This was strange to read immediately after the first book. We don't hear from Kaaro until maybe 60% of the way into the book, instead we focus on Aminat and other characters. Which again by itself isn't an issue, but the way it was written was too bitty with too much exposition with surface level characterisation.

I wanted more insight into Aminat rather than just 'Kick-ass girl agent' and I wanted much more from Oyin Da (bicycle girl) who completely lacked air time and had zero to perhaps inconsistent character development. I stand by what I said in my Rosewater review, I think it actually might work better if written as an epic book with a more serious tone, it would give it the ability to dive deeper into all the side characters and give much more coherent world building. Insurrection felt like a filler book where Thompson had too many ideas he wanted to squeeze in. The insurrection itself takes second place to the introduction and resolution of the antagonist

the giant alien plant

, which seemed a convenient plot device. As before things wrapped up too quickly at the end in the last 70 pages. I'm going to read the final instalment but I don't hold out hope that it will be better than what was written here. The BIG question (

the moral, logistical, and cultural aspects of the Homian colonisation on Earth

) have received little attention so I hope this is focused on exclusively in the final book because it has the potential to be really interesting!