Book 4 of the Anniversary Day saga goes into the background of the events leading to the destruction of the moon domes. ( )

I'm quite enjoying this and the previous Miles Flint-free book. Solid installment, I've already pre-ordered the next book. ( )

I am not sure where to start with this one. It feels redundant and unneeded as part of the series (and being so much shorter from the other ones is just part of the issue).

As with the previous one, we get two stories here - Berhane's (we met her in the previous book when her lawyer boyfriend left her and later when he saw her so much changed) and Luc Deshin (now, that's someone I really wanted to see again - considering that he is the criminal turned good but not really in this universe, he is a natural fit for finding out some parts of what happened). Add to this a few side stories of a woman on Earth that apparently had met the clones before (and is now in hiding), an investigator, some people from the DNA lab that stores the DNA that should not have existed and an accountant, and this book should have worked. Except that there was not enough of story here to actually hold it together - or any connection between the different storylines - we probably will see the connection in a later book but it is a bit too early in the series for a filler novel - Berhane's story and all those side stories could have gone into the previous book, Deshin's could have gone into whatever book will connect the dots...

Berhane's story is essentially pointless - a "rich girl realizes her purpose" story which could have been either told better or a lot shorter. We know where she ends up, knowing why could have been handled better. Deshin's story of realizing that something in the underworld is amiss around all those attacks is handled better but still a bit longer than it probably should have been. And all those additional stories, thrown in to set the stage for what is coming are making too much of the bulk of the already too short novel (and I do realize the irony of saying that the book was too short while saying that the parts should have been shorter).

I do not generally mind novels that set the stage for a series continuation - they are needed sometimes. But I am really bothered when the whole novel is used for that staging and nothing really moves - Deshin's discovery is probably the only new information and as important as it is, a whole book about it is a bit too much (especially when his was the secondary story here).

It was still a decent book but it did fill like a filler. I hope the next one actually get us somewhere closer to figuring out what happened during both the attacks. ( )