Brad

I wish I had read this before playing the Mass Effect Andromeda game. While the first book in the Andromeda tie in series was an awesome extra bit of Mass Effect, it was also a bit of a chore to get through, this one was a pleasant title to rip through, containing some solid writing that made me see Cora Harper in a different light.
The game didn't seem to do much to delve into the character that is Cora Harper which is a shame as this book paints her as a pretty damn awesome human biotic whom we catch up with shortly after her 4 year stint where she trained/honed her biotic abilities with an elite Asari commandos group. Through out the book we get insight to her character while she gets use to having a version of SAM with her for a good duration of the story. We follow her as she cleans up some mess for the initiative while she considers the mission they've asked her to join.
Certainly one of the better Mass Effect titles and one you shouldn't miss if you're a fan of the series.

I gave this a 4/5 star as I like the style, writing and characters portrayed in this story, but also had issues with some of the pacing later in the book and the switch from more of a city cyberpunk-y esc scene to that of a magic focused adventure/fantasy kind of environment. I honestly love both kinds of stories, but the two together was not what I was expecting from this title. As such, by the end of the book I had mixed feelings... where as the first half had me ready to recommend it to all. In the end, still good, just expect a mixture of genres.

This book is well written, with wonderful world building, containing interesting ideas and well rounded characters. It gets started with a mystery set in a futuristic dome contained environment in Alaska, that really has one guessing for a bit before revealing more at play.

Being a prequel, it does have a bit of a set out plot it must line up to in the end and I wonder if this hurt it just a little. The last third of the book seeming to dial into that notion where I feel it could have kept stretching out the narrative a bit more before concluding. That really is my only gripe with the novella, that fact that it ended too soon and I was left wanting to explore it's world more before saying goodbye.
If you have an interest in futuristic, cyberpunk like, grounded SciFi involving a detective mystery, Mega corps, murder and the like, then you can't go wrong with Cold Wind Blowing!