This was a 2.5 rounded up for me, because I did like the last 60 pages quite a bit. I hadn’t realized I was quite attached to the original cast and the conceit of that story. I really liked the framing and those characters. These ones are less interesting to me, to be honest. But the ethos carries over, and kind of carries the book. It’s inclusive and has lots of representation. It’s empathic and sentimental and goes against typical sci-fi fare. There’s even less of a plot (by far) than the first one: Pepper and Sidra, the A.I from the first book, acclimate to living together and off chapters are Pepper’s past as a clone in an indentured m, horrible factory place.

Where things get better is when the past events actually reach a point with actual stakes, because most of it is perfunctory. We know she escapes we are in her future now. It’s vaguely interesting how she manages to do so, but really, until that storyline ramps up I just didn’t care all that much, even though it’s pertinent as to why she cared so much about helping Sidra with this illegal transition.

It was completely fine but I really was looking forward to more of the original concept, and I think just wasn’t as in the mood for something else as I was when I picked up the first.