Assassin's Orbit

This is an intense and action-packed sci-fi adventure novel, and I enjoyed it a lot.

The tagline probably got a lot of people's attention (“Golden Girls meets The Expanse with a side of Babylon Five”) and I don't think it's accurate. The only thing it has in common with The Golden Girls is that most of the major characters are older women. The youngest is in her 40s and most are over 60. There's no real humor except (very rarely) a sardonic line here or there - which is fine, it's not that kind of book. But if you're looking for a cozy read with a heavy focus on friendship, or anything in the realm of comedy, this is not that book! It's action-focused, with a lot of political intrigue. The characters are definitely interesting people, but it isn't a character-driven story. There's almost no one-on-one interpersonal drama of any kind. There are some nice friendship moments as the story progresses, and a very light romantic side plot, but neither of those are given too much attention.

I'm not too familiar with The Expanse, having only read the first book, but this book didn't feel too much like that one. I do see the influence of Babylon Five, though. There are a lot of important characters and several important factions, all with different motivations and goals. Some of the battle scenes also reminded me strongly of Battlestar Galactica (2004). I also see the author has written a Shadowrun campaign and that definitely makes sense, because Shadowrun was in my mind during certain moments (there isn't anything fantasy-oriented going on, though).

The premise: a few centuries before the story begins, humans had to flee Earth and founded colonies on extra-solar planets. These colonies are loosely linked to current cultures, and all of the action in this book takes place in Ileri space, where people's ancestors are from Nigeria (again, loosely). And there's trouble on the station, beginning with a massacre. Somehow, I thought this would be a mystery novel with a sci-fi setting; while the characters do solve the mystery over the course of the story, the situation surrounding it is more important than the actual crime. I found that plot thread a little unsatisfying, although you do learn who did it and why.

There really are a lot of major characters, enough that it was difficult to keep track of them. The point-of-view characters are all multifaceted people with strengths and flaws. Their main common trait is competence in their fields. I had the most affection for Noo, a private investigator in her 60s. She seems like the main character (although the book does not really have one). Her motivations were clear and easiest for me to understand. I very much appreciated that all of these characters are competent and tough and some are like action-movie heroines, but the author also allows them to be vulnerable without ever writing them as weak. Their hands shake from adrenaline overload, their muscles ache after fights, and so on, yet I never thought they were about to fall apart. It read as realistic to me.

Overall, I did enjoy this book, but certain aspects of it were challenging for me. The worldbuilding is very good, but somewhat complicated. There are a lot of action scenes, and they're exciting, but this amount of action scenes is not really to my taste as a reader. All of the point-of-view characters are important and I see how everything contributed to the whole, but there are just so many. It took me a few minutes every time to reorient myself for the different characters' chapters or sections.

A note on lgbtq+ rep, since people here have shelved the book that way: this is a book with a queer-inclusive setting rather than one with a focus on lgbtq+ rep. All rep is incidental and feels very casual. I liked this, and it's definitely pleasant to imagine.