Cold Welcome

TL;DR

I really liked this book, it's a great science fiction survival adventure with a rich world, great characters and good writting. I definitely recommend this book I had a blast reading through it. The only thing I didn't like was the ending but everything else is great.

My Scoring System

I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:

✓ - Main Story: I didn't think it would be a stranded survival story but I was not dissapointed with it, it was a great story even if the main question isn't answered by the end.

✓ - Side Stories (if it applies): I liked all the side stories, where we jump from Ky's cousin, to her aunt, to her lover. All great and interesting parallel stories that are all trying to save Ky.

✓ - Characters: Every character except Ky's second in command (Jen) was great. I loved all the different crew members, Ky's family and her lover were all a joy to read through. There are a lot of characters and only one to be annoying and not likeable is impresive. My favorite were Rafe, Grace and Teague.

✓ - Setting/Ambiance: Interesting setting, a barren land that's supposedly not suitable for terraforming yet there is this mysterious base weirdly well equipped for everything. I liked it.

X - Ending: This is the worst part of the book, very anticlimactic. It just ends which was very weird to me. A bit dissapointed but the all the other aspects of the books are strong.

Extensive Review

I wasn't expecting this to be a stranded survival story but was pleasently surprised at how good it turned out to be. I really liked how there is already a world created and built up. You constantly hear about Ky's past and how she's a hero and saved a lot of people. I would have liked if there was more of that though.

It's great that our main protagonist is smart and makes good decisions I really liked her. The rest of the crew were also interesting and enjoyable to read when they interacted with one another. Another great part of the book are the side stories going on, Ky's lover, her aunt and cousin trying to find out if she's still alive and saving her. I don't have anything bad to say about them, great writting with interesting personalities. I didn't mind at all going from Ky's survival story to Rafe and Grace trying to figure out how to get to Ky and save her.

The ending was a let down at how abruptly it ends without answering much of that happened. The ending is very important to me which is why I can't give this book a perfect score. I will be reading the next book and see how that one goes but I have high hopes seeing how good this one was.

Edit: Okay so I said that this feels like a world already well established, I just realized there's a whole series called Vatta's War that I think pretty much goes into how she turned out to be a hero and got to this place. I will have to read those as well.

Review coming soon at www.fantasyliterature.com.