'White Raven', plus those collected during the rescue of the lost generation ship 'Anjou' in the last installment. All this occurs during a side trip from our merry crew's asteroid base to Ganymede, where the party crash Callie's 'funeral'. The Liars (the alien race who have saved humanity's bacon, but are absolutely Trumpian in their fabulism and disregard for the truth) take very much the back seat for the duration.
More is made of the relationship between Captain Callie Mechado and time stranded biologist Elena Oh, but the more important character developments are of the Raven's doctor Stephen, and his patient, the Axiom ravaged Anjou crewman Sebastien. They will have a key role in saving the White Raven's hide this time around. A very novel use is made of a VR system in monitoring the success or otherwise of Sebastien's rehabilitation.
But the result of this non-funeral is that Callie and crew get a much needed gig investigating the mysterious disappearances of colonists and asteroid miners in the newly colonised Taliesyn system. On arrival in system, the cause of the disappearances proves to be a massive Axiom base which is progressively turning any mass in the system into Computronium, the better to run a galaxy-spanning VR simulation. Full of deadly Axiom and their minions! If our brave crew cannot stop it, well everyone is going to die!
It is a light and enjoyable read. Pratt maintains the jocular humour and might I say Scalziesque tone of the previous installment, but I thought better switched up the tension in the quite well set up and delivered ending than was the case in the predecessor. There is a predictable way that this could have been resolved. To the author's credit, he finds a much better and more satisfying way to bring it home.