Status Updates From Engaging the Enemy (Vatta's...

Almost there.
Like with Sheepfarmer's Daughter, it can be quite jarring how often Moon switches pacing and changes out entire cast sections.
It is not that interactions and relations feel shallow or simple, far from it, Moon revels in minute social and cultural arguments.
But it is hard to keep track of entire crews of multiple ships when the story can leave them behind at a moment's notice.

Very glad with how those story threads ended up being resolved and tying back to the larger plot and back to the minute business of space travel again. Love it.

I am in the mood for this again but have been reading it so fragmentedly that it has been hard to really bond with. The focus on escalating manipulation, misunderstandings and social conflict have also been kind of off-putting.
The arguments have valid reasoning, but it all gets very muddy and mogged down and I feel like we've kind of lost track of a larger plot.

I get that loss of and miscommunication are at the core of this story.
But holy hell are these people being unreasonable asses.
Makes it look like Vatta is nothing but a name and family busyness; they sure as hell aren't connected out of goodwill and kindness.
It's thorough and deep seeded character work. Impressive, but frustrating.

What a fantastic chapter that was. Great job of making an otherwise quite fast succession of plot points and introduction of characters very memorable.
Also, quite weird that Slotter Key apparently has no clue about the state of the galaxy and its communications outside of their system after half a year.

Hey look, I made it past the 40% on a book.
This reads so easily, so well paced. Gripping bouts of action sprinkled in-between the negotiations, plotting and humdrum of space travel life.

I love how slow and meticulous Moon's storytelling is.
It's taken 2.25 books to get to the heart of the matter, to set the challenges they face and set up Ky as its catalyst to take them head on.
I feel this is only going to get better from here.

2 years waiting before continuing the series was too long. Had some trouble getting back to the story that picks up right after the second book.
But it's great to be back though, Moon's writing is so comfortable, detail oriented and tactile.
Once again, love how slice-of-life it is with all the system-specific laws, culture and bureaucracy.