It's pretty rare that a book is balanced like this one. This book had a really strong beginning (fast, interesting, fun characters, hints of an emotional journey to come, etc), which made me excited to keep going. However, the middle was boring enough that I lost that momentum and gave up on the book around 80%.

Here is my video review: https://youtu.be/p9jR6lNil0M?t=534

This is a book about Russ and Nina, twenty-somethings in a small mountain-west town that get entangled with intergalactic exterminators.

My biggest complaint about the middle of this book is the lack of emotional stakes. Russ and Nina choose to continue with the alien exterminators plot, and their main motivation for it is to earn money. There are emotional reasons why they might want to have money, but those weren't given much emotional weight in the narrative. So why do they decide to pursue this course of action, one that is dangerous and likely to get them killed when they could find jobs elsewhere (Nina, in particular, is very qualified for a number of jobs on Earth). I don't think the characters or the story much care about that. The plot becomes focused on these alien side-quests and training programs instead of on any emotional arcs for the characters.

My secondary complaint about this book is the writing of Nina. Some other reviewers may point to the many times the book reiterates how large Nina's breasts are, but I don't think that is actually a problem. The size of Nina's breasts does actually become a plot point, and so I don't think it's bad to establish it for a small payoff. But the problem I had with Nina is something else. When Nina is being harassed at work, she doesn't even consider finding a new job (despite being shown to be a very capable and smart girl with an engineering degree). When Nina fumbles a romantic encounter that she actually wanted to maybe happen, she has barely any emotional reaction. When push comes to shove, Nina usually becomes a damsel in distress for Russ to save (despite being much more excited than him at the prospect of battling space monsters, and in many ways more skilled than him). Yes, the author did a good thing by attempting to include a competent female protagonist. However, in the end, she doesn't actually feel competent or female.

Thanks to Netgalley and Camcat Books for a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.