This is more like 3.5 for more. It was almost 3 stars. But it really nailed the ending, I think. And a particular sequence with Clarissa was just really, really good.

An invading empire surfaces to capture Medina station after humanity is just barely getting back on its feet. There is page count given to psychological impact and the complex dynamics of an occupation on residents, which was interesting.

However, after my, so far, favourite books this one was a bit of a let down comparatively. It has an interesting premise and ties into events that happened previously, answering some of those hanging questions. But it is also extremely jarring. 30 years pass from the previous book to this one and a lot of it feels hand waved away. While I like that it feels novel that it’s embracing of the same characters as an older crew. It feels a bit like a lot of pertinent dynamics and history is passed over and used to describe current problems between the crew. It’s the first book where there is infighting and it’s built upon this time gap. So it felt strange.

My other problem was a main character: Singh. As part of an occupying, oppressive force it makes sense that there is that POV. It just is utterly impossible for me to empathize with though; despite the attempt to humanize him, it again, felt a bit weird and kind of a slog to read his chapters. I’d rather have learned pertinent info from a “better” character. But the ending was cathartic and good, so I’m torn. It made the middle of the book drag heavily for me. But the start and finish were great.

I think if you’re more interested in the questions it wants to explore, you’ll like this a lot more than I did. As is, this is a bit better than the third book for me, which similarly went too granular and dragged, despite having an interesting premise, conclusion, and interesting questions to explore.