7.5 / 10 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2025/08/26/the-fourth-consort-by-edward-ashton-review/

There’s not a whole lot of world-building in this one. We pretty much just hit the ground running, jumping into a story which has already introduced the Minarchs and Assembly to the plot—then fill in from there. While this approach more or less worked, it often felt a bit clumsy and stilted, not to mention oddly paced, throughout. In terms of story, the Fourth Consort is an Edward Ashton special: telling a quick, entertaining, not-too-deep, but none-too-shallow tale. It’s fairly short and sweet, but manages to still be immersive, relatable, and thoughtful despite its comparable length and lack of depth when compared to the more classic, drawn-out space opera.

In terms of world-building, it’s a bit sparse at first. The universe is filled a bit in around the story; told through flashbacks that often felt like they’re crammed in wherever the plot will allow. Though while they felt clumsy, and at times unnecessary, I quickly found that I didn’t mind them. Dalton’s tale is interesting (if not unique or fascinating) and relatable, one moment a middle-aged washout whose life is going nowhere, the next an intergalactic precursor to the greatest alien civilization the galaxy has ever seen. If it is that, at least.

Dalton’s doubts in his company’s worth quickly become evident, and the holes in Unity’s story are big enough for him to climb through. And yet he has nothing to compare it to. Until he does.

Breaker’s inclusion in the tale made it for me. The back and forth between he and Dalton, or he and Neera competing for Dalton’s attention (i.e. Neera trying to get Dalton to kill Breaker before he kills them), stole the show. Yes, the Minarchs may command the book’s title, not to mention much of the overarching plot (again, i.e. Dalton trying not to die), but Breaker’s subplot was the one that routinely stole my attention from Dalton trying to woo the alien queen to their cause.

The Fourth Consort business kind of tore me. I enjoyed some of the Minarchs’ inclusion, but found other parts a bit stilted, underdeveloped, or even downright confusing. Part of it is that—as less than the best ambassador—Dalton is most often lost once he enters into Minarch society, especially when up against someone (Breaker) who actually knows what they’re doing. The good news is that the further into the story we progress, the less it’s evident, and the less it mattered to me. Because (as an Edward Ashton special) the story just takes the reader away, on an immersive, if abbreviated adventure through the author’s mind. It may not be the most polished, the most immersive, or the most descriptive story, but it delivers when it needs to, and is entertaining throughout.

TL;DR

An Edward Ashton special, the Fourth Consort tells a fun, entertaining story in a condensed packet. Where it excels are immersion, humor, inter-character relationships, and the interesting (if not thorough mysteries which abound). Yet, it’s not a complete success. The world-building is minimal—starting at near-zero and filling in over the course of the tale, whenever it’s able. Dalton’s backstory is told through flashbacks, which, while relatable, often felt like clumsy, stilted additions that mostly managed only to distract from the overarching plot. And where the Minarchs are likely the center of the story, it was the inclusion of Neera and Breaker that really made the story for me. All in all, recommended, especially if you’re a returning fan of the author’s work. Just don’t expect to much from the story, or for it to capture your attention for more than a few days. Entertaining, but not too deep.

The story begins with our hero, Dalton, a human diplomat for the organization Unity, is on a first-contact mission with a formidable, insectoid alien species called the minarchs. His initial relief that he won't have to convince them he's a deity, a problem from his last mission, is short-lived. Following a bizarre and disorienting job interview, Dalton is highly suspicious of the offer from Boreau and Neera to become an interstellar diplomat. His own life, unemployed, alone, and recently humiliated, makes him the perfect "unmissable" candidate, which he morbidly suspects might make him ideal for organ harvesting rather than diplomacy. He can't see how his background qualifies him for the role. It's a very tongue in cheek kind of book that keeps you giggling a bit. The love triangle that you're constantly having a laugh at. I really enjoyed this one. 4.5 out of 5 stars

Fully in my Sci-Fi Era at the moment, when I started the Fourth Consort, I was sure that it was going to be a favorite book of the year. A promising premise with warring alien nations (one being Earth) attempting to make First Contact with a third alien nation and both planet ambassadors being left stranded on said new alien planet seemed like it was in the Goldilocks zone for hilarity and hijinks.

While yes, the opening chapters of the book had me chuckling out loud and were full of witty banter, the novel quickly slowed to a crawl of alien politics that was frankly, very very boring. The friendships and relationships introduced seemed put together with a bit of faith and duct tape and didn't hold up as believable. The intricacies of the Minarchs' culture was interesting at first, but quickly became tedious. They were adamant that the foreign aliens conform to their culture and practices, yet made little to no effort to understand either Human or Stickman diplomacy.

As far as writing, I had issues with Ashton telling rather than showing events. An instance is later in the book, Dalton is faced with a complicated choice. Instead of fast forwarding to showing what Dalton's ultimate decision is, the author has him tell his plans and then in the next chapter, executes said plans. For me, that broke a cardinal rule of storytelling.

Overall the read for me was entertaining enough that I finished it, but will most likely be forgotten relatively soon. Someone who is more interested in alien culture and politics might enjoy this read more than I did. There is zero spice and I would consider the humor clean.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Edward Ashton for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

This author has a talent for constantly writing enjoyable science fiction novels. Like his previous novels, this one is a lighter sci fi story with the right balance of humor. I would recommend Ashton to readers who are a fan of John Scalzi and want another fun escapist author to follow.

I finished this for the sole purpose of finding out what happened to Breaker. This was convoluted for no reason. I was dropped into a confusing situation which only got more confusing. The flashbacks served no purpose except to interrupt the flow of events. The dialogue was so completely repetitive that I got frustrated every few pages and had to set my kindle down. Sure, the grammar and sentence structure is fine, but why was this published as a 288 page book? I could have gotten the full story without the frustration of rereading entire swaths of dialogue in less than 100 pages.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

It’s giving Mickey Barnes in the best possible way. That same chaotic energy, zero self-preservation instincts, and, of course, an illogical attachment to alien species. But honestly, I think I like Dalton better, he’s more my kind of guy. Still chaotic, still funny, but with a little more going on upstairs.

Every time I read about alien cultures in sci-fi, I end up asking the same questions. How likely is it that a completely different species would evolve to mirror our ideas of spirits, gender, or even social faux pas like forgetting to knock? With all the gender diversity we have on Earth, it seems more likely that alien species would have their own completely different systems, not something that lines up with our binary. Still, it’s a fascinating lens to explore human assumptions through alien eyes.

And Ashton does that so well. I couldn’t put this book down. The story builds tension in all the right ways and the characters are easy to love. I loved the other consorts. They were insufferable in exactly the way you want characters like that to be. And I was constantly trying to picture the Minarchs and the Stickmen. I still don’t think I’ve nailed down a clear mental image, but that just makes me wish for some good concept art.

One of my favorite recurring themes in sci-fi is how humans appear to other species. According to the Minarchs, we are disgusting, squishy, weirdly soft creatures with the very unfortunate design flaw of having our bones on the inside. The whole “chuck monkey” thing cracked me up, but it’s such a clever way to convey that our real evolutionary advantage is the ability to throw things with terrifying precision.

I really liked this book. It was clever, funny, full of heart, and most importantly, a really fun read - which in my book is an automatic 5 stars for me. Ashton continues to deliver exactly the kind of sci-fi I want to read.

This was a fairly short, fast-paced, scifi action story. Our main character is Dalton, who was heading down the path of oblivion after his dad’s death back home. He’d been in the military, and gets recruited for a mission in space. This could make him rich… if he survives, of course.

We meet Dalton, and his shipmates Neera and Boreau, as they are trying to win over a new species called the Minarchs. These beings have insect-like bodies, and the females of the species are in charge. Another race is also trying to court them to their side. While Neera, Dalton, and one representative of the other race are planetside, their ships get into a fight up above, and annihilate each other. This leaves these three stranded until anyone else from their federations arrive to claim them.

Neera spends most of the rest of the book hiding in their lander. But, she wants Dalton in the main city, mixing it up with the Minarchs, so they don’t lose the precious opportunity of winning them over. Of course, Dalton is a soldier and not a master diplomat.

The leader of the city decides to take Dalton as her fourth consort. The first has been eaten, but numbers two and three are alive, and try to coach him on what this position entails. The other race’s representative, who Dalton names Breaker, is a little miffed that he wasn’t picked, as he is obviously a stronger specimen. But is this really an honor, or is the leader using Dalton as a pawn in some political game?

The two former enemies, Breaker and Dalton, become comrades of a sort. Breaker even starts training Dalton in some of his homeworld’s fighting techniques. Dalton is eventually called on to fight, too, as the political factions become more aggressive with each other.

One ongoing foible in this book is that their translators don’t know every word from each others’ languages. So sometimes, as various characters are talking, the translator hazards a guess as to what is meant… with low levels of certainty. Dalton has to make decisions, therefore, without knowing what is really meant. This plays into the action a lot.

An intriguing part of the Dalton/Breaker bromance is that Breaker offers Dalton a momento of his “partner,” who was killed on his ship. We have no idea if this is a partner of a romantic nature or not. Neera is convinced that Dalton has accepted a blood debt, and that Breaker is going to kill him. She pushes Dalton often to try to kill Breaker, but he just won’t do it.

Finally, Neera is forced to use her lander’s weapons to break Dalton out of the city. They’ve officially lost any upper hand with the Minarchs, and so they try to lay low outside the city until help arrives. Breaker’s people arrive first, and he comes for Dalton with just pages left of the book. What happens next… is a bit of a surprise. And then the book is just over. No winding down here!

If you’re into aliens, action, fighting, and political intrigue… with a side of humor, for sure… this might be for you.

The Fourth Consort is a new standalone science fiction novel from the currently red-hot Edward Ashton (writer of Mickey 7). The premise is relatively straightforward, but interesting. The dialogue is funny, but thoughtful. The book isn’t reinventing the wheel, but I still had a good time.

Dalton Greaves is one of humankind’s first representatives to Unity, a pan-species confederation working to bring all sentient life into a single benevolent brotherhood. That’s what he was told when he signed up anyway. Now he is on a long-haul crew indentured to spread galactic “peace and harmony” to new species and help them get uplifted before a different evil cosmic organization (The Assembly) can corrupt potential new members with their wayward ideas.

Dalton and the other members of his team land on a new alien planet populated by horrifying insectoid alpha predators. In the process of negotiating their new membership, an Assembly cruiser arrives. The Unity and Assembly cruisers murder each other’s crews and destroy all their spacecraft, leaving only Dalton and the Assembly ambassador to try and convince the natives to their side of the conflict. Dalton is then exposed to increasing levels of introspection that force him to cope with things like realizing he’s on the wrong side of history, trying to square his moral compass with a desire for survival, and processing becoming the fourth husband to an enormous ant queen alien.

The Fourth Consort is short, sweet, and feels like a small pool that is surprisingly deep. Ashton has a pretty transparent agenda from page one as to where the story is going, and he doesn’t waste a lot of time with subplots or side quests in his journey to take us to the meat of his idea. Dalton realizes fairly early on that he is likely working for the “bad guys” (with the bad guys essentially being capitalism), and is then set a harsh deadline with clear stakes that he must weigh before deciding which way to jump. It is a simple thematic setup, but there is an enjoyable number of perspectives and considerations explored before the leap is made.

While I thought the themes were fun and interesting, the plot was a little meandering and didn’t go anywhere particularly interesting. A huge part of the conflict resolution revolves around the clear buildup to a twist that is fairly telegraphed, and it makes the entire thing feel a little bit like an exercise in political theory more than a fleshed-out novel. I like the ideas on display here, but I wish the landscape surrounding the philosophies were a little more convincing.

The characters are very fun. Between Dalton, the Stickman (Assembly ambassador), and the insectoid aliens, there was a really good intersection of culture clash and character evolution. A pretty clever plot device that Ashton introduces is that Dalton’s translator is inadequate, but it uses algorithms to learn and improve its understanding of the other species’ languages as the book progresses. This begins with garbled and partially translated conversations at the start of the book, which become clearer and cleaner as the book progresses. Our protagonist mirrors this change, as he comes to understand and interact with these two different cultures himself. It is a fun and clever literary choice, and it greatly endeared the entire book to me.

In the end, The Fourth Consort was a quick read that I blasted through on a flight in a single sitting. Ashton didn’t provide me with the complete checklist of needs for me to put this on my favorite bookshelf, but what he did offer I enjoyed quite a lot. If you are looking for a short sci-fi banger and you enjoyed either Mickey7 or Mickey17, this will probably be right up your alley.

Rating: The Fourth Consort – 8.0/10
-Andrew

I thought this was an incredibly creative take on the outsider in a strange land theme. I liked that we, the reader, were stumbling along with Dalton figuring it out as we went and that he was able to do well given his "everyman" status. The ending was also really well done.

I enjoyed the book. It's an interesting tale about the merging of other cultures and lifestyles together. Ashton hit a chord with this book!!

SyFy romp into outer space, with other life forms. Different from what I usually read but equally enjoyable. Dalton Greaves was going nowhere with his life on Earth. On a mission to other inhabitable planets with a snail like leader and companion Neera. Dalton is to ally with planet natives but is busy trying to keep alive. Humor infused for a fun read.

⭐️: 4
The Fourth Consort was not at all what I was expecting, but that’s a-ok. It was a quick read that kept me engaged and not sure what was going to happen next. I especially enjoyed the banter and all the was and was not lost in translation between the different species.

The ending was satisfying enough to be a standalone but also set the scene for sequels, which I would read.

Not my favorite Edward Ashton book. I'm not a fan of political books, and unfortunately politics has a lot to do with the story. I really did not like Neera, but the other consorts were fun.

I ended up listening to the second half or so and I have no complaints about the audiobook.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital review copy.

Published by ‎ St. Martin's Press on February 25, 2025

‎I’m not sure if this was Edward Ashton’s intent — he may have intended only to entertain by crafting a science fiction thriller — but I view The Fourth Consort as an exploration of culture and the difficulty of understanding or adopting cultural norms that differ from our own. Like Mickey7, the novel is also about diplomacy and moral behavior as an alternative to fighting needless battles.

Ashton’s books tend to be uncomplicated stories that don’t require the support of a large cast of characters. In The Fourth Consort, two primary species are in interstellar conflict with each other. Both species are roaming around in our part of the universe in search of new species that might benefit from their guidance. One is called Unity; their leaders belong to a race of creatures with hard shells whose members are known as ammies. The other group is called the Assembly. Members of the race that dominates the Assembly are described as stickmen. The aliens are unimaginative, but that's a small knock on the story.

Unity visited Earth and made a lot of promises about forming an alliance that don’t seem to have been kept. Dalton Greaves is a human. Dissatisfied with his life, Dalton took a job with Unity in exchange for the promise of a vast fortune when he returns to Earth. Dalton’s job is to make first contact with aliens and act as a diplomat for Unity. He’s on a survey ship captained by an ammie named Boreau, who is probably more interested in taking a planet’s resources than in diplomacy.

The planet is populated by minarchs. Minarchs fight with their mandibles, supplemented by spears. Two political factions are struggling to control the planet. The city is ruled by something like a queen, but she is being challenged by members of the competing faction.

Dalton and another human, Neera Agarwal, take a lander to a planet, only to find that a stickman named Breaker has already made contact with the minarchs. The Assembly and Unity ships in orbit manage to destroy each other, leaving Dalton, Neera, and Breaker stranded on the planet. They nevertheless continue their diplomatic missions, a task Breaker pursues by trashing Dalton as a sneaky human who can't be trusted.

The story follows Dalton as he develops relationships with the minarch queen, her Counselor, the Prefect who wants to displace the queen, and Breaker. Dalton earns the minarchs’ respect (or triggers their fear) when he uses his bare hands to defeat a fearsome creature that attacks him in his room. Fortunately, the creature’s venom doesn’t kill humans, making Dalton seem more powerful to the minarchs than he actually is.

The queen takes a liking to Dalton and decides he will be her new consort. To his relief, Dalton won’t be required to have sex with the queen. He is nevertheless unhappy to learn that the queen ate her first consort. The second and third are marking time until they are devoured. Dalton is the fourth.

As events unfold, Dalton makes an enemy of the Prefect, whose lover is killed by the Counselor as she tries to protect Dalton. This leads to Dalton’s designation as the second in a duel between the Prefect and the Counselor. Minarchs tell him that honor compels him to fight his own duel with the Prefect. The duels are dictated by cultural norms that Dalton doesn’t share. Some people go all shivery at the mention of the word honor, but the novel suggests that dishonorable (or just stupid) behavior often results from cultural adherence to notions of honor that serve no purpose. The honor killings of female relatives after they are raped are a human example of abhorrent acts taken in the name of honor.

Novels often benefit from a protagonist who is forced to make a difficult moral choice. Dalton has to decide whether to let Neera rescue him with superior firepower. If he goes with her, his actions as a consort will reflect poorly upon the queen and will probably lead to her death. If he stays and battles the Prefect, his choice will probably cause his own death. If Dalton substitutes his own sense of honor for the views of the minarchs, what choice will he make?

Ashton always tells a good story. The novel moves quickly. It has enough action scenes to give it the feel of a science fiction thriller, but it also has some hidden depth. The characters have well-defined personalities. Ashton is a likeable guy who messed up his life and is trying to atone, or possibly to disappear. Either way, he remains true to himself, even when he must decide whether to make unselfish choices. The blend of action and philosophy has always drawn me to science fiction, and Ashton is following the best traditions of the genre.

RECOMMENDED

This is the first work of Ashton's that I read and I enjoyed it thoroughly. His characters are well-drawn with a good sense of humor and personality. I find that too often sci-fi authors give their characters a wooden disposition and never say anything mildly humorous or sarcastic. I think that's part of being human, and Ashton uses that to defuse tension like real people would given the insane situations.

I always have a super fun time with Edward Ashton's books, and this was no different! This book had a perfect combination of SciFi, aliens, and comedy (and it wasn't super cringy!). I was hoping this was going to go a different way than it did but it didn't really lower my enjoyment of the story. Unlikely friends is one of my favorite tropes and it was nice to see it in this book! My only complaint is that I had a hard time visualizing what the world/aliens looked like, but it really could've been a me problem and not a book problem. I did feel like the characters didn't really have much personality, but they were all different enough that it wasn't difficult to differentiate them from one another. I think Edward Ashton has a lot of potential to be the next big SciFi Comedy author and I'm lookking forward to see what he writes next!

This was a really fun book. I honestly thought that Dalton was pretty boring and I didn't like Neera at all, but the entire story came together into something I really enjoyed. I think at this point, Edward Ashton has cemented himself as a must read for me. The only other thing I think could have been better is that the descriptions of some of the aliens could have been a bit better because I had some trouble visualizing them. Otherwise, it was just a solid sci-fi adventure that felt like Hitchhiker's Guide with more action. Thanks for the ARC!

The Fourth Consort follows Dalton and Neera after they get stranded on a planet with a semi-developed alien society. While Neera stays behind with the ship, Dalton must navigate the pitfalls of politics and an unreliable translator, all while trying to remain as diplomatic as possible for when his agency returns to pick him and Neera up.

I absolutely loved this book. It was funny and witty with playful use of language. I loved how clever and underhanded some of the jokes were, particularly the banter between Neera and Dalton as well as between Second and Third Consort. I laughed out loud several times. I also thought the political machinations were entertaining and easy to follow.

I enjoyed Dalton as a main character as he was intelligent but not a know-it-all and could adapt to many situations that arose. The tidbits from Dalton's backstory also gave context to why he agreed to join this mission, but they didn't detract from the present day storyline.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anybody who wants a tongue-in-cheek sci-fi book with a focus on alien political and diplomatic negotiations. Even those who don't love books focused on politics I think could enjoy this book for the entertaining banter between characters and interesting worldbuilding. Definitely worth a read!

International diplomacy is tough, and interplanetary diplomacy must be a lot tougher. That may explain why relatively few science fiction novels about diplomacy exist. Keith Laumer’s “Retief” series is the only one that comes to mind immediately. After all, most science fiction worlds settle their differences with weaponry, not treaties. Edward Ashton, author of the offbeat novel, “Mickey Seven,” tries to find a peaceful solution to a tricky confrontation in his latest novel, “The Fourth Consort.” As with real-life diplomacy, the author’s effort has some stumbles along the way, but it is an overall entertaining success.

In the universe of “The Fourth Consort,” Earth is part of an interplanetary federation called Unity, led by a species of giant snails. Unity vessels cross the universe looking to persuade new planets to join for their “mutual benefit.” This interplanetary diplomacy is dangerous work (few recruits return from their ten-year hitches), but quite lucrative. The protagonist of “The Fourth Consort” is Dalton, a highly trained combat veteran, down on his luck in civilian life, who signs up for outer space duty despite a paucity of diplomatic skills. Dalton’s latest assignment is a planet populated by a species of enormous insects named minarchs, which Dalton describes as “the bastard child of a tarantula and a velociraptor.” But while Dalton tries to make his pitch on behalf of Unity, the representative of a competing federation called the Assembly advances the cause of that collective.

The plot of “The Fourth Consort” is complicated, but should be fairly easy for readers to follow. The minarchs are a female-dominant society, similar to praying mantises, and Dalton impresses the Queen so much that she names him her titular Fourth Consort. That might not be as great an honor as it seems, since, like praying mantises, male minarchs eventually “ascend,” never to be seen again. Dalton also makes friends, after a fashion, with the Assembly’s representative on the planet, a member of an extremely tall, skinny species Dalton dubs “stickmen.” The stickman enjoys lecturing Dalton on how the universe is filled with predators and prey. Stickmen and minarchs are apex predators; humans are clever, sneaky prey.

This last discussion is an example of the author’s playfulness that occurs throughout “The Fourth Consort.” Discussions between Dalton and the various minarchs are also filled with conversations like this that offer readers some entertaining food for thought. The minarchian society is a cross between the Knights of the Round Table and the Roman Colosseum. Those who enjoy science fiction action more than sociological dialogue will probably prefer the book’s second half. It features lots of palace intrigue involving a potential coup against the Queen. Ironically, Dalton becomes the Queen’s best hope for survival, having to fight a duel against the coup’s leader. The duel involves primitive close-quarter weaponry, and Dalton seems hopelessly outmatched against the larger, more powerful minarch. However, the duel’s resolution involves a great twist readers will really enjoy. (The duel raised my rating for the book.)

Edward Ashton’s writing style is not for everyone. “The Fourth Consort” has several flashbacks involving Dalton’s history and background on Earth and earlier on the mission. Most of these are needless and break up the flow of the story. The author could have provided the necessary information in a couple of paragraphs rather than a chapter. By taking readers away from the interplanetary setting and repeatedly returning to Dalton’s backstory on Earth, the author loses much of the atmosphere he has carefully established. One flashback potentially spoils one of the book’s great plot points for those who pay careful attention.

Dalton’s duel is the emotional highlight of “The Fourth Consort,” but the book does not end there. Instead, the story continues for a few listless chapters, which allow for a “surprise” ending that falls completely flat. This wobbly finish ruins some of the goodwill the author provided several chapters earlier.

“The Fourth Consort” is a flawed but entertaining book. Its social commentary is humorous and provocative. Readers won’t get much of a primer in advanced diplomacy, but the author creates three distinct social structures for the three main species and contrasts them well. There aren’t many laugh-out-loud moments here, but readers will probably smile and appreciatively nod their heads. Science fiction fans will enjoy consorting with “The Fourth Consort.”

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.

2.5

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

The premise of The Fourth Condor immediately caught my attention, but the story just never fully connected for me. I struggled to stay engaged and found the repetitive use of “say/says” distracting enough that it pulled me out of the narrative. There were moments I appreciated – the humor and the translator technology were clever touches – but overall, it was hard to stay invested in the characters or plot. If this hadn’t been an ARC, I likely wouldn’t have finished it, and even then, I found myself skimming toward the end. While this one wasn’t a great fit for me, I can see it appealing to the right reader.