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.
Earth Retrograde by R.W.W. Greene Series: The First Planets #2
Published by Angry Robot on October 24 2023
Genres: Adult, Alternate history, Science fiction
Pages: 372
Format: Finished paperback
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: R.W.W. Greene’s witty and creative alt history series ends with a bang in this well written, if sometimes uneven, conclusion.
“Brooklyn bought a ticket on the Magic Bus, a bright yellow flying party that traveled between Eisenhower and Dragon, the Moon space station, a couple of times daily, a six-hour trip, drinks and drugs included. He spent most of the ride up front with the pilot, an aging rave queen who’d decided to take the party with her when she emigrated. She’d given up the hard drugs after an overdose four years before and now had three drivers and two buses working for her.”
Last year I raved about R.W.W. Greene’s Mercury Rising, the first book in a planned trilogy. And oh what a difference a year makes. Due to reasons I can only guess at, Rob’s trilogy became a duology instead, and the author was forced to cram two books’ worth of plot and ideas into only one book. As skilled a writer as he is, Earth Retrograde unfortunately suffers from this in some ways, but is brilliant in others, and so this ended up being a mixed bag for me (and I’m sticking with my four star rating because the ending is so good). This is a sometimes uneven story that needed that extra book to make it a truly outstanding trilogy, but what the author does well he does really well. Therefore I can hardly fault him for giving it a good try, and I will say this duology is definitely worth your time, even with some of my complaints.
Also beware of minor spoilers for the first book.
The story opens soon after the end of Mercury Rising. Brooklyn Lamontagne has died and been brought back to life after being injected with alien technology nanobots. The First, a powerful alien race who claimed to have been on Earth long before humans, has demanded that they leave the planet. Various efforts at relocating billions of people to distant planets and moons are underway, but now Brook has been sent a message that could change everything. Someone has told him the First have left Earth, suddenly vanished into thin air, although no one knows why. Is this good news for the human race? Or do the First have some nefarious ulterior motive for leaving? Brooklyn is determined to solve the mystery, and he sets about doing just that with an assortment of rag-tag acquaintances, criminals, and close friends.
Just as in Mercury Rising, Greene has mastered a particular retro ambiance that mixes the hip sex, drugs and rock-n-roll mentality of the 70s with cutting edge alien technology. This combo is what makes his books so appealing to me, and I loved seeing more of it here. Brooklyn exemplifies that quality, a man who has been through a lot and yet still manages to stay upbeat in the face of terrible danger. Sure, he occasionally needs casual sex, drugs and lots of alcohol to get through the day, but who wouldn’t in those circumstances? Greene’s writing style mimics Brook’s devil-may-care attitude with punchy humor and sarcasm galore, and I spent a lot of time smiling and laughing at the characters’ wry observations and ridiculous antics.
There is an overarching plot to Earth Retrograde, but it’s sometimes hard to see it. Brook’s life is filled with slice-of-life moments, vignettes that stand up on their own but often don’t go anywhere. One of the things I struggled with most is the overabundance of characters, many who appear briefly to star in a scene or two with Brook, then disappear, never to be seen again. I found myself wondering if a particular character had appeared in Mercury Rising, but I just didn’t remember them. Take the Purple Lady, for example. I don’t have any memories of her in the first book, yet she seems to be very important to Brook in this one. Other characters pop up, characters I do remember, like Andy, but her role this time around wasn’t nearly as compelling as it was in book one. New characters like Float, one of the species who the First created, became one of my favorite characters in the story. Yet like many others, I grew fond of them just as they were making their exit from the story. Brook is in constant motion, flying from Earth to Venus to Mars and back, and he ends up leaving many a good friend behind.
The story has bursts of exciting action, since Brook and his friends are trying to figure out how to save the world, but between those thrilling scenes are stretches of story that frankly lost me. I found myself reading pages at a time but not really absorbing anything. Whether this was due to my distracted mental state, or simply an issue with the plot, I’m not really sure. But many events seemed to appear out of nowhere without context. Had I really forgotten so much of Mercury Rising? I found myself lost until something else finally grabbed my attention, which made for a disjointed reading experience.
But then. In the last seventy-five pages or so, everything changed. Greene’s grand scheme was finally revealed, the answer to humanity’s survival was explained, and I began to love the story again. The ending was simply brilliant, a fitting conclusion for such a unique series. Greene mentions in his Acknowledgments that he always knew where the story was headed, it was getting there that had to be figured out.
So, despite some setbacks, I’m so happy to have read this series. Rob Greene has become a “must read” author, and I can’t wait to see what he does next.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
I earmarked this series since reading your review of Mercury Rising, and I’m glad to hear that the duology ended up being a good read despite the troubles plaguing this second book. Having waited so far will allow me to enjoy the story without a long hiaturs, which is always a plus…
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, by Ray Bradbury #SciFiMonth
He’s worth checking out for sure. I also loved Twenty Five to Life, which is more of a standalone.
This sounds so interesting! Too bad this book felt overstuffed, but I’m glad the ending worked.
The ending was pretty cool:-)
I think based on your review I would want to read the 2 books closely together.
Anne – Books of My Heart recently posted…The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher @longshotauthor @AceRocBooks
Good idea, I think I would have liked to experience it that way too.
Oh it’s too bad that the trilogy changed to a duology. I’m guessing it’s a decision from the publishing people probably? Must be hard to fit it all in one book. And I’m glad that you ended up loving the story again in the last stretch. Sounds like at least the ending was pretty good!
Stephanie @ Bookfever recently posted…Nonfiction November 2023: Book Pairings
I’m sure it had something to do with $$$, right?
I really need to get on board with this series!
I love his books, even though this wasn’t a complete success, he’s worth checking out.
I think a really good ending can make all the difference when some of the book has been mixed. Glad you ended up enjoying this. 😀
The ending was amazing!
This sounds like a very interesting duology. Thanks for the great review!
Mervi recently posted…John Scalzi: the Kaiju Preservation Society
Thanks, it was so unique!
I’m familiar with shows/movie series having this issue with studios cutting them short but I guess I’d never really thought about it happening with publishing houses and books, though it makes sense it would. I wonder how common it is. Glad to hear the author was able to work around it all and despite the resultant bumps in the road still create an entertaining conclusion.
I can’t imagine anything more frustrating as an author, but I guess you just have to work with it if you want to tell your story.
Oh wow, I can’t even imagine trying to turn all of the material from a trilogy into a duology, especially after the first book is already out in the world. Glad to hear you still enjoyed it in spite of the unevenness in some parts.
Suzanne @ The Bookish Libra recently posted…Thriller Thursday Reviews: The House Beyond the Dunes & My Darling Girl
It must have been hard for sure. But he’s such a good writer, he made it (mostly) work.
Yet another series I’ve not gotten to ……. yet. Excellent review!
Laura Thomas recently posted…The Prime Suspect by Lauren Carr ~ Review And Giveaway
Thanks Laura!
So it’s funny, because I think I had the opposite reaction- I think it might have been too slow as a trilogy! I do agree with a couple moments being a little confusing (and likely would have been less so if it had been longer) but… I don’t know, I think when in doubt, it’s almost better to err on the shorter side, rather than let it be draggy, but that is just my personal take. I just loved the ending SO much, I don’t even have words at how great I thought it was- which is high praise from me because endings have a tendency to piss me off more often than not
Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight recently posted…Reviews in a Minute: Noteworthy in November
Interesting! I do agree with you about “shorter is better,” but for me I felt there were things left out and that confused me. Or I could just be confused in general, lol.
What a shame that the series was condensed. Maybe it was felt there wasn’t quite enough content for a third book but it does sound as though this suffers a little by cramming everything in all at once. Still a good series though and a great ending.
Lynn 😀
Probably a publisher/money decision, unfortunately. But still, I’m so glad I got to read it.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read the book and write the review!
My pleasure Rob! Thank you for stopping by:-)
A really excellent review, Tammy. And yes – I hasn’t appreciated that this was originally intended to be a trilogy, but I think this book massively suffered from the downsizing. I did read both books close together and there were still a host of characters that popped up in ER that didn’t make an appearance in MR. But like you – I’ll forgive the author a whole lot because of that fantastic ending…
Thank you! Yes, that ending was excellent:-)