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
Pages: 324
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
And here we are at the end! Today’s episode marks the end of Season 1 of Ninth Step Station. It’s been a blast covering each episode on a weekly basis, and I hope it’s been at least somewhat entertaining for you! In this review I’ll discuss Episode 10, as well as give you my overall thoughts about the story. For those of you who’ve been with me from the beginning of this grand experiment, thank you so much for stopping by each week!
All hell breaks loose in the final episode of Ninth Step Station, Season 1, and everything comes to a head. For obvious reasons, I don’t want to discuss the events of The Foreign Mischief too much, but I will give you a brief recap.
The episode starts with at attack on the Diet during a council meeting. Armed men in business suits storm the building and start shooting. Emma and Miyako arrive at the scene, and Miyako discovers that one of the dead, Minister Kobayashi, has been murdered, not by bullets but by a knife to the throat. As news breaks out of another threat on the border, Emma takes off to help with that situation, while Miyako decides to stay and investigate the murder.
As the city falls into turmoil and the threat from the Chinese seems very real, Miyako and Emma must do everything they can to hold their city together.
I love how everything came together in this episode. Older brings back threads from the beginning of the series, which I loved. I had a couple of “oh yeah!” moments when events I had forgotten about were suddenly front and center.
There are plenty of surprise reveals as well. People that Emma and Miyako trust turn out to be untrustworthy, and it’s not always clear which side their friends are on. These unexpected twists made this a fast-paced and exciting finale. And the ending was perfectly played. Just like a good episodic TV show, we get some resolution, but we also get a clear lead-in to the next season. I loved the twist at the end, and I think it will make for a thrilling second season.
Reading each week’s episode in real time was such an interesting experiment! I actually enjoyed the bite-sized stories which I was able to fit into my schedule along with my other reading commitments. Serial Box stories are meant to be enjoyed this way, meant for busy readers who may only have less than an hour at a time to squeeze in some reading, and they are written in such a way that makes you look forward to the next week’s episode.
And Ninth Step Station isn’t just for people who love science fiction. This series has a lot to offer fans of political intrigue, mysteries and police procedurals. The characters really grew on me, and I’m especially pleased that this story centers around such well-drawn female characters. I’m really looking forward to spending more time with Emma and Miyako in particular, and I’ll be anxiously awaiting Season 2!
Big thanks to Serial Box for supplying a review copy.
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: The Loud Politician
Episode 8: The Clawed Limb by Jacqueline Koyanagi
Episode 9: The Assassin’s Nest by Fran Wilde & Curtis C. Chen
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
I’m fascinated by this return to reading serial stories, which was so popular in Dickens’ day:)). Thank you for sharing this adventure, Tammy – I love the sound of it…
Thanks for “tuning in” each week:-)
I enjoy serials on occasion and this one might be a good fit for me. Now that the first season is finished, I may just give it a go.
Laura Thomas recently posted…Review & Giveaway ~ Out Of The Darkness by Darcia Helle
It was definitely an interesting experience:-)
From your review of the next-to-last book it was clear that the story was growing toward an explosive ending and it would seem that you were thoroughly happy with the way things turned out, so that’s a further enticement toward reading this whole series – I can hardly wait! 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing this!
Maddalena@Spaceandsorcery recently posted…Review: UNDER ORDSHAW, by Phil Williams
I was also expecting that everything would be neatly wrapped up, which wasn’t the case. I guess that’s the way the publisher hooks you for the next season!
I’ve really enjoyed this series of reviews – a great way to read and review these episodes. Of course you could have read them all back to back and written one review but that would have had a completely different feel to it. Reviewing them each week allows us to see the natural progression.
Such a great idea and kudos for sticking to it and not racing ahead (which I would have been tempted to do)
Lynn 😀
Thanks Lynn, I think it’s written in such a way that it wouldn’t be as great a reading experience if you read them all at once.
Ah, so glad to hear this all came together in the end. I may purchase the season now that it’s complete! Thanks for the reviews!
It was really good, especially if love stories with an international flair:-)