Driving the Deep

This is one of those books where I'll be missing the characters like old friends.

The first book in this series was really good. This second book was fantastic. The plot took some seriously right angled turns that I wasn't expecting, with a mystery that had just the right amount of mystery to it - no sudden rabbits from hats, just old fashioned clues and red herrings, well distributed.

The bit I loved the most was the great characters, especially the main character Fergus. While the universe is pretty dark and gritty, Fergus is just a genuinely good guy who really doesn't want to hurt anyone, and when he does (even if he has to) he feels really bad about it. You can't help cheering him on because he's so human, he's not especially great at fighting, he can whip up a plan really quick, but they never go to plan. In fact his greatest skill seems to be being a long suffering punch bag - but he'll stick by his friends no matter what and I can't wait to spend more time with him.

I'm so looking forward to book 3!

The humor and the storytelling of this series reminds me of [b:The Atrocity Archives 101869 The Atrocity Archives (Laundry Files, #1) Charles Stross https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1440461724l/101869.SY75.jpg 322252] and the Laundry Files series. Good flow to the plot, characters you can like and dislike, no sidetracking from the storyline, no jumping back-n-forth between plots, all things I like when I'm reading.Definitely will continue to the next in the series.

This is the sequel to [b:Finder 40796392 Finder (Finder Chronicles, #1) Suzanne Palmer https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1543385033l/40796392.SY75.jpg 63522653], and it's another page-turner: I finished it the same day that I bought it. Palmer's story-telling ability is alive and well.This time the setting is more unusual and original: much of the story takes place at the bottom of the ocean on Enceladus, the sixth-largest moon of Saturn, where there is a scientific research settlement. (Yes, Enceladus is a real moon, and it really has an ocean.)I like this book well enough, but somewhat less than I liked [b:Finder 40796392 Finder (Finder Chronicles, #1) Suzanne Palmer https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1543385033l/40796392.SY75.jpg 63522653], because I find the setting and the story rather oppressive and uncongenial. Any story has to contain some adversity, some difficulties to overcome, but I enjoy a story more if it has some pleasant aspects, some moments of happiness and/or comedy. In this story, Detective Zacker is occasionally somewhat amusing, and the ending is sufficiently positive, but that's about it.Palmer's writing has moments of levity, and her hero Fergus has a sense of humour, but outright comedy isn't really an ingredient here.