While I liked Ancestral Night, this book didn’t do as much for me. It is set in the same universe as (and slightly after) the previous book, and one character from that book makes a brief, mostly off-stage appearance. I do like this hodgepodge galaxy of alien syster races in a galaxy spanning Synarche that have all uplifted themselves from pre-advanced technology almost-annihilation events (such as humans who almost killed themselves off with global warming and war, and the “praying mantis” species who had to learn to /not/ eat their mates to join civilized society. I like the strong female character, the good presentation of LGBTQIA+ characters, and especially in this book, the presentation of disability.
But that might also be why I didn’t like it… at times it felt a bit preachy (and I am in this choir…) and at other times I very strongly just felt that I was “reading a book” and that the “author was narrating herself” at me. Not all of it, but it popped up here and there and honestly, it took me out of the book.
The story was interesting and that is what saved this book for me. I was genuinely engaged in finding out what happened. A rescue ship finds an old Earth arc ship (pre-Synarche) and the main character, Dr. Jens, must make her way inside to see what or who they can salvage. There is another alien vessel (modern) attached to the arc, and that ship needs rescue as well. And then the AI and the ship mind characters begin showing signs of sabotage and a computer virus of some sort. Unfortunately, they bring this virus back to the big hospital at the center of the galaxy and the whole thing is quarantined. I did question the ability of a doctor, even with prior justice training to be able to pull off the caper. To be fair, the character herself struggles with her own abilities in this regard. I hesitate to ding a space opera novel for being unrealistic, but i think this aspect of the book fell a little flat for me.
There are some tense moments, some good strong action, and the story was interesting enough that I kept reading on. The somewhat overbearing narration and, to my mind, too strong messaging drops this one down a star for me.