Avalon by Mindee Arnett

Wildcard ~ February

Avalon

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

My opinion in three sentences:

If you’ve read another review of this book, you’ll have seen the parallels drawn between this and TV series Firefly, so I won’t bore you with another rendition. I have seen (and liked) said show, but Arnett still brought her own spin to the storyline and achieved some real feats with the world-building – honestly, the Belgrave Quadrangle is one of the most creepy and atmospheric settings I’ve come across in a long time. The character/plot interaction is where it fell down for me, however, as I just couldn’t believe the obvious traps fuelling the plotline were overlooked by (supposedly) seasoned space mercenaries.

(Without spoiling anything) the best bit:

Could I rave here about the Belgrave Quadrangle for pages and pages? You bet, but I’ll be succinct – The. World-Building. Is. Incredible. I had literal chills when we first encountered this place and remained creeped out throughout. If the book has nothing else going for it, it’s this creepy-as setting, perfectly constructed by Arnett’s wizardry.

A warning for the book:

Let’s be real, there are a lot of stories out there these days about a kickass bunch of teenagers, even some set in space. So if you want yours to stand strong, there’s got to a) be a plot you can buy into (and probably relate to in some degree) and b) have a cool collection of characters. Arnett didn’t really nail either of these – I couldn’t buy into some of the driving forces of the plotline and, a month on, I can hardly name half the core crew members off the top of my head. It’s a good read (and I’ll definitely be picking up book two) but just think how epic it could have been if these components had been strong too.

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