I would like to thank Charlotte and Kabriya from Titan for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher - Titan

Published - 11/4

Price - £13.65 paperback £6.64 Kindle eBook

When Nicola Mafalda’s scout ship comes under attack, she’s left deeply traumatised by the drastic action it takes to keep her alive. Months later, when an old flame comes to her for help, she realises she has to find a way to forgive both the ship and her former lover. Reckless elements are attempting to reactivate a giant machine that has lain dormant for thousands of years. To stop them, Nicola and her crew will have to put aside their differences, sneak aboard a vast alien megaship, and try to stay alive long enough to prevent galactic devastation.

Space Opera is now a classic part of Science Fiction we are used to scale; BIG conflicts and non-step action but as we move onwards into the 21st century what direction will it move into? What has it to say about today’s world? Gareth L Powell continues to refine this in the exhilarating Descendant Machine that offers scale, action, moments of wonder and awe plus a new mix of self-reflection and compromise rather than simply pyrotechnics (though those too are aplenty).

Nicola Malada is very unhappy with her sentient ship Frontier Chic. When a mission to the Jzat system goes awry and under nuclear attack she was not expecting her friend to decide the only way to save her was to behead her. Now in a new body and healing she is required to return to the same system with her ship. Something is going on in the system and in particular around the Jzat’s nationalistic new government and their plans for a huge ancient object in the system known as The Grand Mechanism which no one knows what it is for. Nicola recruits old friends to help investigate but danger awaits in old sides and the Mechanism’s purpose is about to be revealed with consequences for the whole universe.

This is the second in the Continuance Series where humanity after nearly destroying itself in WW3 was booted off Earth en mass to ark ships by a mysterious intelligence and are now wandering space and learning. You don’t have to have read Book 1 at all and this too makes a good jumping on point as it’s a hugely enjoyable epic SF tale with a big amount of heart and just a little righteous indignation at leaders who plunge their people into terrible situations while promising sunlit uplands….U.K. readers will recognise this for the danger it presents.

Powell has at the heart a classic Big Dumb Object scenario in the form of The Grand Mechanism that is immense, powerful, strange and has no explanation. As such everyone has an opinion and one group of Jzat want to open. This creates a tense and unpredictable environment that has already led to Nicola’s loss of her head. That this is not itself fatal should explain how hi tech humanity has become. What we have is humanity’s best and curious in the form of sweary, introverted but compassionate Nicola versus narrow minded and corrupt Jzat leaders who seek power and glory and care little about the risks.

In terms of plot and action it’s a classic intercept mission with Nicola and Frontier Chic assembling a tight crew with lots of weapons to go and find out what is going on. Pretty much at that point everything goes wrong and we get a great set of set pieces that tell us more about Nicola and her past but also the wider situation. Prepare for weapons dealers; spies, betrayals and secrets to rock the universe. It gets gradually more and more epic in a way that strongly reminds me of Babylon 5 in how multiple factions fight over great secrets with ancients pasts and futures. Powell always does this with style and can make a gunfight or a space battle sing with action, grace and well timed swearings. Very much a sit back and relax and marvel at the events.

What though struck me as new and a hallmark of this series are the quieter more intimate moments. We have in Nicola someone processing trauma from their last adventure and a damaged friendship with her friend plus she is unhappy how her relationship with the charming Kona a Jzat she is getting to know a lot more than she expected. In classic SF these issues are sorted out in fights or right at the end but Powell let’s these develop as plot points too and they’re handled as by adults having adult conversations with themselves and others. That perhaps should not l be as radical in SF as it sounds but it adds a lovely sense of deft to this SF and importantly has ramifications for the story’s finale which in your normal science fiction tale would just lead to big explosions. Instead Powell gives us a HUGE thread to everyone but they approach the situation with brains not just brawn and the end is still hugely satisfying but in a way that while doesn’t have a huge insurance bill still gives us an adventure and a lot of big questions to think about. As a standalone tale there is not too much time to reflect on the outcomes of this so in some ways everything feels suddenly stopped but I quite like knowing I don’t need to read another few books to know what is going on.

Descendant Machine is a fast, action focused space opera with a refreshingly adult approach to characters and emotions that firmly make it feel fresh and modern. You as I too did should have a lot of fun with this tale that flies through the plot as nimbly as its heroes fight in space. Settle back and prepare for take-off highly recommended.

Please note the details below for the blog tour for Descendant Machine and I will be back with an interview with Gareth L Powell!