Edward Ashton

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: A new standalone sci-fi novel from Edward Ashton, author of Mickey7 (the inspiration for the major motion picture Mickey 17).

Dalton Greaves is a hero. He’s one of humankind’s first representatives to Unity, a pan-species confederation working to bring all sentient life into a single benevolent brotherhood.
That’s what they told him, anyway. The only actual members of Unity that he’s ever met are Boreau, a giant snail who seems more interested in show more plunder than spreading love and harmony, and Boreau’s human sidekick, Neera, who Dalton strongly suspects roped him into this gig so that she wouldn’t become the next one of Boreau’s crew to get eaten by locals while prospecting.

Funny thing, though—turns out there actually is a benevolent confederation out there, working for the good of all life. They call themselves the Assembly, and they really don’t like Unity. More to the point, they really, really don’t like Unity’s new human minions.

When an encounter between Boreau’s scout ship and an Assembly cruiser over a newly discovered world ends badly for both parties, Dalton finds himself marooned, caught between a stickman, one of the Assembly’s nightmarish shock troops, the planet’s natives, who aren’t winning any congeniality prizes themselves, and Neera, who might actually be the most dangerous of the three. To survive, he’ll need to navigate palace intrigue, alien morality, and a proposal that he literally cannot refuse, all while making sure Neera doesn’t come to the conclusion that he’s worth more to her dead than alive.

Part first contact story, part dark comedy, and part bizarre love triangle, The Fourth Consort asks an important how far would you go to survive? And more importantly, how many drinks would you need to go there?

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: My god, what a place Author Ashton's head is. A ruthless, greedy giant snail, a human diplomat of murky ethics, a race of only vaguely comprehensible planetary natives so protocol-obsessed that it can be lethal to say "hello" in the wrong way...who also just so happen to have murderously invaded Earth in Dalton's lifetime. Oh, and Dalton's kinda coerced as a condition of not being killed to become the consort of their ruler. The fourth consort...and let's not get into why he's fourth.

Dalton's a Swiss-Army knife of a guy. He studied engineering...most practical people in the world, engineers...he was a soldier/POW in the invasion, a tech bro, and now works for a Galaxy-wide org that needs him as a first-contact specialist. You can see how this trajectory launched. Now that he's out doing the stuff he was hired by the Unity for, it's kind of a rude awakening. It always is when your principles and your training all get engaged with the messy, disorganzed systemless world. (That engineering background becoming even more valuable in these circs.)

What happens when the Great Awakening comes? When you are forced by events to re-evaluate everything that underpins your view of the world? You question yourself first, but assuming you're pretty well-educated, that answers only a fraction of your new questions. Permaybehaps you're not on the side of Right and Reason after all?

Poor Dalton's doing this questioning among people who will eat his flesh...his spirit's probably not very nourishing just at that moment locked as it is in crisis. His situation is rife with possibilities for own goals, and unsurprisingly there are a few. The thrust of the story, though, is the act of questioning the reality of your assumptions in the face of countervailing evidence. Dalton, using copious amounts of sarcasm and not a little facetiousness, has the courage to do this. It helps him, and us, that he's worked his whole adulthood troubleshooting systems. Better training for analysis I can't conjure.

The role of honor and duty is large in the story. Largely, it must be said, in its absence when most required. Dalton's got trouble on every side because of this absence among those meant to have his back. It resembles our own hypercapitalist world in this way. Dalton's troubles, I will say, are external; the struggling he does is, too, so I never felt I was with him in his sea of woe. I'm an observer of the results, not a participant in the process.

This is not a knock. The fact is I'm not here for that story, I'm here for a fun action-romp that takes me over some very interesting terrain. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Dalton navigate the choppy waters of Reality in a skiff formed of principles (his) and held together by pressures (the Unity's). The story does this job very well indeed, though with rather less characterization of side characters than I prefer (hence a missing half-star) Getting us through this plot, however, militated against the time needed being spent that way. That said, I was aware of wanting to spend more time with the second and third consorts and less with his fellow Unity operative. The other missing half-star comes from Dalton's attitude of..."kindness and acceptance" sounds better than "craven lickspittle sycophancy" doesn't it...for a character who does NOT deserve it. I get why Author Ashton made that choice but I do not agree with it to the point of getting frothingly furious at the way it plays out. I shouted at my Kindle from 97% on.

On balance, which I confess I lost along the way, I was amused and entertained by our hypercapitalist snail (as a former veggie gardener I'm here to tell you a better metaphor for the kind of greedy shit who runs an economy solely for personal gain there has never been), by the second and third consorts, and the rest of the cast...telling that I can't remember their names, eh what? (Wait, "Breaker" was one, I think.)

I devoutly hope Author Ashton's name is familiar to you by now from the film of his book Mickey7 (link to my review of it above). I thought that story was terrific. I think this story is, too, with minor reservations that do not vitiate the pleasures I found in the read. show less

This audiobook is a darkly humorous, fast-paced sci-fi adventure with sharp wit and clever world-building. Narrator Barrie Kreinik delivers the story with perfect comedic timing and character distinction, making the absurd yet high-stakes survival journey even more engaging. Dalton Greaves, a former soldier turned reluctant diplomat, finds himself stranded on an alien planet, caught between a ruthless colleague, an honorable rival, and a queen who claims him as her fourth consort. The show more cultural clashes, political scheming, and moral dilemmas keep the tension high while the snarky humor balances it out. A fun, thought-provoking listen that blends action, satire, and a touch of chaos, highly entertaining and perfect for sci-fi fans. show less

I picked this book up due to the upcoming movie adaptation (titled "Mickey17") piquing my interest. Mickey7 is a sci-fi novel where the main character, Mickey, works as what is called an "Expendable". He is the person who does the life-threatening or fatal tasks that regular humans can't do without risk of death. His consciousness is periodically backed up to the cloud and, when he "dies", is then downloaded into a new body. Mickey7 is the 7th iteration of the original Mickey. The story show more follows his struggle with loneliness, discrimination, and what it means to be "you". Oh, and there's also the issue that his next iteration, Mickey8, was authorized to be created while Mickey7 was still alive, taking arguing with yourself to a whole new level.

While I was intrigued by the premise, I never expected to enjoy the book as much as I did. The story grappled with some deep philosophical questions, such as the idea of the Ship of Theseus as applied to Mickey and his iterations. I love how much the book made me question my own reality. Then there's the humor. The whole novel is written with so much humor and wit that it keeps the difficult questions and philosophical dilemmas from feeling overwhelming. I flew through this book in a single day (which I admit, this was a book on the shorter side, so not that difficult to do). I highly recommend reading this if you enjoy sci-fi but not the complex space operas or want to read about crazy wars with aliens or anything that typical "hard sci-fi" tends to cover. show less

This book was so much fun. Space travel takes time, and for most it is a one-way trip. Mickey just needed off his planet, and the only way to get out of trouble was taking a job as the expendable on a one-way trip to terraform a new planet. His job is to die. His conscience and everything that makes Mickey Mickey, is uploaded, preferably frequently, and when the crew need someone to do something dangerous, or something that will surely cause death, that is Mickey’s job.

We start this book show more with Mickey out on exploration. He is exploring a set of caves when he falls, and his friend/crew mate, says he’s not performing a rescue, and that Mickey can just pop the hatch and they will print a new one. This is Mickey’s job. He knows it, but he has this thing about purposefully killing himself. He can’t do it. With a little help of a giant fuzzy caterpillar, Mickey makes it back to base by morning, with minimal injuries. The only problem, when he makes it all the way to his bunk, and finds out Mickey 8 is in his bed, freshly regenerated. And while they are both the same person, they are both alive, and both hope to stay that way.
This book is both a look at the complications of technology like this, as well as the ethical and religious beliefs in this practice (it’s not preachy). But it is done with the whit and wisdom one would find in the Murderbot books. This book is funny, heart tugging, and will keep readers at the end of their seats at times. It is well thought out, flows at just the right pace and make you keep turning the page. This is a duology, but one could just read this book and be just fine. It has an ending, that works well, and will satisfy readers. show less