Apostles of Mercy

I received a copy of Apostles of Mercy by Lindsay Ellis and its book 3 of the Noumena series. I had never heard of the series so I hadn't read the first two books.

Lucky for me, my library had both audiobooks available and that's where I started!

Axioms End - 5 stars OMG I was hooked!!!!

Truth of the divine - 4 stars... I was expecting this because book 2s always tend to be a little less.

So book 3, is all about first contact between humans and the alien civilization. A group of transients are terrorizing humans and the fall out is huge.

The story continues with Cora, and the new way her and Ampersand can now communicate and Cora starts to question her unwavering devotion to her alien friend.

Firstly, world building is amazing. The build up to learning about the types of aliens, their history, what they are after, why they are different... ARGHHHHH I could not get enough of that! I went back and forth on my feelings for Cora. In book 2 she was annoying. The rest of the characters propped her up but I felt she leveled out more in this book and I found I really liked her.

There was a lot of processing of the people they have lost in this book and it draws some people together who I liked more than some of the characters they killed off (sorry not sorry). I really like Paris and she made the book for me.

Ampersand is preparing to take Cora from Earth as it is going to be annihilated. Oh man I was on the edge of my seat!! There was definitely a lot more action in this book and unlike other books trying to wrap up stuff, this one didn't feel rushed and it had a very realistic ending. The last 25% of the book is magic. Pure writing genius. Might be the best of any book I have ever read.

Definitely a big fan of this series, (Trilogy) and I am so glad I had the chance to binge it.

4.5 stars for this one - 4.5 average of the 3.

Thank you to @stmartinspress and @namebrandlindsay for my gifted copy! Get them all NOWWWWWW.

Apostles of Mercy is the third book in the Noumena series (apparently intended to be five books). In this installment we continue to follow Cora, who is acting as the main interpreter/liaison for a group of aliens on Earth. While Cora is trying to figure out her relationships with both humans and aliens, there is more trouble brewing as another group of aliens is discovered.

Consistent with the first two books, this novel is action-packed. Drama, battles, explosions, espionage - you really want to keep turning the pages. I find the author's depictions of the aliens thought-provoking. Many times aliens are written basically as humans, but with horns or purple skin or whatever. If not that, then the other choice is just generic “monsters.” Sci fi where the authors really try to imagine truly alien intelligence is fascinating. (I think Arrival does a good job of this, and maybe also Project Hail Mary?) This series is trying to do that as well - and mostly succeeding.

Overall, fun read and a great series (I think I liked this book less than the first but more than the second).

Only Lindsay Ellis could spend three books building to an apocalypse and never get to it. What a weird series.