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
Episode 7 opens with an angry confrontation between Councilwoman Nakagawa Misato and two men from a rival political party, criticizing her in public for her policies. After she storms off, the news drone hovering around the scene captures the two men proclaiming they’d love to see her murdered. Not good words to say out loud when a drone is nearby!
Early the next morning, Miyako is called to the scene of an apartment fire, coincidentally where the Councilwoman lived with her husband and young son. The husband and son made it out, but the Councilwoman did not, and Miyako and Emma are tasked with finding out whether the death was an accident—or murder.
The murder itself isn’t as clear cut as you might think. I did like the twists Wilde takes before the mystery is solved, and as usual, it’s the careful detective work by Emma and Miyako, asking questions that other detectives might think are irrelevant, that leads them to the answers.
A couple of interpersonal relationship developments made this a standout episode for me. Emma and Miyako seem to have come to a silent understanding of why they need to stick together, even if they don’t always like each other. Emma is dressed down in this episode by Nishimura, who is trying to get another detective to handle the case. When Emma insists on completing the investigation, she realizes she’s crossed a line with Nishimura and is going to have a hard time bouncing back. Luckily Miyako supports her, and I loved seeing the two women face off against yet another sexist male character! And there is a brief scene where Emma finally breaks up with the horrible Kensuke, at a weird butterfly bar no less. I’m not sure if it will stick, but one can dream!
Wilde makes a point of shining a light on domestic abuse in this episode, connecting that to Councilwoman Nakagawa’s policies she’s trying to push into law. But she does it in such a subtle way, I have to give her props for the smooth and powerfully quiet integration of this theme into her story. Sadly, it appears that gender stereotyping is alive and well in this future Japan, but luckily there are strong women who are willing to beat it down whenever possible.
As individual stories, each episode of Ninth Step Station has been interesting and engaging, a complete little story in a very small package. But as we near the end of the series, I’m still searching for an overarching theme or plot point, and I just don’t see it yet. The authors have clearly made points about the developing relationships between characters, the ongoing political unrest between the Japanese and the Chinese, and such cultural nuances as the way women in the workforce are treated by men. I love the futuristic touches like the ever-present drones which conveniently capture details from the crime scenes that might otherwise be missed. Still, with only a handful of episodes left, I’m looking forward to the “blazing finale” referenced in one review I read.
Check back next Wednesday for a review of Episode 8: The Clawed Limb by Jacqueline Koyanagi.
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
Another excellent article about this engrossing serial – thank you for keeping us posted, Tammy:)
I’m sort of surprised I’ve been able to keep up! But it’s been a fun experiment for sure:-)
Continuing to appreciate your thoughts on this one! I think I’m wait for it to finish up to see if I want to pick it up lol.
We’re almost there!
The episodic feel of the story you mentioned could come from the fact that this series feels like a tv series where there is an underlying story arc, but it’s carried forward through apparently unconnected stories. What I like, from your reviews, is that the friendship between these two different characters is a slow burn and does not take anything for granted, which sounds quite real. Once the series is complete I will certainly add it to my reading queue… 🙂
Maddalena@Spaceandsorcery recently posted…Short Story Review: THIS CHANCE PLANET, by Elizabeth Bear
I can’t wait to see how this one wraps up.
Lynn 😀