by Alan Chan

A Science Fiction, Independently Published in 2024, 471 Pages

What I Didn’t Like:

There are some scenes that attempt to leave the science involved and end up sounding almost textbook-ish. While I do appreciate science in my science fiction, I prefer when it sounds understandable.
Some of the details we get and scenes we’re witnessing don’t further the plot. This makes the book feel slow in many spots. There are spots where things could’ve been streamlined.
This could be because a second book is coming … but as of right now there are too many things that were left up in the air. They could be unanswered questions that can come up in a sequel or they could be things that we’re supposed to fill in on our own. Either way, I needed more resolution from this ending.

The characterization of AI for this book is interesting. It sort of plays on the sentience discussion that was often popular in old school Scifi but brought forward in an interesting way.
The political drama is realistic, which makes it terrifying. It’s like glimpsing our futures and realizing this political stuff never stops. Depressing, but realistic.
The action scenes are well written and easy to picture. They don’t bog down the story, instead adding descriptions that bring it to life.

Readers who want near future scifi dealing with politics around asteroid mining and space exploration in general. This one is well researched and rooted in accuracy.