The Pandominion duology, I am happy to report, wraps up well.
Everything I liked about the first book, Infinity Gate, carries through here. Good characters, interesting world building, and thorough consideration of the implications of all the science-fiction at work. All good, and all familiar to those who read book 1.
I don’t honestly know how I was expecting the conflict between the Pandominion and the Machine Hegemony to be resolved - if I had any ideas when I read book 1 I’ve forgotten them. But I know I didn’t expect the end that happened. Obviously I’ll say no more because of spoilers.
The identity of the narrator was another unknown from book 1. The mystery around it reminded me strongly of the Broken Earth trilogy. The reveal here wasn’t quite as good as what Jemisin was able to pull off, but it still was very good. Didn’t see that one coming until very late in the book.
What struck me from a writing perspective is just how well and how thoroughly Carey used the Chekov’s Gun principle. He planned this duology out very thoroughly; nothing done in the first book was wasted. Everything I expected to matter from book 1 mattered in book 2. Many things I did not expect to matter from book 1 mattered in book 2. The sheer economy of it was extremely impressive. And I suspect a result of Carey’s extensive history writing comics, if I had to guess.
I’ve been a Carey fanboy for a long time now, and nothing in this book changed that.
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