Josi Russell

The first half was interesting in a good way with a building dread and mystery. The second half after their first encounter was like a completely different style of story, a cartoon space adventure with an over the top bad guy.

I'm torn with this series. The characters are interesting and the world has some fascinating peculiarities. The missing piece is some idea that ties it all together and makes us care about what happens. I am impressed by the variety of ideas and level of detail that Russell puts into the world but I just don't have a sense of why all this is important. What does it tell me about humanity or myself? Some aspects feel a bit manipulative but I think that is softened by exploring the thoughts show more and motivations of those characters that appear to be macguffins or one dimensional baddies. I'd be interested to read more in this world but I really hope there's some deeper concerns apparent in the next books of the series. show less

The setup is fascinating and I was worried that it was moving into well-trod territory. However, the introduction of a deftly handled romantic component with a unique love triangle worked extremely well. The story loses some steam as sci-fi late in the book as the plot takes over and the exploration of alien ideas and worlds takes a back seat. I'm looking forward to the second in the series.

I was enjoying the title until they reached the planet - the process is too convenient - definitely feels like a major cop out - dropping the title and the author