Synopsis
Sometimes the enemy of your enemy is still your enemy.
Rohan swore he’d never work for the il’Drach again, never again be called Lance Primary, never again kill or risk the lives of his friends on behalf of the Empire.
But when the safety of the sector is at risk, when inaction could lead to the death of every living thing in the galaxy, he has to work with what he has.
Even if what he has is allies he can’t trust, a mission he doesn’t understand, and the growing suspicion that things are only getting worse.
Review
“I’m ready! No, more than ready! Past ready! If ready was the starting line, I’d be halfway to the end of the race! If ready was the prologue, I’d be on the final chapter!”
I’m back with turn seven of the Hybrid Helix series. This series has just become very special to me and I can’t wait for book eight’s release. If book series can be personified, this one would be one of my close friends. Every time I pick up a book from this series, it’s like talking to an old friend- so much comfort, fun, and warm feelings. I love Rohan, the side characters (officially my most favorite found family in all of sff), the world and Joe’s writing.
In lieu of talking about the plot of the book (since it’s book 7, any talk of the plot will lead to spoilers for the previous installments) I will talk about some of the highlights of Joe’s writing. However, I will mention that this book truly steps into uncharted territory (in world). The power levels, the threats faced, and the lore reveals are all truly next level in this book and it even has a kaiju turtle that just might be a ‘friend to all children’ (iykyk).
Joe is one of the best humour, action, and badassery writers. I didn’t think Wei Li could be beat for sass in this series ever and in this book Darkness Follows (a live spaceship) gets one over her. It’s not easy to get audible guffaws from jokes in books but Joe consistently gets them. Coming to action, this series is chock full of them, especially this book – “Twenty-one people sent to save the anchor of the sector’s safety and economy from a mad god and his coterie of Hybrids.” He gets fighting in space just right and a lot of the fights are subverted cleverly to our expectations. Punching a spaceship is fun in a way that shooting lasers at them just isn’t.
As a Rajinikanth movie fan, I have seen my fair share of excellent badass moments in media. Joe can go toe to toe with any of those scene writers. The people who have experienced Rohan powering up know what I’m talking about and the people who have not yet- there’s no way for me to describe the greatness of it, you just have to experience it for yourself. There is a reason that the Griffin is my most favorite superhero. To borrow from gen Z, Rohan has so many peak aura farming scenes.
“I have to admit, I’m more than a little bit eager to see you try.”
“There are five of us, Rohan”
“There won’t be if you come after me.”
And while the top layer of Hybrid Helix is an excellent action adventure, the filling is an excellent character arc. There are so many subtle touches to Rohan’s character development in each book when one pauses to think. I really love watching Rohan (who I already like ideologically and personality-wise) grow. I simply cannot wait for Book 8.
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