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: Adult, Science fiction
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
A few notes about how I’m going to review this series. There are ten 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.
About Ninth Step Station:
A local cop. A US Peacekeeper. A divided Tokyo.
Years of disaster and conflict have left Tokyo split between great powers.
In the city of drone-enforced borders, bodymod black markets, and desperate resistance movements, US peacekeeper Emma Higashi is assigned to partner with Tokyo Metropolitan Police Detective Miyako Koreda.
Together, they must race to solve a series of murders that test their relationship and threaten to overturn the balance of global power. And amid the chaos, they each need to decide what they are willing to do for peace.
Episode 3: The Fallen Executive
Episode 4: The Blackout Killer
Episode 5: The Deadly Defection
It was bound to happen. I finally ran across an episode of Ninth Step Station that I didn’t really enjoy that much. This episode felt very different from the other episodes, and that may be the reason I just didn’t connect with it. Instead of the typical “murder of the week,” this time we have a kidnapping.
The story opens as a Chinese man and his daughter are visiting a plaza where a famous statue stands. While the man talks to someone on his cell phone, his daughter wanders off to see the statue. But a protest between Japanese resistance members and their opposers just happens to be taking place at the same time, and in the confusion, the little girl disappears.
The man turns out to be a high-ranking Chinese government official, Lieutenant Colonel Ting Yupei, and when he discovers that his daughter Annie is gone, he insists that Miyako lead the investigation. He also insists that two Chinese detectives assist Miyako and Emma, as the kidnapping involves a Chinese citizen. Detectives Liu and Wong join the team, but Liu’s apparent dislike of the Japanese investigators sours their working relationship and the investigation gets off to a rocky start.
An upsetting video from the kidnappers provides important clues, and the team dives into the investigation. Emma and Miyako use their trusted resources to perform a methodical investigation, despite Detective Liu’s clumsy attempts to point fingers at the wrong people. But the clock is ticking, and all four detectives must find a way to work together before time runs out for the kidnapped girl.
The addition of the Chinese cops definitely adds some comic relief to the story. Detective Liu is an asshole of a human. He’s sexist and annoying and I couldn’t stand him. And his partner, Detective Wong, doesn’t speak at all, so they were quite the contrast. I loved the way Emma compares the two to Penn and Teller (a famous performing duo in America, in case you aren’t familiar with them), and although their presence shook things up, they both felt more like caricatures than real people.
I loved that Chen brings back an incident from a previous episode, which ends up playing a big part in this story. I’m so curious about the Japanese mob, the Yamashita, and because they appear to be involved with events in this episode, Kensuke briefly joins the investigation, although he has a very small part this time.
Once again, I loved the detailed and thoughtful way that Miyako and Emma investigate. Chen includes some interesting clues that showcase the wonderful detective story aspects of this series. I’ve mentioned it before, but despite the futuristic setting, the two women often have to resort to more “old fashioned” methods of investigation, which really grounds this story.
But overall, The Stolen Xiaohái itself just felt a bit flat to me. I wasn’t really invested in the kidnapping and honestly never felt worried about Annie. Some of the excitement of previous episodes was missing, and although I loved the humorous bits, I wanted a little more character development. I also didn’t care for the ending and the resolution to the kidnapping, although I can see why the author wrote it this way. I have to admit I did not see that ending coming, which is a good thing! But despite my negative feelings about the kidnapping, it emphasizes the political corruption that’s going on, which is a big theme of Ninth Step Station. I’m hoping the next episode gives me more of what I’ve enjoyed so far.
Check back next Wednesday for a review of Episode 7: The Loud Politician by Fran Wilde.
Are you intrigued? You can purchase the entire series for $13.99! Click here now to learn more.
About Serial Box:
Serial Box brings everything that’s awesome about TV (easily digestible episodes, team written, new content every week) to what was already cool about books (well-crafted stories, talented authors, enjoyable anywhere).
Like TV, we release a new episode of our serials every week and serials typically run for seasons of 10-16 weeks. Easy to pick up, episodes are enjoyable on their own but build over the course of the season to tell a bigger story. Each episode is available in ebook and audio and takes about 40 minutes to enjoy.á
As you mention in your excellent review, Tammy – given the serial nature of this work, it was bound to happen that you’d encounter a week when the story is slightly underwhelming. Just like TV series – you don’t like every weekly episode… Thank you for sharing this:)
Appreciate your thoughts on these episodes. I’m still debating whether to pick up the season haha.