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snarpSpoilers for all four books under the cuts.
1) Though each of these books, taken individually, is hopeful in tone, taken together they're extremely ominous.
They all end with Rowan making a discovery of some kind, and each discovery's implications are worse. This isn't not in terms of the science itself, as in a lot of SF, as there are no unmanageable natural threats here - no incurable plague, no irreversible global warming, no permanent nuclear winter. The poisons are treatable.
The problem is in the social situation, which each book reveals as being more and more volatile. The situation with the demons, in particular, strikes me as impossible to resolve without horrific bloodshed. Janus's reaction, not Rowan's, is going to be the normal one.
I can't see how this series can possibly keep maintaining the tone it has for much longer without damaging its plausibility. This world is just too screwed.
2) Another alarming pattern: Whenever Rowan develops a significant relationship with a man whom she can treat as an equal, he's always an emotionally alienated person who conceals things from her. And then he dies or leaves.
3) Regarding the wizards: A lot of the "crew" don't seem to be very good at science. Shammer and Dree don't understand the concept of orbit, and there's no evidence that Fletcher has any real scientific training at all, beyond what he needs to use Google Earth on his smartphone.
4) My prediction regarding Slado: He actually stopped the bioform clearance because he figured out, as Janus and Rowan did, that the demons are sentient, and has decided, as Rowan did, that it's wrong to destroy their homes. And now that she's gotten everyone to vow to destroy him, Rowan'll have to talk them all down.
(This prediction is made on an unclear memory of the last two books; and I think this is the first time it occurred to me, so it may be that there's something in there to contradict it.)
1) Though each of these books, taken individually, is hopeful in tone, taken together they're extremely ominous.
They all end with Rowan making a discovery of some kind, and each discovery's implications are worse. This isn't not in terms of the science itself, as in a lot of SF, as there are no unmanageable natural threats here - no incurable plague, no irreversible global warming, no permanent nuclear winter. The poisons are treatable.
The problem is in the social situation, which each book reveals as being more and more volatile. The situation with the demons, in particular, strikes me as impossible to resolve without horrific bloodshed. Janus's reaction, not Rowan's, is going to be the normal one.
I can't see how this series can possibly keep maintaining the tone it has for much longer without damaging its plausibility. This world is just too screwed.
2) Another alarming pattern: Whenever Rowan develops a significant relationship with a man whom she can treat as an equal, he's always an emotionally alienated person who conceals things from her. And then he dies or leaves.
3) Regarding the wizards: A lot of the "crew" don't seem to be very good at science. Shammer and Dree don't understand the concept of orbit, and there's no evidence that Fletcher has any real scientific training at all, beyond what he needs to use Google Earth on his smartphone.
4) My prediction regarding Slado: He actually stopped the bioform clearance because he figured out, as Janus and Rowan did, that the demons are sentient, and has decided, as Rowan did, that it's wrong to destroy their homes. And now that she's gotten everyone to vow to destroy him, Rowan'll have to talk them all down.
(This prediction is made on an unclear memory of the last two books; and I think this is the first time it occurred to me, so it may be that there's something in there to contradict it.)
