This is an exceptional fantasy!.

I really don't want to discuss the plot because I want everyone to discover this story on their own terms. It's intricate. It's everything I could ever ask for in this genre. I started this book and read it in 2 days.. I was completely riveted to the pages.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishing company for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Medusa in the Graveyard is a rich science fiction experience, filled with intense encounters, near-death experiences and fascinating technologies. I’m new to this universe and was pleasantly surprised how easily I got into the storyline. Davenport has created a smart addition to her series that’s entertaining to the core.

I’m most fascinated by the relationships and technologies shared by the members of the Olympia. There’s a constant underlying conversation going on throughout the book that makes you feel like an insider. It’s not a groundbreaking technology in terms of science fiction but it is used masterfully as a narrative tool. The ship is a marvel to imagine, stretching miles into space. It’s a true generation ship whose citizens are fully committed to its survival. Centuries amidst the stars have created an interesting society that operates on its own, much to the chagrin of the novel’s villains. All of this makes for a compelling setting.

There are so many aspects to this universe that fueled my imagination. You’ve got emissaries from a powerful group that claims ownership over the Olympia and its people after centuries apart. You’ve got this overarching fascination and fear of the beings who rule over the graveyard. You’ve got the recent tragedy of the lost sister ship that fuels much hate in the main character. Davenport also includes many little tidbits of popular culture, now ancient in this timeline. Be prepared to hum along to old show tunes and laugh at movie references.

Overall, Medusa in the Graveyard is a solid science fiction read, complete with a deftly written main character and a stream of action that will leave you entertained and ready for more.

Article to be published on 8/12: http://reviewsandrobots.com/2019/08/12/medusa-in-the-graveyard-book-review

*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.

I only recently read the first book in this series, "Medusa Uploaded," so I think it's fresh enough in my mind to safely argue that Devenport has maintained an even keel in the transition from book one to book two. Much of what I loved most about the first book in the series remains, here, but is tweaked and refined just enough to convince me that Devenport is progressing in both style and substance, as all good authors do.

Sure, the cover isn't as *obvious* as that of its predecessor, and sure, there are still moments when the dialogue feels a touch flat, but by and large this book is both a worthy sequel and a signpost along the highway of Devenport's evolution as an author. Devenport handles an enormous cast of characters (albeit slightly less enormous than the first time around) with a fresh deftness and weaves diverging and convering timelines together with a deftness that required me to pull out some graph paper every now and again, only to be convinced that the author really *does* know the way around a timey-wimey tangle.

Fittingly, this book also allows several key characters to grow up and grow *into* their own agency. In "Medusa Uploaded," you'll remember, either the Executives or Medusa/Oichi called the shots, directing the decisions and paths of all other characters. Since this book picks up where the last left off, the former are no longer a threat and things *might just* have gotten a little tedious had not Devenport, as I've already mentioned once, had a deft hand with the development. Here, in this sequel, Medusa and Oichi have to figure out who they are in relation to one another again, have to figure out who they are apart as well as together, and also support the growth and progress of several other key characters. The collateral damage is lower, but the moral stakes are just as high, and we get some beautiful scenery descriptions to go with them.

I'm truly excited to see where this series goes next. There's definitely going to be a *next,* isn't there?

This review will go live on my blog on 7/18/19. Final review on my blog was 2.5 stars.

After learning that she and the rest of the residents of the generation ship OLYMPIA are genetically engineered hybrids, Oichi and her robotic AI Medusa have come to a crossroads.  They've taken temporary refuge from their makers, the Weapons Clan, by crossing into territory protected by the Alliance of Ancient Races.  Oichi must find a way to approach the Three, a collection of ancient, hyperintelligent ships who provided the original DNA that created Oichi's people. She'll undergo a journey across a galaxy to reach their resting place on a planet known as the Graveyard.  If Oichi and Medusa don't reach the Graveyard soon, one of their rivals may get there first, and gain control over some of the most powerful technology in the galaxy.

In the closing of my review for MEDUSA UPLOADED, I said that my overall view of that book was going to be impacted by how well MEDUSA IN THE GRAVEYARD continued to explain and explore the many open-ended threads.  That has proven to be true, though not in the way I expected.  I'm looking on MEDUSA UPLOADED more favorably having finished GRAVEYARD, but that's because GRAVEYARD was an unfortunately lackluster, abstract sequel that failed to keep me engaged.   Where UPLOADED at its strongest moments was a sci-fi thriller, laced with political machinations among the Executive families, GRAVEYARD is a meandering trek.  What's worse, I'm not entirely sure what was accomplished at the finale, which included a climactic event that took the space of a page.  The world was too full of vaguely defined entities, who were thousands and thousands of years old with nebulous motivations. This was a disappointment given that the book seemed to be heading in the right direction, opening with Olympia's first contact with human coalitions outside the Weapons Clan, and it looked like they were about to take their first steps into galactic  politics.

The other aspect of UPLOADED that had encouraged me to keep reading was the relationship between Oichi and Medusa, a very symbiotic merging of human and tech. I loved the calculating plans they made together, how Medusa was a protective advisor.  But fairly early in the story of GRAVEYARD, there's a rift between Oichi and Medusa, and the two spend most of the book apart.  As this book continues to be solely from Oichi's perspective, that means that Medusa is largely off screen, sucking a lot of life from the pages.  Oichi gets some character growth, as she finally encounters social/political problems that she can't solve simply by killing the right person; she finally has to figure out more openly diplomatic approaches, and it's an interesting aspect to her arc.  Unfortunately, because she's dealing with so many creatures who are vast and unknowable in their motivations, it leaves her continually on her back foot, instead of the more conniving Oichi we saw in the first book.

This might be a book for people who enjoy more abstract tales in space, who enjoy odysseys where nothing is what it seems, where aliens beyond human comprehension flit about the galaxy, manipulating events and humans as their whims suggest.  For me, the lack of connection to characters made the story a real struggle to get through, and I've unfortunately decided this will not be a series I will continue with in the future.

Medusa in the Graveyard is a grippingly provocative science fiction novel that is hard to put down. Continuing the story of Oichi Angelis and her partner Medusa, we travel from the generation ship, Olympian, that was the setting for Medusa Uploaded, and visit other worlds that provide a diverse and mysterious backdrop for the dramatic story.

What I liked:

The use of elements commonly found in Greek plays adds classical and mythical undertones to the story. From the use of a chorus and music, the many references to Gods and Goddesses, and the ongoing theme of the sin of hubris, all these Greek play references work together to create this undertone and implies to the reader that they are reading a story of great importance. This device is rarely found in stories today, and I appreciated the throwback to plays of long ago.

Oichi Angeles and Ashur are a good team, a yin and yang type pairing. Oichi is a fighter. She was created to be an Insurgent. Ashur is young, but he is more of an inventor and diplomat. Together, they make the perfect team, each one providing something that the other one lacks. As a reader, you can’t help but root for them as they follow their heroic journey to awaken the Three.

The minis add a touch of whimsy and fun. They are pets that can talk and interact in ways that pets as we know they cannot. They are a much-needed break that keeps the story from becoming too dark or heavy.

What I wish:

The villains were developed more fully. The characters discuss the villains, but they are rarely featured in a scene, so the reader doesn’t have a complete picture of what the Olympians are fighting against and for. It is hard to be emotionally involved without that understanding for what you, the reader, are routing.

Baba Yaga had played a more significant role. The Baba Yaga character was so witty and wise, yet also interjects humor into the story. I wanted to see more of her and would love to know her story.

The character descriptions had been more detailed. I had a hard time visualizing what the characters looked like because descriptions of them were so sparse. This lack of description causes a bit of detachment from the story when the reader needs to be immersed in suspending disbelief.

To Read or Not to Read:

This novel is a wonderful example of an accessible science fiction novel but be prepared to put your thinking cap on.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely loving this series. Where I expected a basic space travel science fiction, I got a Greek Tragedy in space! Every character is unique and complicated. The story is emotional. And the settings are magnificent.

Medusa in the Graveyard by Emily Devenport

Pros: interesting new characters and settings, Oichi develops more as a person

Cons: lots of new players and it can be hard to keep them all straight

Oichi’s world has changed with the overthrow of the Executive class and the mass joining of medusa units. It’s time for the inhabitants of Olympia to engage with the outside world, starting with a messenger from the weapon’s clan ship that’s following them, and ending with meeting the three on the planet Graveyard. But how does someone who’s used to executing opponents learn to negotiate? And why doesn’t Medusa agree with her chosen path?

If it’s been a while since you read Medusa Uploaded, there’s so much going on that it’s worth giving that a reread before starting this one. Medusa in the Graveyard picks up roughly one year after the first novel ends, and there’s little recap.

Unfortunately I had a number of tasks I had to accomplish while reading this so it was a disjointed experience of a few pages here, a chapter or two there. This book requires some measure of concentration as there are a lot of new players that come in briefly and then don’t show up again until later. And it’s easy to forget who is who.

Having said that, I loved seeing the new groups the Olympians would have to trade/negotiate with and just how big their universe is. There are belters, aliens, a variety of ships on Graveyard created by vastly different intelligences. The actual trek to see the ships was quite interesting and a little trippy.

I liked that Oichi had to go through a lot of personal development. It makes sense that she’s not the best suited for negotiating given her past, and I thought the trials she went through as a result were realistic.

I’m not sure if there’s more to this series, but the book had a satisfying ending that wrapped up a lot.