I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Ninth Step Station by Malka Older, Fran Wilde, Jacqueline Koyanagi, Curtis C. Chen Published by Serial Box on January 8 2019
Genres: Science fiction
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
A few notes about how I’m going to review this series. There are eleven episodes, and my plan is to put a review up each Wednesday as they become available. I’ve never done this before, so let’s see how it goes! Also, I won’t be giving star ratings to the individual episodes, but I will rate the series overall when I’m finished.
Read my review of Episode 1: The Faceless Body
Episode 2 focuses on a new murder, but there are plenty of connections to the events from Episode 1. Author Fran Wilde continues the story with her trademark stellar writing as she builds on Malka Older’s story with a deeper look into this fascinating world.
A pattern is beginning to emerge, which I like very much. The story opens with the discovery of another gruesome find, as our main characters Emma and Miyako are called to the scene where a disembodied arm, covered in strange, silver tattoos, has been stuffed in a train station locker. In order to discover who the victim was, the women delve into the world of body modders and tattoo artists. Their investigation leads them to an artist named Riku who may have been responsible for stealing an information-sensitive sleeve (a communication device that wraps around the lower arm) that the missing courier was wearing.
As more bodies are discovered, Emma and Miyako realize that something much bigger is going on than just a few dead couriers, and they’re going to have to work together if they want to figure it out.
Although the episodes are fairly short—each one can be read in about an hour or less—the authors are doing a great job with character development. The relationship between Miyako and Emma is still very strained at this point. They are trying to make the best of a bad situation—being forced to work together—but you can really feel the tension at times. In this episode, Emma makes a discovery at the crime scene but doesn’t tell Miyako about it until later. I feel like Miyako is more invested in making their collaboration work than Emma is, but we’ll see how things go as the story progresses.
Using tattoos as story elements in science fiction and fantasy is not new, but I do love how these tattoos are injected with silver, which causes the tattoo to act as a data processor. There is also a very nasty “kill switch” built into these specialized tattoos which was both shocking and cool at the same time.
I loved the final reveal, which connects back to an event near the beginning of the episode, and I also loved how Wilde touches on several themes that were briefly introduced in the first episode, like the political conflicts between the Chinese and the Japanese, and a resistance group that’s been mentioned once or twice but not really explained. But I love that in this one episode we get hints about government secrets, betrayals, and espionage, with the promise of more to come.
Reading a serialized story like this can be a little frustrating at times, as the connections between episodes are sometimes hard to spot. Because of time restraints, and also because I’m trying to avoid spoilers, I’m not reading ahead, and as of writing this review, I have not yet started Episode 3. But despite some confusion from not having all my questions answered, I’m very excited to find out what happens next. And ultimately that is a good sign that the authors are doing their job well.
Check back next Wednesday for a review of Episode 3: The Fallen Executive by Curtis C. Chen.
This sounds an intriguing way of reading – going back to the serialisation that was so popular in Charles Dicken’s time:). Thank you for an engrossing review, Tammy.
It’s definitely different, and an experiment on my part. Hopefully by the end I’ll be ready to tackle another one!
Got this saved for when I order my next batch of books. I can’t resist!
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It’s really good, hope you can read it some time:-)
This sounds so cool. I have to confess, I don’t even know how serial box works, I should probably check that out!
I should explain in my next post, sorry! For some reason I thought they were fairly well known. It’s basically like a TV show that airs once a week, but in book format.
I’m glad this one is holding its own, Tammy, and I’m already excited to hear about the next episode!
Wow, it’s another Wednesday already? Kudos for keeping up!
This is intriguing. As Sarah mentioned, it reminds me of how books were released serial-style back in the days of Charles Dickens. I’m glad you’re enjoying your experience with the series so far.
Suzanne @ The Bookish Libra recently posted…Early Review: THE WARTIME SISTERS
I don’t think I’d enjoy doing the weekly thing but I have bought the complete serial of some books and may end up doing the same with this one. I’m not patient enough to do it slowly. It’s great that the author is doing great character growth even though there are short installments.
I admire your patience: waiting for a week to see how the story progresses can be very frustrating, and I’m not sure I could bear that! I remember when Scalzi published his novel The Human Division in serialized form: I waited for the completed book before reading, because I knew it would be a hard road otherwise… 😀
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Glad to hear you are still enjoying it!
Lisa @TenaciousReader recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday – An Illusion of Thieves by Cate Glass
I love when I see people excited about continuing series because I usually never do 🙂 Glad you are enjoying this one Tammy@
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Those tattoos sound really cool. 😀 And I really quite liked the Bookburners, so I’m down for trying out more serial novels!
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Glad to see you’re enjoying this and it’s keeping you excited to pick up the next one – and kudos for the commitment you’re putting into it too.
Lynn 😀