Thanks to NetGalley and Tor for the digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Last year I read the Themis files trilogy by the same author and really enjoyed it. When I saw this book was going to be the start to a new series I was really interested. I went in not knowing much of what it was about and was pleasantly surprised by a mix of science fiction and historical fiction.

It was a very fast read. The chapters are short and there isn't a lot of descriptions. The dialogs are direct, there's no "he said", "Mia said". That may be confusing for some people but it's something I personally like.

I loved the playlist accompanying the book, the name of each chapter is the name of a song from the year in which the story is happening. I got to add many new songs to my personal playlist.

It's the first book in a series and I found it very introductory, it leaves a lot of unanswered questions for future books. In the end there's a further reading section which I loved because there the author tells us a little more about the historical facts and it was fascinating to see how much of it actually happened, from Wernher von Braun to the dogs used in tests (used in a fictional way here, of course).. I don't know much about the space race so I got to learn a lot here and it left me wanting to look up a lot more.

I recommend you give this book a chance if you are interested in the space race and like sci-fi, to me it was definitely worth the read.

I was provided an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this. It blends two of my favorite genres in a fairly complex storyline. If you have read Neuvel's work before you will notice a similar feel with the mixed media style of writing and his own brand of humor. There is that same type of format here, where there will be traditional paragraphs of writing then it will break in to dialogue between characters. I actually really enjoyed that, but that format is not something everyone likes and is worth noting.

This follows Sarah and Mia, a mother-daughter pair, who come from a long line of mother-daughter pairs not of this earth. They are the Kibsu, women who live by simple rules but who are always at the forefront of technology and discovery. Sarah has positioned Mia to be part of the space race, and with her brilliant mind and ability to convince other scientists to do her bidding Mia is able to get the smartest men from Germany and Russia to build rockets for her. Meanwhile, Sarah and Mia always have to be on the lookout for the Tracker, an unknown entity that is constantly hunting them.

We slowly learn about the Kibsu, who they are and what they are doing on Earth. There are plenty of unanswered questions, but Sarah and Mia carry out their mission though they aren't always sure why. For generations the women of the Kibsu have done as their mother's have bid them, but Mia is trying to break that mold a bit and wants answers to questions math, science, and her mother can't give her. She doesn't want to continue running and hiding from an unknown enemy. She does however want to see her ideas and rocketry designs make it to space. The character development is complicated in this book, as we have Mia who wants to break the mold, but there is only so much she can do to get away from who she is at a base level. Sarah has similar feelings, but at the end of the day she must follow the rules all Kibsu women have for generations. While we don't see much from the perspective of the Tracker, he also has a bit of a struggle with mission over personal choice. This is all set in the real world, during real events beginning in the 40s, so the world building is done very well.

I highly recommend reading the "Further Reading" chapter, as it is basically an author's note and summary about all of the research he did to write this book. As many of the events in the book are historically accurate, I really appreciate the care he took with the history while also weaving a really wonderful science fiction take around them. I'm a huge fan of this era of history as well as science fiction and I feel that that Neuvel did a great job blending the two. That being said this book is not going to be for everyone. I absolutely loved it, however sci-fi fans who are not big on historical fiction may not and historical fiction fans may find the science and math a bit too technical.

I'm hoping this is a series, as Goodreads now has this labeled as if it is one. I went into reading it as though it were a standalone. It ends as if it could go either way. No major cliffhanger, but definitely room for more. I'd especially like to know more about the Kibsu, I felt like we only learned part of their story and there is so much more to it. If there is more to this story I'd gladly read more.

*I received this book (via eArc from NetGalley) for free from the publisher (Tor) in exchange for an honest review* This book was a great read. It is about a mother-daughter duo who are actually Armenian and them being the Kibsu. Which to my understanding is like a secretive espionage mission during the Second World War. It is an interesting set up. I don't mind the writing style since it is very reminiscent to His Themis Files series. It can be dry at times which I hope it will improve as the series continues. As an Armenian, I really wished there was some Armenian traditions in the books. You mention Sara Balian and expect me to be like okay life continues. I was left disappointed as I was excited to see my culture shown in a sci-fi/historical fiction book and got nothing. I liked that the chapter titles were songs and the playlist that ties in the book. The intro can be confusing how it doesn't flow that well at first ( by just throwing that She is Armenian and not mention it at all. And also not having anything Armenian at all from the names to the cultural everyday stuff even if they are Kibsu). I realized there is two perspectives but was so confused on which was which cause I didn't feel any distinct voice. I had no problem with the plot but I felt not confused which was a plus. I wish I got more of an explanatory of what was happening because it was so fast paced and as a historical fiction I wanted a little more of a slower pacing. I do appreciate the interesting historical timeline and its content as we saw the scientific discoveries that happened in the 1940s. Also what other countries are going through like Hilter dying, the rise of the Soviet Union, etc. Overall it was a great read but there were somethings that disappointed me as an Armenian reader a lot. Thanks again to the publisher for the e-arc!

<i>I received this ARC from the publisher through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.</i>

I am not sure if this book is a case of Good Writing But Not My Thing, or if it's a Not The Book I Need Right Now, or what. The writing felt clinical and detached, the characters flat and, in my opinion, rather indistinguishable from one another. And despite being fairly interested in World War II, knowing who Werner von Braun was before this book, and having a basic idea of rocketry from a several-years-long obsession with NASA and amateur rocketry a la Homer Hickam (<i>Rocket Boys</i>)... the level of detail in this book soared over my head and left me skimming pages to try and get to what came next.

I think fans of harder sci-fi will enjoy this, and it's technically well-written. But I liked the Themis Files by the same author a lot more even though they too got into a lot of hard science detail. I think what drew me into Themis Files was that the characters were well-rounded and sympathetic and each had their own voices. I didn't find that in this novel.

I didn't know I needed a space race book with aliens helping humanity reach the stars, but I guess I did. I am a big fan of the Neuvel's Themis Files and while this book was not exactly the same, I think it will be one fans of those stories will enjoy. I didn't know I could care so much about an alien. I LOVED all of the author's notes at the end. I really liked all of the history sprinkled through out. It was a great alternative history and I will gladly read the rest in the series.

Neuvel’s writing is top notch and his brain once again proves to be a treasure trove of new and exciting ideas. In my experience, there are very few writers that can tell such an involved story this well.

The main narrative is told from multiple POVs and takes place between 1945 & 1961. Important key moments from the past are interwoven throughout the book to provide the history of the Kibsu and Radi Kibsi. Each tiny piece of the past made me more and more interested in this story.

I was thinking this story would be more aliens and/or outer space and less history lesson, but I definitely want to read the next book and see where this series goes.

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I read 15% of this novel, and unfortunately it just wasn't for me. I found both the narration and treatment of the subject matter jarring, and I appreciate that it is done that way with intention, but it just didn't gel well with me. I won't be posting any reviews of this novel on social media, but I appreciate the opportunity.

A History of What Comes Next is a creative take on the space race told in a similar writing style as Neuvel’s Themis Files. It’s a genre mashup of historical fiction and science fiction -- closely mirroring timelines and historical figures from our recent history.

What immediately hooked me was the premise. It’s three thousand generations of the Kibsu, or “superalien” women working in mother-daughter pairs to sway the course of history in order to get space travel up and running. There can never be three of these women alive at the same time for long (i.e. mother-daughter-granddaughter) and they must follow a set of rules that are passed down through the generations. It is such an interesting concept!

“My mother’s words. Her mother’s word, and her mother’s, and her mother’s. Our lives boil down to a single sentence, a handful of symbols on an ancient piece of jewelry.”

The story is told mainly in dialogue between the main character, Mia and the other characters with some chapters narrated journal style and a few interludes showing the brutal and gruesome history of the previous generations. We don’t learn too much in this first book about where they are originally from. I assume the next two books will take care of explaining their origin story and how and why they first arrived on Earth. I do think that this series will have a specific audience it will appeal to -- and will work for those who do not need to make a strong connection with characters. I mention this because Neuvel’s writing style, in all of his books/series that I have read (Themis Files, The Test) leads to a reader-character connection that tends to feel very clinical. That’s one consistency I’ve noted with his style. I generally need a strong connection to the characters, but since I know this already going into his books, I can focus a lot more on plot instead. Neuvel always imagines the most fascinating plots with a focus on human nature.

Getting back to the story -- the Kibsu have been hunted by a Tracker called the Radi Kibsi that is like the women in that they are one and many and follow a set of their own rules.

“I dream of our world at night, I see its moons traverse the red sky, but I know now what I see can’t be real. I’ve only heard my father describe a place he’d never seen for himself. We’re playing telephone. Our dreams get garbled with every generation. Colors get diluted, details are erased. We lose a bit of who we are every time we’re born.”

The last few chapters are action packed and we learn a lot in regards to the Kibsu and Kibsi that makes me very excited to see where the story heads in book two. I want to know everything about these two groups and I really hope we get off planet. I think my favorite part of the story is how we witness characters beginning to be torn between generational duty and personal desires. Is there a purpose to it all? Is the knowledge that's been passed down even accurate? I appreciated the extensive notes at the end of the book where Neuvel shared his research and where to look if we wanted to learn more. There are content warnings for death, some torture.

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing a copy for review.

I have very mixed and confusing thoughts about this book.
Let's start with what I liked:
I enjoyed the Ancient history flashbacks that give more depth to the story and mystery of these women trying to curate history.

The overall basis of these women being fated to sway the course of history for the purpose of space travel- fascinating, it’s really the only thing that kept me reading and why I will continue with the series.

The strong as hell women, Sarah & Mia. I loved their relationship and the ethical and personal dilemma they face when they constantly have to abide by the rules set by the women before them, and the terror the hunters incite in them.


What I didn’t like or much care for-

The way the dialogue scenes were written sometimes made it difficult to follow along and determine who was speaking.

The bulk of the book is written from the perspectives of the character's thoughts in their head and the events they witness & interoperate. While many books do this, the author chose to write in such a way that when any type of action was happening, it was incredibly hard to follow along as to what was actually going down.

This book has so much happening and name-dropping going on, it was also difficult to keep up with who was who, what rank they held & where their loyalties lied. The events and big wigs in this story just felt so jam-packed, the storyline was starting to feel just a little too crowded and ambitious.

I thought the historical parts of the story while interesting and prompted further reading, weren’t quite my cup of tea. I was hoping for a stronger sci-fi twist, something that only happens toward the ending and is very brief and quite subtle.


To sum it up, I enjoyed the story, the action, pacing, and some plot points were enjoyable and just enough to hold my interest.

3 stars.

**ARC provided by Macillian-Tor/Forge via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A mash up of historical and science fiction, this brings Sylvain Neuvel to a whole new audience. A captivating read that will be enjoyed a wider audience.

A History of What Comes Next is a clever blend of historical fiction and science fiction, weaving the characters into the past and particularly into the American-Russian Space Race. I really enjoyed that way the book fit itself into history and how seamlessly this story linked into real life events. Sarah and Mia made for really interesting characters and I really enjoyed following them and their journey together. I also loved the flashbacks to other mother/daughter pairs in the Kibsu's past. I was expecting a bit more plot and information about the sci/fi elements, but it does look like this is supposed to be the first in a series, so hopefully way more will be explained in the next book(s). Overall I thought it was a really interesting book and I enjoyed reading it!

Let's start with the best part of A History of What Comes Next, the "Further Reading" at the back of the book.

After the narrative of A History of What Comes Next is finished, Neuvel lists further sources for the many historical events in the book. It's not a list of non-fiction titles no one will ever read, but a list of articles and videos and even Wikipedia. It's witty, it's funny, and I found it fascinating. Look how C14 and carbon dating is explained:
"If you leave Steve alone in a room and come back in 5,730 years, half of Steve will be gone"
I'd love to talk to Neuvel about his passion about the space race and all these fantastic and odd things he found.

Unfortunately, none of this enthusiasm or wit carries over into the narrative. I thought this book and I were off to such a good start; I highlighted two quotes in the prologue. I was worried about how I was going to fit all of the best quotes in, when I had highlighted two in the prologue already. Those were unfortunately the only two quotes I highlighted until I got to the "Further Reading".

I could not stand Mia. Her thought stream was endless run on sentences. She whined like a toddler, but swore for "maturity". Mia got on my nerves so much and is the main reason I did not enjoy this book. I could not sympathize with Mia and I felt like there was no character growth. I can't connect with someone who is consistently complaining and gives me no reason to see any kindness in her. Mia thinks her life sucks, but she neither has the ability to make me pity her or the strength to do something about it.

I don't know if this was an ARC formatting thing or not, but the dialogue also threw me off. It was formatted like this:
-Please go get some milk
-Okay
And not like:
"Please go get some milk," my mother asked.
"Okay," I said.
The dialogue read more like a script than a story? Which helped make it feel like more of a run-on of Mia's continuous thought stream. I have never missed dialogue tags so much. Dialogue tags make me feel like I'm there and can see the characters' body language along with what they're saying. It's a necessary pause I had never quite thought about before.

I was also upset that the story started with the Americans storming Berlin. This is in no way Neuvel's fault, but the march on Berlin was contrary to military strategy and prolonged the war by three to six months. It was the height of American egos ruining lives and I hate when it isn't presented with the necessary context. I actually thought Neuvel was American given the focus on the Americans and the Soviets in the space race. I looked at his bio and discovered that he is Canadian, and I really wish that he had used the Canadian history he learned in school to broaden the narrative (Avro Arrow, anyone?). I'm so tired of Americans controlling the narrative and thinking that they're the centre of the world.

Neuvel also uses numbers like "seventeen million lives later" to describe the horror of WWI. Once again, not his fault, but I am so tired of large numbers being used to describe populations.

I've heard really good things about Neuvel's Sleeping Giants trilogy, which I may check out at some point. If he can carry the wit and enthusiasm from the "Further Reading" into the narrative, I think it would be a fantastic book.

I loved Sylvain Neuvel's Themis Files trilogy, so I was really excited to see that he was writing another new sci-fi series. "A History of What Comes Next" is an intriguing first installment that leaves you with more questions than answers. I was pulled into the story immediately, and the writing style kept the plot moving so quickly that I felt like I was breezing through it! I liked how Neuvel slowly revealed information and the history of the Kibsu throughout the novel, while continuing with the main story of Sarah and Mia. Using aliens to create an alternate history always intrigues me, and I thought that having these aliens be women, influencing scientific discoveries during the '40s and '50s, added more layers to the story. I wish there was a bit more information about the "Tracker" character, and I hope that this will be included in the next book. I really enjoyed "A History of What Comes Next" and I can't wait for the next book to come out.

In this new trilogy (?) from the author of Themis Files, Sylvain Neuvel, we are introduced to a strange family of women trying to get humanity to the stars while avoiding the “Trackers,” the strange men hunting them down trying to prevent this. We meet Mia and her family as they are fleeing Germany in early 20th century. Slowly we realize that Mia’s family is special – the women of the family all look the same and can trace their ancestors over 99 identical generations.
Mia and her mother throughout the book sneak into humanity’s attempts at scientific progress, all with the same goal – make people achieve space flight as soon as possible. They interact with scientist well known to all readers (Einstein, Wernher Von Braun), and those less known (Sergei Pavlovich Korolev) and they hand them ideas to pass as their own. Why they want to do that we don’t know, and Mia as well doesn’t know. Over the course of the book, we realize that somewhere in the past the reasons for all this got lost, but the main idea remained.
This plot idea would promise a wonder spy thriller novel almost, but for the author and his writing style. It is so dry and monotonous that you almost feel like you are reading flash cards for a novel, and not a completed novel. The ideas are there, the plot lines are there but there is no colour given to the narration, what there is of it. It’s like those moonscapes – there are hills and valleys and craters, but it’s all grey.
If this were a movie script it would make a bit more sense, but even then, the number of events taking place in the span of these 300 pages could not be shown in a single movie. This was the same problem I had with his third Themis Files novel (too much happening, not enough world), but in Themis Files we had the explanation for this – the whole series was written in the form of diary entries and mission logs. A History of What Comes Next doesn’t have that excuse. It is a traditional novel.
I’m most likely going to keep on reading the series when other books come out, not because of the writing style or the prose or anything as poetic as that, I’ll read it just to see what comes next.

I'm somewhere between 2.5 and 3 stars... I really enjoyed THE TEST by this author, so I was excited to try a different SF series form him. Alas, while I think the premise of this one is really interesting (a matriarchal line of aliens who have infiltrated Earth to enable humans achieving space travel), the writing style did not jive with me. The individual sentences were beautifully written, but they didn't flow together in a way that I enjoyed. I would still try more from this author, but I'll pass on this series

“We plant the seeds; our daughters reap the fruit.”

Sarah and Mia Freed are descendants of a long line of women called the Kibsu. Although a lot of knowledge has been lost to time, there are a few rules that have been passed down from the First, all the way to the Ninety-Ninth—Mia. She doesn’t know much, but she does know she needs to take them to the stars.

Sylvain Neuvel basically geeked out on this book, and I loved it. At first, I had a little bit of trouble with all the history (like heck, I wasn’t expecting to learn!), but once I learned 95% of the novel actually happened in real life, I gained a new respect for it. I haven’t read many alternate history novels, but I definitely have a soft spot for the genre.

A History of What Comes Next has a lot of history of rocket science and early space flight. The Kibsu have dreamed from the very beginning that they must get to the stars. The mother spends a lot of time preparing so her daughter can take over in the next generation, to prepare for the next generation, and so on. At the Ninety-Ninth generation, we finally see their efforts come to fruition. Only problem, a group of men called the Trackers with a similar ancestry are trying to attack them.

Therein lies where my rating moved from 5 stars to 4 stars. I know this is a series, and it’s an introduction to the series, but I feel like a lot of information was still missing. I kept trying to put information together, as I do, and I felt frustrated when by the end when I fell short. I’m still super excited to learn about why the Kibsu exist and why the Trackers exist to harm them, and I do plan on reading the rest of the series.

“Take them to the stars, before evil comes and kills them all. That is the path.”

I really liked Sylvain Neuvel's secret history of the Space Race, starting with Mia, a 19-year-old girl, getting Von Braun out of Germany and ending in the early 60s with a man in orbit.

Mia is the 99th Kipsu, a line of women who birth clones of themselves, discarding the male DNA. So, essentially they're clones. They're also faster, smarter, and more durable than ordinary humans. Where do they come from? Thanks to the ninth Kipsu deciding to save her daughter from the weight of the truth, they don't know. All they know is that they have a mission: to get mankind to the stars before it's wiped out. Owing to their genetic dominance, they can't breed freely or they'd overwhelm the planet, so there can only be three alive at any one time. A mother, a daughter, and her daughter. They also have a nemesis, the male equivalent, which has been hunting them through time to stop them.

The historical part is extremely well thought out, and the role of the Kipsu is very nicely woven into the story. Mia struggles with wanting a normal life but being born to the mission. Back and forth between assumed lives in the US and the USSR she and her mother go, nudging scientists and politicians along to create the Space Race and the impetus to reach the stars.

It's a brilliant book, and though it ends satisfactorily enough in the early 60s, I'm looking forward to the next book, which we can expect will center around Mia's daughter, Lola.

Highly Recommended.

I hate to say it, but I think this book might exist on a level of nerd I'm incapable of reaching.

You can tell Neuvel put a lot of research and heart into his latest project, but I do wonder just how big the audience is for a book like this. I'm sure there are people out there looking for a convoluted sci-fi about the Soviet side of the space race if powerful aliens were aiding them in an attempt to get humanity off the planet before it all goes to shit, while simultaneously being hunted by Trackers (I mean, I think that's the general plot), but how many there are... who can say?

I've been stopping and starting this book for months and, in this, my final successful (sort of) attempt to finish it, I realized it had nothing to do with my own personal book slump and everything to do with the fact that this story is just not for me. I say "sort of" because I will readily admit that there was some skim-reading in the last quarter. I'm sorry. I did try not to.

The book is heavy on the scientific and technological details, which is a big snooze for me. The aliens - the Kibsu - seemed interesting at first, because they all work in mother-daughter pairs, with Mia and her mother being the Ninety-Nine (I'm not explaining this very well because it's hard to explain, and possibly I don't fully understand it). This has been going on for centuries. But I did not find we were ever encouraged to warm to any of the characters. If I was supposed to connect emotionally with Mia, it never happened. I was always kept at a distance.

Neuvel uses real people as characters - Wernher von Braun and Sergei Korolev. Just as in our own history, both have a major part to play in the advancement of space flight, though here we see Mia and her mother, Sarah, aiding them in escaping Nazi Germany so they can assist the Soviets in the space race.

It's a creative premise, to be sure, but without characters I cared about, I felt little attachment to the events of the narrative. It was also - for me, who is not a scientific genius - quite confusing. There was a lot I didn't understand.

I felt, too, that the book moved painfully slowly. This is quite surprising, really, as Neuvel returns throughout to the same style he used in the Sleeping Giants trilogy, which I loved, having the story unfold through dialogue. Where in his previous books, this kept things dynamic and exciting, I found these sections dragged here.

There are a couple of people I know who I may recommend this to. Hardcore space buffs who care more about techie details than they do about feeling something for the characters. If that sounds like you, I would check this one out. For myself, I think I'll just wait to see what Neuvel writes after this series.

I went into A History of What Comes Next completely blind. I only knew it was somewhat related to space and was written by Sylvain Neuvel. That was enough for me to be excited about it as Neuvel wrote one of my favourites series, The Themis Files. However, I found myself being disappointed and struggling to get on with this book.

A History of What Comes Next follows two main characters, Mia and her mum Sara who hide a lot, not only from the people around them, but also from us. Neuvel alludes throughout the whole book that both women are not completely human, if not human at all, and are part of what they called the Kibsu. The main goal of the Kibsu, an entire generation of women, is to help the world get to space. We don’t know why, they don’t even know why, but it’s sacred and they have to do it no matter what. This leads Neuvel to take us through the historical space race between the Soviet Union and the US and it was pretty interesting as the author grafted his characters and story to real people and events.

Although the premise is interesting and intriguing, the execution of A History of What Comes Next was not what I would have expected. It is very, very slow and a lot of it is in the form of dialogues. Moreover, things are confusing at times and I was left with more questions that answers by the end of the book. And I know this is only the first instalment in a new trilogy, but still.

Moreover, a part of the story revolves around the Kibsu trying to evade what they call the Tracker, a generation of men who have chased and killed them for centuries. They’re not humans either but that’s pretty much all we know. I did find the chapters dealing with the Kibsu/Tracker history and chase to be some of the most interesting as they are fast-paced!

Basically, this was okay. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t the best either. I’m really hoping the second book will kick off story-wise and give us a lot more information about both the Kibsu and the Tracker.

I thought I would be a perfect match for this book. I loved Sylvain Neuvel’s Sleeping Giants trilogy and I’m a bit of a space nerd — so Neuvel’s book about space race should have been a treat. But unfortunately, this one fell a bit flat.

This book is about the Kibsu — superpowered aliens which have gone though a hundred generations of Mother-Daughter pairs, whose sole goal is to help human civilization develop space flight and eventually get off the planet — to ensure our eventual survival. In that pursuit they stop at nothing to preserve their knowledge and the secret of their existence — even if it means bloodshed in the name of the greater goal. They are relentlessly pursued by mysterious Trackers who seem even more bloodthirsty and a bit unhinged. In pursuit of the space flight development, Sarah and Mia (our current 100th mother-daughter pair) must help smuggle German rocket-builders - Werner von Braun - from Nazi Germany and then aid the Soviets - namely Sergei Korolev - to pull ahead in the space race, as this space race competition can bring the spacefaring goal closer to fulfillment.

“The world is doomed, and we must get people off of it. That’s what’s important. Not this war, not the first one or the next one. Not the woman in the river. Our fight is against gravity, and von Braun can help us win it.”

The premise is great, and I can get behind it even if I have quite strong reservations about using actual historical figures of the relatively recent past as book characters, ascribing them character traits and affairs and marriages with fictional characters that make me feel a bit uncomfortable (those are real people with real descendants, so taking liberty with their lives is questionable at best), and their discoveries should be theirs and not ascribed to supernaturally intelligent outworldly beings — but that’s just my reservations, and your mileage may vary.

I did appreciate the efforts to show the Soviet part of the space race, the part that for many Westerners is not well-known. I think to most Western readers the name of von Braun would be more familiar than that of Korolev, so this book fills in the gaps (although if you choose to not look up those people and their works right after their first appearances, you might not appreciate it as much as you would have otherwise). Although Neuvel does give us some facts, a deeper look would only be beneficial to the readers - both at the historical figures and the details of their work.

The real problem for me was the stylistic execution, however. The book is largely written in dialogue - between our protagonist Mia and her mother, Mia and von Braun, Mia and Korolev, Mia and a few other characters - with a few chapters narrated journal-style by Mia’s mother and occasional interludes showing us the snippets of mostly violent lives of the Kibsu through our history, which were actually quite interesting and I wish had comprised a larger part of the book. But dialogue-based Mia’s story, interrupted only by her internal reactions to that dialogue, is the bulk of the book, and it’s the style that just did not work for me. I found that after a while my attention was starting to wander. Plus Mia’s inner voice asides were not endearing her to me — she seemed very teen-like, even in her adult years, very exasperated and often whiny and quite judgmental, petty and offputting (“Of all the people who could judge me, this one’s a fucking criminal! He’s a decorated genius criminal, but still.” — is what she thinks of Korolev, even when perfectly aware that he is the victim of the Purges under fabricated accusations). See example below, which is how she sounds quite often - and even if it’s justified by the circumstances, it’s tiring to read about:

“—Mother, what is going on? You do the accounting, you buy people, you get the Russians to build V-2s. Why me? Why not you? Why do I have to do all this?”

My other gripes came from not quite understanding how many of the plot points would work, even when superpowered beings are involved. I mean, how do the Kibsu so easily move to both sides of the Iron Curtain without any suspicion? How are they able to ingratiate themselves so quickly even with the Soviet government? How are they able to so easily manipulate Party leaders? It’s mentioned that they have ways, but it’s never explained, and since those bits are done in dialogue, Neuvel never really ends up addressing the logistics, making it seem like those Hollywood movie scenes where in one scene the protagonist makes a decision, and in the other scene (after some off-screen manipulations, we assume) the grandiose plans are seamlessly in motion.

“—I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Nina—can I call you Nina?—but no one is going to put me in charge of anything.

I am! I’m going to put him in charge because… Because I want to. Also because Stalin doesn’t pay his people and I found someone at the Politburo who owes a shit ton of money to the Russian mafia.”

Also, all the talk about the Russian mafia in the 1940s and 1950s seemed just a bit off.
————
The pacing was a bit off, too - maybe because it’s the first entry in the series, but it feels like not much happens for over half of the book, despite the scenes filled with action (filtered through dialogue at times) and bloodshed. Stylistic and narrative choices made it not so easy to follow coherently, and left many parts barely sketched out and therefore less impactful. It was just too easy to feel very detached from the characters in this book, despite the first-person narration and viewpoint. I knew, for instance, that Mia cared about her girlfriend and her dog and even her husband — but the way the narrative was told, it was very hard to feel any connection to them. In the end, despite spending the whole book with Sarah and Mia, I felt like I still had no idea who they were as persons. I wish I could connect with even one character for this book to become more enjoyable. I mean, I felt more connected to Neuvel after reading his author notes in the end (and those are indeed interesting) than to any of the people we spent the whole book with.

Overall, I think it was an excellent premise (human space race as the culmination of millennia-long alien project!!!) that was served poorly by the gimmicky execution. The dialogue / journal entries style does not work well for this book. For a better Neuvel book, check out Sleeping Giants instead.

Now, if the next books goes easier on dialogue and instead is written more like the flashback Kibsu chapters, I may still check it out.

2.5 stars.