Scan barcode
A review by yevolem
Origin Complex by Andrew Skinner
3.0
Crash Bin'Syan is one of the highest ranked analysts for the Sigurd-Lem corporation. She has a Mirror, a cybernetic twin that she shares a dual consciousness with, though they can mentally split apart and act independently. For the last decade or so she's been analyzing the quarantined alien ruins on planet Vija. Thirty years ago an alien AI was unleased there that made what humanity had built become a new layer of ruins. However, it's now believed to have been only a testing grounds to create a prison for a far worse AI. Somehow it's a second transition point to The Eye. What's happening at The Eye threatens all of human existence.
This book is significantly different from the first, of which it takes place before, during, and after. I enjoyed it less, if only because I found it to be less interesting. There's much less emphasis on Shells (mecha), combat, and thrills. It's much more investigations and travelling. The writing and the atmosphere it created remained pleasing, but that wasn't enough for me. As with the first book the relationship with the protagonist and their mechanical counterpart is a primary focus. The characters from the first book are present in this one as well, though only at the very end.
Writing about this, and rating it possibly more so, presents its own difficulties in that as of this writing it's the only review on Goodreads and one of the few anywhere else. As such, I don't want to present further challenges, but I also don't want to write or rate differently than what I feel. What I feel is that this is a 3.5 rounded down. I felt the same about the first book, though I liked it somewhat more, and even then it was a very near thing that I rounded that one up. My main problems is that it reads like a side story. The most it does to justify its existence is providing a new ending and explaining the downfall of the alien civilizations. Although Crash does a considerable amount of self-reflection with her Mirror which provides for questioning, I don't think it went far enough. The same goes for the attempt at romance, which seemed almost more like a nod to Gundam The Witch From Mercury which began the prior month than an organic relationship.
None of this is to say that you shouldn't read the first book then this one. The main problem with reading this one first is that much of scant worldbuilding isn't repeated from the first, so it may be confusing in that it doesn't explain everything all over again. I do believe that reading both of these is a worthwhile due to the different perspective it provides. The first book was traditionally published though this one was self-published, then co-published. I haven't any idea whether this is the final book in this setting. This storyline seems to have ended, though it is somewhat ambiguous.
Rating: 3.5/5 (3)
A newer edition includes a short story.
https://scarletferret.com/books/origin-complex
This book is significantly different from the first, of which it takes place before, during, and after. I enjoyed it less, if only because I found it to be less interesting. There's much less emphasis on Shells (mecha), combat, and thrills. It's much more investigations and travelling. The writing and the atmosphere it created remained pleasing, but that wasn't enough for me. As with the first book the relationship with the protagonist and their mechanical counterpart is a primary focus. The characters from the first book are present in this one as well, though only at the very end.
Writing about this, and rating it possibly more so, presents its own difficulties in that as of this writing it's the only review on Goodreads and one of the few anywhere else. As such, I don't want to present further challenges, but I also don't want to write or rate differently than what I feel. What I feel is that this is a 3.5 rounded down. I felt the same about the first book, though I liked it somewhat more, and even then it was a very near thing that I rounded that one up. My main problems is that it reads like a side story. The most it does to justify its existence is providing a new ending and explaining the downfall of the alien civilizations. Although Crash does a considerable amount of self-reflection with her Mirror which provides for questioning, I don't think it went far enough. The same goes for the attempt at romance, which seemed almost more like a nod to Gundam The Witch From Mercury which began the prior month than an organic relationship.
None of this is to say that you shouldn't read the first book then this one. The main problem with reading this one first is that much of scant worldbuilding isn't repeated from the first, so it may be confusing in that it doesn't explain everything all over again. I do believe that reading both of these is a worthwhile due to the different perspective it provides. The first book was traditionally published though this one was self-published, then co-published. I haven't any idea whether this is the final book in this setting. This storyline seems to have ended, though it is somewhat ambiguous.
Rating: 3.5/5 (3)
A newer edition includes a short story.
https://scarletferret.com/books/origin-complex