Emily Devenport

*Received via NetGalley for review*

I enjoyed Medusa Uploaded, so was excited to read the sequel. However, Medusa in the Graveyard doesn't quite live up to its predecessor.

The connection between Oichi and Medusa was one of the highlights of the first book, and that's the first things that is missing here. They have drifted apart and begin keeping secrets from each other - something Oichi sees and acknowledges as troubling, but refuses to remedy. The majority of the book is spent with them separated by choice, and Oichi is not nearly as interesting alone.

Another thing I found interesting in the first book is that Oichi is a sociopath, or at least has sociopathic tendencies. It was interesting to see how such an anti0hero operated and still managed to have principles and close friends. But this sequel seeks to change that about Oichi and make her runexplained ealize that she needs to change (it seems like that is the reason Medusa has been distancing herself, though it's not very clear). Why not keep Oichi's flaws and characterization the same? Hasn't it worked? Isn't an antihero more interesting than a cookie-cutter hero?

The foreshadowing is constant and heavy-handed, and thus crosses over into cheesy and sometimes annoying.

Medusa's silence on why she opposes Oichi's mission is obtuse to the point of distraction - we know more about Lady Sheba's motivations than hers, even though Medusa is a main character. What was she trying to do on the Graveyard? What did she actually do? Why does she feel the need for Oichi to change?

Too many unanswered questions and unexplained choices.… (meer)

(I wanted to give this 5 stars, but I'm not quite sure what stopped me.)

Devenport does a great job fleshing out generation ships and how human culture would have evolved in such large-but-cramped, regimented and hierarchical society - "worms"/servants, mid-levels, and those on top; the way that people of different levels have different ways of socializing and vocabularies, etc. The ship itself feels expansive and limited at the same time, especially as certain citizens don't have the access that others do.

Oichi is a fascinating character, wholly devoted to her goal no matter the cost and removed from the human emotions that her "collaborators" experience (even though she joins them in marveling at the beauty of music and film, two cultural aspects of society that have long been lost).

I very much appreciated her ability and willingness to disguise herself in order to traverse the varying social levels - we saw life and politics as a worm, a mid-level security person, and a mid-level executive, which widely varied and were well-described. The political machinations were well done as well; not too boring or detailed to slow down the plot, but crucial nonetheless.

Apparently the sequel is more of a companion novel - set in the same universe but following a different plot? If so, hopefully is answers the questions that linger from this installment. While it doesn't necessarily end on a cliffhanger, there's still so much more to know!… (meer)