Review: Nemesis Games

Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is easily the best of the series so far. After a couple of books that tended to spin in circles, Nemesis Games puts the series back on track. Not a perfect book but it firmly establishes itself as an extremely engaging story with (mostly) great pacing and characters. A volume that succeeds far more than it fails by focusing on what makes the series good in the first place.

NG kind of reminds me of Caliban's War. In a good way of course. NG and CW both strike the right balance of elements like plot and characters. Abaddon's Gate and Cibola Burn felt a little more one-sided with slower plots and less than interesting characters. NG had the good idea to split up the main crew so we can focus on each one of them as characters and offer a unique angle to the unfolding plot. It also guests stars series favorites Avasarala and Bobbie, which is always a good idea.

I have two major complaints. Both of them are roughly connected.

One, Naomi gets kidnapped. Again. At this point, I don't think this qualifies as a spoiler as if I had a dollar for every time this happened I would have plenty of gas money. I don't know if this is a result of it coming from male writers or if they can't think of anything else to do with the character. Neither would surprise me.

Two, the last few chapters lack a true climax, and the book just kind of putters out. There's a sense that this is the opening round of a larger plot, but books, especially ones of this nature, still need a feeling of completeness. What we end up getting is the breather between rounds. Every character that we remember the name of is safe, but probably not for long.

After the series took a turn in a direction I didn't expect but also didn't fully enjoy, it's nice to see the interplanetary drama take center stage once again. The dynamic might be familiar, but that doesn't mean it's an unpleasant one. NG has shaken the series up in a very good way and leaves me with the hope that maybe the best is to come. Maybe in the next book, Naomi can avoid getting captured.

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