So far, a great original sci-fi!

This is my overall review for the entire series thus far.

The good:
- The Greys' are usually such a sci-fi trope, but their enigmatic manner of inclusion into this story, in the backstory that has been revealed and in their return in this novel has taken that typical trope and turned it into an origami flower. So as to say, it's put a fresh swing on an old cliche.
- The plot all the way through the series, and through each novel, progresses smoothly and naturally without unneeded pause or drama.
- Overall, the narration was pretty good! Some characterisations kind of blurred together, but the writing was such that it was easy enough to pick them all apart with the descriptive text around the dialogue.
- It has built an interesting and not quite clear picture of the Pelarans, which I mean in a good way. From the get-go, with the whole legalistic contract of technology use thing, and the manner in which the cultivation program works, they are set out as the bad guys. But as the story progresses and we get more on the Sajeth collective and their internal politics/failings, along with the Wek, it builds shades of grey out of the formerly black and white seeming issue. All the way up to the end of this novel, the image of the Pelarans is shifting, but still maintaining an ominous background.
- Political drama! I've very much enjoyed the political drama of Earth emerging as a unified power and where that intercepts the politic-ing with the Wek and the different perspective that gives on the Sajeth collectives overall political behaviour.
- The sciencyness! The level of scientific description of sci-fi is always a fine balance. Honestly, I don't mind if a sci-fi has totally crazy scientific prowess so long as it doesn't try and make it out to be like magic with some level of explanation. On the other hand, the scales can be tipped the other way with far too much focus on describing/explaining how the science of this or that works and it bogs you down in details that break you out of the immersive-ness of the plot. This story tiptoes on that balance at times, but overall everything is explained just enough to be easy to follow and enjoy without going too deep into a descriptive nightmare.

The bad:
-The Characters. Whilst each character has their own unique manner of behaviour, the dialogue used by all of them, alien or human, is far too similar for my liking. Just about every character with any real dialogue time uses many, if not all, of the same mannerisms and unique expressions, which are generally uncommon in everyday society. I kind of want to go on about that a little more, since it happened consistently throughout all the novels in such a manner that broke me out of being immersed every time I heard it, but there's nothing else to really add to that.
- Timescale. Whilst the story did move along quite nicely and fluidly, there were points where the story described how long it had been from this event or that event. The time that it described as having passed hadn't really been described in the dialogue or progression of the plot. Like an event was happening and in progress and suddenly it was over and fast forward to the next series of events where it then tells you how long its been in an offhanded manner. I feel like this fast forward feeling could have been avoided with some between scenes focusing on the characters in a more personal manner between missions/jumps/events, which would have also built more background for each character.


Overall, I've really enjoyed this series and will be waiting to click BUY on the next instalment :)

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