I enjoyed this book more than the first one even though I had no idea what I was in for. Partially, I also don’t know how to feel about there being a third book…
The comparative utopia of twenty-third-century Earth is about to go dreadfully awry when a seemingly benign alien race is abruptly revealed to be one of the worst threats humanity has ever faced. Driven by an intense religious extremism, the Olyix are determined to bring everyone to their version of God as they see it. But they may have met their match in humanity, who are not about to go gently into that good night or spend the rest of their days cowering in hiding. As human ingenuity and determination rise to the challenge, collective humanity has only one goal—to wipe this apparently undefeatable enemy from the face of creation. Even if it means playing a ridiculously long game indeed. But in a chaotic universe, it is hard to plan for every eventuality, and it is always darkest before the dawn.
Thank you once again to Pan MacMillan Australia who’ve provided me a copy of both books and the opportunity to review it here, right on my blog! You can read more about Hamilton, here: https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/peter-f-hamilton/0ec100b2-d88d-4ef0-e232-08d5dcda7e06
For the second installment, I actually read faster and found myself more engaged with the story. Not only because it was finally moving compared to the first where we got the characters’ past and a bit of Juloss, but there were more characters that were different and multiple things happening all at once during the lockdown. Once again, Hamilton knows how to write scenes. I’ve never read such thoroughly put out and descriptive scenes where it feels like I’m actually there or I can too, sense the character’s emotions/reactions. He has a beautiful way of writing that I can only ever imagine of having. The only thing that bothered me were the explicit sex scenes…that is something I’ve never read so vividly before on.
When I say, more characters, it weighs out on the characters not mentioned in the second book like they were in the first. These characters are another class. It gives the readers a perspective of the lower class and upper class during the lockdown. How they’re being treated through all this and the likelihood of their survival. Their way of living and sacrifices compared to the busy lives of our main characters, Yuri, Ainsling, Kandara, Jessika and Callum. We see from the outside how their decisions are impacting others. It’s quiet interesting too, enjoy watching a zombie apocalypse unfold and seeing how they all make it with what they have.
We also have Dellian and Yirella, years from now, still hiding and plotting from the Olyix. How they’ve been builtto fill a destiny. Reading about how their lives all rotate around the Olyix and trying to stop them and avoid becoming another generation that are hiding. Yirellais smart, that’s for sure and her love for Dellian is interesting to read. We’ve read about them from when they were kids to grownups who have to figure a way to stop the Olyix.
I can’t go into detail without throwing major spoilers but it’s a book worth reading when you have an abundance of free time. These are the books you really need to focus on and remember everything. I hope to review the final book and see if humans can save the universe!