Challenge Corner discussion

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.

Part first contact story, part dark comedy, and part bizarre love triangle, The Fourth Consort asks an important how far would you go to survive? And more importantly, how many drinks would you need to go there?

Yay excited for this one!

Going to finish up my current audiobook tomorrow and then start this one

Started

Chapters 1-6 (view spoiler)[So far this is interesting. I like Dalton’s character and feel like he is going to grow a lot throughout, especially with how he started off getting broken up with his girlfriend because he was kind of being a deadbeat and grieving the loss of his dad. (hide spoiler)]

Chapters 7-12 (view spoiler)[Well I’m hoping this picks up a bit more. However the whole consort thing is interesting. There is definitely more going on here though. (hide spoiler)]

Chapters 13-18 (view spoiler)[Im really enjoying this one! And some of the parts are super fun, especially with the translated getting things wrong and they commenting that they said they weren’t sure but after the conversation they were more certain it was blood debt. (hide spoiler)]

Finished (view spoiler)[Surprisingly this was a quick read. I really enjoyed it. And I loved how Mira kept wanting to just kill people and Dalton kept telling her not to. Also that ending with them leaving those com messages for each other! I really hope that there will be another book. (hide spoiler)]

I'm sorry Ashlyn, I'm trying to catch up. I'm super excited for this one.

No worries! Read it when you can. I just was lucky and had time that day during work to listen to it.

Finally got into this! 14%

(view spoiler)[Decent cold open, getting us right into the story. I appreciate a short book that doesn't spend the first 5 chapters telling us all of the history and mechanics of the world we're in. Setting up the different factions, and the fact that the humans may not be on the good side of things, was well done. They've just entered the city where I'm at and I'm pretty hooked for seeing where this leads. (hide spoiler)]

40%

(view spoiler)[I'm enjoying the flashbacks in how they reveal more of Dalton's story. Breaker is endearing himself to me. His philosophical question was interesting, as well as the way he looks at the world. Dalton becoming consort was, entertaining, as well as how the queen handled his bluffing. The attack was appropriately tense, as was Virgil's entrance as apparent assassin. Meeting two of the other consorts was neat and I hope we get more with them. Neera is not my favourite. (hide spoiler)]

58%

(view spoiler)[ I'm cackling, I love that this is a love triangle turned on its head. He's embroiled in relationships due to cultural misunderstanding. This book feels like the easy sci-fi I used to read in high school in the best way possible. Definitely going to check out Mickey7 after this. (hide spoiler)]

71%

(view spoiler)[OO the politics are so interesting. The way Virgil explains her saving of Dalton makes me interested in finding out more. I don't know how in depth this will really get because of how short it is, but what we're getting is good. (hide spoiler)]

Finished

(view spoiler)[ I Loved this ending!!! Ok, the politics of the bug people and the duels were interesting. Neera wreaking havoc was both kick ass and sad. But Dalton and Breaker as BFFs and possibly mates?! EEEEEE!!!! I kinda want a novella or just a couple short stories of their wild adventures through space now.

I gave this one 5 stars, partly due to the nostalgia it gave me for the books I read in high school, and partly because it was just a fun book. (hide spoiler)]