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redeyesinferno's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
remescient's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
It's an interesting book. I think the editor should have been a little more ruthless and cut out some of the extraneous tangents that the narrator and characters would often go on, they would get very rambley but didn't actually do much to help build the world or characters. And I felt like the ending was fairly weak. But it was still fun to read a Mass Effect novel that focused on the alien cultures that are usually ignored in the main canon. I just think this book tried to do too much at once and some better editing and tighter writing would have served it better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Body horror, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, and Vomit
l3irdl3rain's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
sad
fast-paced
4.5
I read the other Mass Effect Andromeda novels. They were okay, I enjoyed Nexus Uprising far more than Initiation.
This one is in a league of its own. Fast paced and exciting. It made me laugh out loud a couple times, which I wasn’t expecting. And it was sad and hopeful and so much fun.
This one is in a league of its own. Fast paced and exciting. It made me laugh out loud a couple times, which I wasn’t expecting. And it was sad and hopeful and so much fun.
marilynw's review
4.0
I'm a big fan of the Mass Effect and Dragon Age games so I read all the related books as soon as they come out. My four star rating is based on loving the games, having played them over and over, knowing the lore, and wanting more content in the games, and if not there, in books. I don't see how the books could be really enjoyed without the background of the games they are linked to but in the case of this prequel, for a series of games that I love to play, I was very happy to be able to indulge in more ME.
The first part of the book introduced us to the characters on a ship to Andromeda that had a big problem. We'd meet a character and then they would go into a long memory of the past that gave us an idea of what the character was like, and this could be pretty tedious at times. At the same time, we did need to care about the characters and I began to do that with several of them. The second, shorter part of the book, then provided the satisfactory "fixing the problem", as best as it could be fixed, with the limited resources and time that the ship leaders had to do so.
I do wish we'd get to see these characters in the next ME game but I'm not sure another ME will ever come out and even if it does, they may go a completely different direction. For all I know, this may be the last new ME content. I know we hear rumors of this or that, but I'll believe there will be another game when it actually comes out.
The first part of the book introduced us to the characters on a ship to Andromeda that had a big problem. We'd meet a character and then they would go into a long memory of the past that gave us an idea of what the character was like, and this could be pretty tedious at times. At the same time, we did need to care about the characters and I began to do that with several of them. The second, shorter part of the book, then provided the satisfactory "fixing the problem", as best as it could be fixed, with the limited resources and time that the ship leaders had to do so.
I do wish we'd get to see these characters in the next ME game but I'm not sure another ME will ever come out and even if it does, they may go a completely different direction. For all I know, this may be the last new ME content. I know we hear rumors of this or that, but I'll believe there will be another game when it actually comes out.
darcerenity's review against another edition
4.0
I just finished Mass Effect: Annihilation, and I firmly believe it is the best of the tie-in novels to date (with the arguable exception of the hardcover Hard in Hightown, which is really its own beast).
Many of the “background” races seen on the Citadel in the OT get a fair amount of spotlight in this book, and they are all written well, with distinctive interests and povs. There is a lot of humor that had me laughing and reading bits to my husband. There is also a touch of nostalgia and some surprisingly well-done pathos.
Some of the turns were completely unexpected and others were right on target given the races involved. The action was quick-paced and I was burning through pages to see just how absolute that title was going to be.
Many of the “background” races seen on the Citadel in the OT get a fair amount of spotlight in this book, and they are all written well, with distinctive interests and povs. There is a lot of humor that had me laughing and reading bits to my husband. There is also a touch of nostalgia and some surprisingly well-done pathos.
Some of the turns were completely unexpected and others were right on target given the races involved. The action was quick-paced and I was burning through pages to see just how absolute that title was going to be.
aced_aro_rose's review
3.0
I would have given more than 3 stars if the story hadn’t lagged in the middle.
The plot was intriguing but the middle chunk of the book was bogged down with a lot of ‘telling’ and not much showing. The real antagonist revealed at the end was easily guessed for me once they were introduced near the start of the book. And the real the character did what they did was just… lame and boring.
But I enjoyed the plot and characters enough that I wished there was more story, continuing into Andromeda.
The plot was intriguing but the middle chunk of the book was bogged down with a lot of ‘telling’ and not much showing. The real antagonist revealed at the end was easily guessed for me once they were introduced near the start of the book. And the real the character did what they did was just… lame and boring.
But I enjoyed the plot and characters enough that I wished there was more story, continuing into Andromeda.
janareadstoomuch's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
The audiobook!!! I dont think I would’ve enjoyed it as much without the narration, he did such a great job bringing the characters to life. I got some of the closure I wanted after MEA
chillvamp's review
5.0
I've read quite a few books by Cat Valente, and her style is hit-and-miss with me. I loved "Six Gun Snow White", but I put down "Palimpsest" not even halfway through. This one though was definitely a hit with me.
I picked it up because I adore Mass Effect and, after playing Andromeda, the question of "what happened to the quarian ark?" was definitely one that had me curious. I expected to be a little put off by Valente's usual poetry-adjacent prose style; my tolerance for flowery language is very low, I like clear prose that doesn't sacrifice immediate readability for the sake of a particular aesthetic and I want clever metaphors to be a rare delight, not every other sentence. What had me wary was that the premise of this book is essentially a mystery thriller, a "whodunnit", and I didn't think meandering language would serve that premise very well.
The great thing about Cat Valente is that she isn't a one-trick-pony (which is why I keep checking out her books) and she proved it with this one. The first couple chapters had to do the heavy lifting of introducing characters and potentially the world of Mass Effect if the reader is, somehow, new to the series. That exposition is a burden all game tie-ins have to bear. That said, she absolved herself of that very skillfully and without straying from the focus of the book, and kept it interesting, and once that weight was off her shoulders, the book went to FTL speed.
With every chapter, it got more and more engaging. She does a wonderful job of raising the stakes at the end of every chapter, and I came to expect that, just when I thought things couldn't get worse, something surely was. That made it very easy to sympathise with the characters, who feel much the same way, and to make the Keelah Si'yah feel like the giant liveship it is, filled with a million motives and hopes for the new world. And as I got through it, I realized that at some point I had started to really care about the characters in the book, some of who highlight some racial tropes and inside jokes from the series, and yet feel completely alive and real. I finished this book wanting to boot up Andromeda again and find a planet for a batarian and a drell to build a house, because that got me in the feels so hard.
In short: EVERYBODY GO READ THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW!!!
I picked it up because I adore Mass Effect and, after playing Andromeda, the question of "what happened to the quarian ark?" was definitely one that had me curious. I expected to be a little put off by Valente's usual poetry-adjacent prose style; my tolerance for flowery language is very low, I like clear prose that doesn't sacrifice immediate readability for the sake of a particular aesthetic and I want clever metaphors to be a rare delight, not every other sentence. What had me wary was that the premise of this book is essentially a mystery thriller, a "whodunnit", and I didn't think meandering language would serve that premise very well.
The great thing about Cat Valente is that she isn't a one-trick-pony (which is why I keep checking out her books) and she proved it with this one. The first couple chapters had to do the heavy lifting of introducing characters and potentially the world of Mass Effect if the reader is, somehow, new to the series. That exposition is a burden all game tie-ins have to bear. That said, she absolved herself of that very skillfully and without straying from the focus of the book, and kept it interesting, and once that weight was off her shoulders, the book went to FTL speed.
With every chapter, it got more and more engaging. She does a wonderful job of raising the stakes at the end of every chapter, and I came to expect that, just when I thought things couldn't get worse, something surely was. That made it very easy to sympathise with the characters, who feel much the same way, and to make the Keelah Si'yah feel like the giant liveship it is, filled with a million motives and hopes for the new world. And as I got through it, I realized that at some point I had started to really care about the characters in the book, some of who highlight some racial tropes and inside jokes from the series, and yet feel completely alive and real. I finished this book wanting to boot up Andromeda again and find a planet for a batarian and a drell to build a house, because that got me in the feels so hard.
In short: EVERYBODY GO READ THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW!!!
zj5's review
2.0
A mostly boring book saved by great characters and truly wonderful narration by Tom Taylorson.
lastxcaress's review
5.0
I adored this - I was desperate to know what had happened to the Quarian ark in Andromeda and when the rumoured DLC never happened, I thought I’d never find out. The voices of each race in this were perfect - I LOVED Yorrik, the elcor doctor, and it was fantastic to explore some of the lesser seen species of the series in more detail. You can clearly see this was written by someone with so much love for the series and now I really want to play Andromeda again, so there’s that.