VSL: All Done and Meh?

[Steve]

Here there be spoilers.
(view spoiler)[
I got through it and it was...meh? Especially the ending. The whole notion that they could turn around and catch up to the other ship is so entirely laughable especially when they will have missed the launch window to optimally take advantage of planets to sling shot around. And didn't they even cover how important the overall timing was in the initial launch? Guh.
The concept was interesting and while it was heavily telegraphed, it was still entertaining to watch it unfold. In some stories you know the outcome well ahead of time and therefore it's the journey not the destination that's important. One of the other aspects that I liked was the fighting between Catherine and her daughter in that it was very human and very vicious. It made me squirm from discomfort, so yeah.
I wish the science had been done better though.
(hide spoiler)]

[John (Taloni)]

I agree to the "meh" overall which was too bad since the middle half was pretty well done.

(view spoiler)[I especially appreciated her falling into alcoholism since that is a real part of astronautics. The bit about the program director saying he'd seen it before very much rang true. The fights with her family, the break and reconciliation, all true to life.

And then...they go visit the other astronaut. Presto changeo, there's a way too fast reveal and the MC's ET voices are muted. Er...yay? And then the conclusion was whee-oh, whee-oh, danger Will Robinson! Rushed, hackneyed, with a forced HFN romance.

As for the physics involved for the chase, I'll grant the author that. There's sufficient fudge factor for the wormhole travel that a lighter ship carrying more fuel might catch up. Might. Especially when motivated by a world not wanting to truly eff up first contact. But the characterization that drove most of the novel? It got a trumped up happy ending that seemed disingenuous. (hide spoiler)]

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

Meh is a fair assessment.

It's not bad, but then again it's not great. I enjoyed it, but ask me for any details at the end of the year and I'll mostly have forgotten it.

[Ziggy]

I just finished it and can agree with the meh assessment. (view spoiler)[The middle section had me highly intrigued in where it was going and how certain life aspects would be resolved. Wish the ending was more of the same, a few more chapters to explain things wouldn't have been an issue for me.

Then again I am a reader, not a writer so I guess there were other forces at work I know nothing of that could have altered the book as it was. (hide spoiler)]

[Kelli]

I'm going to go ahead and be all contrary. I thought the book was better than "meh." I'd put it somewhere between "neat" and "hot dang!" :D

[John (Taloni)]

^Want to say why? Or is it just a feeling? I liked some parts but not others.

[Kelli]

I liked the mystery, although I wish the author had revealed the why of the blackouts earlier so that more time could have been spent on that reason. (view spoiler)[ More aliens! (hide spoiler)]

I liked how the character seemed realistic (and often frustrating), given the strange situation. I thought the main character's anxiety was portrayed well.

I wasn't really a fan of the ending, but overall, I liked the story.

Mostly, I was just being silly with my post. ;)

[Kev]

Agree. I thought it started off great - I couldn't put it down at first. The ending felt rushed, though, and the story just kind of ran out of steam.

Overall, I kinda liked the character interactions: most of them felt at least plausible.

(view spoiler)[Is the author setting up a sequel with that ending? If she just had them successfully turn Sagittarius II around in time, the book would have had a nice neat ending.

And did I miss something: didn't Addy just being in the Trappist system become infected without ever setting foot on a planet? What's to stop the entire Sag2 crew or Cal from becoming infected when they come out of the wormhole? (hide spoiler)]

[John (Taloni)]

^On that spoiler note....

(view spoiler)[the spores are the children of the vast entity, which seems to be spread throughout the solar system's big temperate area, including but not limited to the planets. By taking samples the humans stole their children. The point of the following mission is to tell them not to do that again. Well, among other things, like to try to make contact with the entity again and try to convince it that the humans want to be friendly.

...next all they need is a Rock Monster and Spock explaining to miners that they stole her eggs.

(hide spoiler)]

[Mark]

I liked the story, but I agree that we kind of sprinted through the conclusion. However, it's a decent first novel. I'd be willing to read more from Ms. Nichols.

[Robert]

Yeah, I thought it picked up steam for a bit, but then I had some glaring problems to me. (view spoiler)[I'm pretty sure it's standard for NASA to have a back-up crew for all missions. (hide spoiler)] Things did get resolved a little too quickly in the end and then we are left with a cliffhanger. And frankly, I was never that fond of the main character. But I loved her daughter and sister.

[William]

I thought it was a darn good book. Sure it had issues - it cut corners with the science and all, but I found it a gripping read that sucked me in and left me checking goodreads for a sequel (none announced darn it!).

[Kev]

William wrote: "I thought it was a darn good book. Sure it had issues - it cut corners with the science and all, but I found it a gripping read that sucked me in and left me checking goodreads for a sequel (none a..."

To be fair, I read it through to the end in three sittings. It kept me reading, that's for sure - rushed, unsatisfactory ending or not. So the author obviously has some writing chops. I'll check out more from her if the story sounds interesting.

[John (Taloni)]

^There could even be a sequel, not that hard to come up with one.

(view spoiler)[ Say the hive mind isn't interested in the apologies of the Terrans, So it's coming to make what it considers a strike back. Now the plot would be how to stop it. Fairly easy to have the NASA side interested in a reconciliation strategy while the military just wants to blow it up. (hide spoiler)]

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I definitely was with this book through the end, even made reasons to drive my car around so I could finish listening. I'm not left needing a sequel but can see where it could go. I have a few comparisons. I read the first Expanse book and wasn't super impressed (sorry Tom Merritt!!) but ended up loving the show, because there were so many more storylines coming from books later in the series. I guess I imagine a potential future development of this universe in multiple layers - (view spoiler)[ the second ship, obviously, which is bound to have to deal with some version of this same phenomenon; then there is the rescue ship, which we know because of SCIENCE can't catch up, but something interesting could still happen... and then I can't help but think that there are aliens inside other humans at home, similar to the horror demon possession novels I grew up reading (thanks, fundamentalism!) ... (hide spoiler)]and since the author is so good at getting the astronaut lives right, I hope whatever she writes if she writes more in this universe has more of the home drama. Does what they discover change how astronauts are trained, for instance. Is there an equivalent to the AI test that can be applied to this situation? (view spoiler)[What if the aliens just get smarter and make themselves less detectable (hide spoiler)]

Oh and (view spoiler)[now that they know Earth is out there and we've made moves that look like a declaration of war, what if they come to earth? (hide spoiler)]

So I think there are a lot of things that could happen.

Oh and because I said multiple comparisons. What do you call the singers like Imogen Heap who record themselves and it layers on top of what they have done and a song grows and grows? That. I can see that happening here.

[John (Taloni)]

^Oooh! What if...

(view spoiler)[The hive mind didn't switch sides for the original astronaut and for the MC, and both are ticking time bombs waiting for the hive mind to assert control again?

Okay, now I want a sequel. (hide spoiler)]

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

John (Taloni) wrote: "^Oooh! What if...

The hive mind didn't switch sides for the original astronaut and for the MC, and both are ticking time bombs waiting for the hive mind to assert control again?

Okay, now I want ..."

Yesss because that seemed a little too easy. (view spoiler)[How in the world did the original astronaut get to that place to begin with? Why do we trust her? Big mistake, potentially. (hide spoiler)]

[Jesse]

I was onboard for most of the novel. I really enjoyed the character development, but I can't stand the ending. (view spoiler)[The romance between Catherine and Cal felt really rushed and not as believable or realistic as the other relationships. I hate that it ended on a cliff hanger, it made me decide to not recommend the book to my partner. (hide spoiler)]

[Rob, Roberator]

I thought it was too slow at the start (not revealing enough) and too fast at the end (revealing too much too quickly). The middle wasn't bad.

I liked it more than I expected, but not by much. Glad I read, but glad to move on.

[Misti]

I liked it more than I expected, but not by much. Glad I read, but glad to move on."

I feel the same. (view spoiler)[I would've liked to have more with the alien aspect of the story and the other astronaut (sorry, I'm blanking on her name). (hide spoiler)] I don't think I was invested enough in this book to read a sequel, should one come along.

[Alex]

Super agree on the meh. To me the whole book was meh from start to finish.

Frustrating (and unbelievable) to me that a character who supposedly cares so much about the mission and wanting to find out the truth would purposefully do so many things to hide the truth from herself/ other people. Never seemed to click. Add that to the meh science and meh suspense, and I'm giving this thing only two stars (maybe one if I'm feeling salty).