scijessreads

Can I go live on the Ignisar? Visit? Because I absolutely adore this crew and their stories. We saw Elanie get her bionic hormone upgrade at the end of Sunastara & the Venusian, and in her own book we get everything you could ever want about the trials and tribulations of a bionic/organic hybrid going through puberty as an “adult.” Oh, the feelings!

If you think a combination of Murderbot, I Robot, Good Deeds (the Kathryn Moon book), and Ice Planet Barbarians sounds fun, this one will be right up your alley!

Not only do we get a sort of “coming of age” story with this one, we also get a story about finding freedom from a job where bionics are essentially owned by the corporation and have very little rights or time to themselves. We get a story about friendships, about relationships, and about learning how to deal with emotions you are not ready for (and can be really inconvenient).

Having Dr. Semson be our MMC, that bumbling, awkward Portisan with a severe case of “foot in mouth” at the most inopportune times, was a great counterpoint to Elanie’s more blunt communication style.

The majority of Elanie’s story actually takes place off the Ignisar, but we do get a lot of great interactions with the crew before she and Sem end up crash landed on a planet full of ice in a cave. The slow burn to conflagration of Elanie and Sem’s relationship is so damn good. And the last few chapters… no spoilers but they are frustrating and nerve-wracking and sweet and heart-stopping.

This is another great book by the author, and I will follow the crew of the Ignisar anywhere in the Known Universe. I read this initially as an ARC from the author.