Antimatter Blues - BookWyrm.World

No cover — Edward Ashton: Antimatter Blues (2023, Rebellion)

English language

Published March 19, 2023 by Rebellion.

ISBN:: 978-1-78618-860-1

View on OpenLibrary

(2 reviews)

3 editions

Alex Cabe reviewed Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton

Fun but Inessential

3 stars

Antimatter Blues was fun and delivered the same kind of enjoyment as Mickey 7, but was entirely inessential. This book isn't important to understanding the characters or the world, and the author told the complete story of his big idea in the first book. This is not a continuation that demanded to be written, but a sequel that asks "Well, the first one was successful, what other stories can we tell in this world?"

This felt kind of like Haldeman's "Forever Free", except not horrible.

Also, it still didn't explore anything interesting about Cat.

Eric Wagoner 📚 reviewed Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton

Well-done sequel for Mickey7

4 stars

This sequel could easily have gone sideways -- the first book came close to overstaying its welcome and more of the same would not have been welcome.

So, where the first one focused on Mickey finding his place in the world, the second was more about the world with Mickey in it. Mickey is still the main character, but we see more of the world and personalities around him. We learn a great deal more about the greater human society that created expendables, we learn more about the history of galactic colonization, and we learn bits about times humanity found other sentient life. None of this is dry world-building, as it's fed to us in bits as it relates directly to the events at hand.

I enjoyed reading this as much as I did the first, and it was in many ways more satisfying. There is still plenty of story …

This sequel could easily have gone sideways -- the first book came close to overstaying its welcome and more of the same would not have been welcome.

So, where the first one focused on Mickey finding his place in the world, the second was more about the world with Mickey in it. Mickey is still the main character, but we see more of the world and personalities around him. We learn a great deal more about the greater human society that created expendables, we learn more about the history of galactic colonization, and we learn bits about times humanity found other sentient life. None of this is dry world-building, as it's fed to us in bits as it relates directly to the events at hand.

I enjoyed reading this as much as I did the first, and it was in many ways more satisfying. There is still plenty of story that could be told in this setting, and I hope Edward writes more.