Supernova

I listened to the “Lightless” audiobook on the recommendation of Kevin Hearne and absolutely loved it. I don't log my audiobooks on GoodReads, but I found it a claustrophobic, suspense-filled sci-fi thriller with powerful prisoners, artificial intelligence, and solid storytelling. So I was excited when I won “Supernova” through the First Reads Program.

Supernova is very different from Lightless in that where Lightless felt painfully combined, Supernova is impossibly vast. While Althea remains one of our narrators, the other is the terrorist saboteur whose shadow lingered over the crew in Lightless, but now is dealing with the aftermath of her successful revolution. Meanwhile, Althea deals with Ananke's newfound intelligence, trying to instill a moral code into her daughter. I was disappointed that Ivan and Mattie do not figure very prominently in this story, but I'm assuming their role is going to be much larger in book three.

Overall, I don't think I liked the structure as much as the first book, mostly because the revolution storyline was not as interesting as Althea and Ananke's storyline. I kept waiting for them to link up, but the fateful meeting is more or less teased all the way through. While Lightless is hardly free from tragedy, Supernova has death and destruction on every page, making it a lot harder for me to get through, and the ending is one of the most disturbing things I have ever read. I feel like I know where the series is going, but I'm very interested to watch it get there.

So while it didn't quite capture the same feel of Lightless, that's probably a good thing. It shows Higgins has range and raises the stakes a lot for the next book. It wasn't quite as aligned to my tastes, but I'm still very game to continue. Recommended for fans of AI gone awry, overthrowing empires, and seriously complex female protagonists.