THE FOURTH CONSORT
EDWARD ASHTON
****
Dalton Greaves is a hero. He’s one of humankind’s first representatives to Unity, a pan-species confederation working to bring all sentient life into a single benevolent brotherhood.
That’s what they told him, anyway. The only actual members of Unity that he’s ever met are Boreau, a giant snail who seems more interested in plunder than spreading love and harmony, and Boreau’s human sidekick, Neera, who Dalton strongly suspects roped him into this gig so that she wouldn’t become the next one of Boreau’s crew to get eaten by locals while prospecting.
Funny thing, though—turns out there actually is a benevolent confederation out there, working for the good of all life. They call themselves the Assembly, and they really don’t like Unity. More to the point, they really, really don’t like Unity’s new human minions.
When an encounter between Boreau’s scout ship and an Assembly cruiser over a newly discovered world ends badly for both parties, Dalton finds himself marooned, caught between a stickman, one of the Assembly’s nightmarish shock troops, the planet’s natives, who aren’t winning any congeniality prizes themselves, and Neera, who might actually be the most dangerous of the three. To survive, he’ll need to navigate palace intrigue, alien morality, and a proposal that he literally cannot refuse, all while making sure Neera doesn’t come to the conclusion that he’s worth more to her dead than alive.
MY REVIEW
****
I previously enjoyed Mickey7 (review here) from Edward Ashton which released a few years ago, so I was excited to read The Fourth Consort.
Dalton works for Unity, an organisation run by giant space snails who are trying to unite sentient life. Whilst in a meeting on the insect-like Minarch’s home planet, Dalton and coworker Neera lose contact with their ship and find themselves stranded. Who can they trust and how will they survive?
As with Mickey7, I enjoyed the writing style of Fourth Consort - it’s easy to read and flows well. I particularly enjoyed the sarcastic asides from the AI translator, and the guessing at certain words which led to some misunderstandings was a fun addition to the narrative. I admire any author for writing standalone sci-fi as it requires so much world-building in addition to creating believable and empathetic characters and an interesting plot.
I think Fourth Consort perhaps falls a bit on the characters – I didn’t feel much for Dalton, despite the flashback insights into his life that we are given throughout. I also thought the Minarchs, although interesting and different, were all written a little too similarly to each other and without their nicknames, I wouldn’t have guessed who we were reacting to. I also wish we’d learnt more about Neera as she seemed quite a wasted character on the ship by herself for nearly all of the story. My favourite character was Breaker though – I enjoyed the scenes with him in and I did genuinely feel for him by the end.
Although I really enjoyed the plot arc as a whole, it did feel like it became a little repetitive and dragged at times. I think maybe a sharper, more ruthless edit to tighten up the middle section could have been an improvement, and this may have helped to give us more information on other characters, or even provided reveals on Unity and the Assembly (perhaps through Neera’s eyes) to give us more context.
Overall, The Fourth Consort is engaging sci-fi, I just think it needed a little more editing in the middle to tighten it up and expand on some key points. Thank you to NetGalley & Rebellion Publishing – Solaris for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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