Shards of Earth

This book is absolutely full of ideas. Almost too many you might say, since the opening third or so throws you right in at the deep end and you kind of have to push through it trusting that it will come good. Which it does, mostly.

The story is another take on the popular “ragtag crew in a beatup old ship” subgenre that seems more and more popular these days (see also: Becky Chambers and Gareth L Powell, plus this old TV show about an insect or something), but this has a grander and much more cosmic scope than most in that area. The whole plot is only just beginning to come into view at the end of this first volume but it's already clear the stakes are going to be about as high as they can get. In the meantime, we have some inventive and intriguing alien races, plenty of gripping tautly described action and some lead characters who are, if not exactly likeable, then well crafted and believable. It starts slow, but by the time we get to the climax things are racing along - it took me about a week to get through the first half, and then twenty four hours for the second.

My only real criticisms are that the opening stretch of the book is too much of a slog, and that it feels a bit...woolly? Some of the wanderings and travels in this one are a bit overlong and pointless, and I feel that some tightening up and cutting of 50 pages or so could have worked wonders for the pacing. Regardless, it's a very promising start to a series, with some great ideas that I'm looking forward to learning more about in the next volumes. Probably a 3.5 but I'll round up to a 4 on the promise that the rest of the series builds on these foundations.