I honestly found Acorna's Quest to be frustrating. A good chunk of it is annoying, buoyed only by the interesting part and my completionist need to get through it. There is a slight spoiler in the last paragraph of this, regarding the very end of the book. But also... this is the kind of book where the bad guys don't fare well so... like I said, the spoiler is slight.
First, the interesting part was aboard the ship/space-station Haven. I liked Markel and enjoyed him meeting Acorna and Calum. The whole Haven storyline was, as ever it seems these days, weirdly prescient. Although both "government overthrows" on Haven didn't take very much time at all, it was still much more fun reading than the rest of the book...
The rest... ugh. So, I wrote this whole long thing on my phone about how the Linyaari are incredibly stupid, partially naive, and too ethical to be allowed... which is all true. They apparently don't know how to do "First Contact" very well at all, either time they attempted it. They have apparently never met any species even close to like them (or us) in intelligence and so just treat us as lesser beings. Apparently attempting to find someone in charge never occurs to them. And then! the whole thing about never even having tried fighting the Khleevi... oy vey. I was just very, very annoyed with them from the get-go. I definitely feel like Acorna's going to have a heck of a time adjusting to the Linyaari way of life.
Speaking of the Linyaari's failure to try and find someone in charge, let's talk about Karina. I hate her. So, so much. Woman's insane. It's not the pseudo-psychic thing, it's the parasocial relationship she's apparently formed based on *checks notes* Acorna acknowledging a single email out of 65 that were apparently sent. What. The Actual. Fuck. Ma'am. No. Thinking you have an actual relationship (psychic or otherwise) with someone based on that alone is just... psychotic. Really. I also sincerely hate that a man supposedly as smart as Hafiz Harakamian could fall for her. That it at least super started out as physical doesn't really make it less icky, but the whole thing gives me the ick so... yeah. I can only hope Karina isn't around in later books.
I also didn't enjoy Pal and Thariinye posturing around Acorna. I've never liked the Pal/Acorna pairing and the way he more-or-less tries to steamroll her agency here doesn't make it better. I have truly had it with this particular flavor of relationship.
I also did not need Ed Minkus and Des Smirnoff to show up again. They really only served to get Dr. Hoa on board with getting rid of the Khleevi... which I feel like someone else could have done. The Khleevi honestly felt like more of a threat before they actually showed up to be slaughtered. The running around about them didn't end up feeling like such a big deal, honestly. Probably another reason why I didn't enjoy this book very much. I guess it felt like more setup to get Acorna back to her people... a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. Ultimately, not my cup of tea.
Favorite Lines
(The silly twit doesn't think, she stirs brain-bits around like a nut-and-root stew, you never know what's going to bob up next.) - One of the Linyaari about Karina
"It is not a waste if we are able to help people desperately in need," - Acorna
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