It’s the same formula but the stakes didn’t feel all that pressing, leading to a little of a deflation compared to the other books where the thriller aspects of the book are more fun and engaging. The question this one poses to the reader is more interesting than the previous ones though, and the nature of it means that by the end it makes sense why the chase wasn’t as fun.

I feel like these books scratch an itch for old 90s Jack Ryan movies only with more interesting high stakes and a travel bug at the same time. I don’t think the writing has gotten better because what IS fun about it is what the author obviously finds interesting, and it’s not characterization, prose, or dialogue. It’s going to cool places, constructing a fun puzzle, and trying to explain to the reader what he finds interesting about X thing about the world. And that’s fine with me. These books are pretty much what they say they are on the tin.

This is basically what if die hard was in a dystopian future where mankind messed up the earth so bad it was completely inhospitable and had creatures that wanted to kill you down there.

The survivors rely on tech that wasn't all that high tech at all, compared to most cyberpunk stuff. For that reason this was skirting the edge for me. There's no cybernetics either, but everyone is completely reliant on what is now decades old tech in order to survive on these giant floating ships. There's giant marauding thunder storms that wreck havoc on tech that was never supposed to last this long. There's very clear class division and a hierarchy.

But the main struggles come from helldivers who jump down to retrieve the parts they need to stay up there. In fact that's all they do, there was never any exploration of past vs future humanity or the human condition. Instead it's a straight up action flick. Every Hollywood action trope you can think is in there so it was completely telegraphed.

The Author does a good job with action and tension but misses the mark for character development aside from a few good scenes to humanize some people as the book skips between numerous perspectives including the protagonist, named X for Xavier. He's character arc is basically: everything is shit but when he comes into having another obligation he straightens up and becomes less the poster boy of toxic masculinity.

I mean, it's fine if you just want a straight up action flick. The ending was good, with the only trope ever to be subverted. Overall, meh. I'm looking for something a bit more cerebral and I like high tech stuff to be actually high tech. I like commentary on the human condition and the action being secondary to an overarching plot. This didn't have it, but it was alright.