The last installment of the series is incidentally also the one I enjoy the most. It pulls everything together in a very clever way and I also saw me getting really connected to some of these characters. I still think many aspects of the story were a bit, well, cringy and stereotypical. The whole journey was build on tropes that are not anything special or new. And some dialogue bits where straight up taken from other Sci-fi novels, shows and movies. But I have to keep in mind that I am not the target audience in this. I am consuming stories for how many years now? Let's say I'm 10 years younger, this one right here would have been my first introduction to the Sci-fi genre - I am sure that I would have read the series in 3 days!

I wanted to love this more! Some aspects of this last book just felt really repetitive and I feel they happened pretty much in the same way in Illuminae or Gemina. The formatting - once again - was very cool but it felt less innovative this time (I felt like I saw most of it in the first 2 books). Another problem I had was that I couldn't really connect to most of the new characters. To be honest, I only cared about the characters we met previously. Also, I feel like the ending was too perfect with all seven MC surviving. Eh, too many other people died in this series so it felt unbelievable for all of them to survive. Lastly, I wasn't as engaged in the story as I have been in the other books. There weren't enough twists to make me feel truly shocked. But still, I really really liked this final book. It wrapped up the story nicely and still was addictive enough for me to read in pretty much 2 days.

2,5⭐️ Ich musste mich vor allem am Anfang wirklich zwingen weiterzulesen. Der Aufbau der Geschichte hat fast 200 Seiten gebraucht, in denen nichts passiert ist. Die Idee für das erste Buch war grandios und ich bin nur so über die Seiten geflogen. Jetzt beim dritten Band waren die Effekte aber leider schon verbraucht. Alle kommen am Ende zusammen. Erst stirbst du, dann bist du doch nicht tot. Es gibt keinen Ausweg mehr - war nur Spaß! Wir werden alle überleben. Und what?! Sogar die Soldaten, die Monate Kriegsverbrechen begangen haben und am Ende einfach nur aufgegeben haben, halten am Ende noch Reden?! Leider leider nicht mein Buch.

Strongest: first book (that left such an impression) Weakest: this one Finally more if AIDAN ❤️ The plot was okay... The series had it's legths... and to be honest, the 2nd and 3rd book just didn't compare to the first book excitement and suspense-wise at all. My humble opinion... If you're fine with open ending I would suggest just reading the first book as a stand alone.

Ich war geneigt, Obsidio ein schwächeres Rating zu geben, aber an und für sich betrachtet war es wieder eine "amazing" Erfahrung, das Buch zu lesen! Ich halte es nur von den drei Bänden für den schwächsten, und das hat diverse Gründe. 1. Der Aufbau der Trilogie. In jedem Band wird ein Paar eingeführt und die Handlung verlagert sich an einen neuen Ort, aber ähnlich wie bei Kaufmans Reihe mit Spooner (These Broken Stars) kommen die bisherigen Protagonisten weiterhin vor und brauchen entsprechend Raum. Das führt mich zu: 2. Asha Grant und Rhys Lindstrom. Sorry, was war das? Wie viel Zeit genau haben die beiden zusammen bekommen? Zehn Seiten? Ich wäre völlig zufrieden gewesen, wenn es einen dritten Band gegeben hätte, der die Zeit zwischen Kady/Ezra und Hannah/Nik aufteilt und ihre Abenteuer zusammenführt und zu einem Abschluss bringt. Mit Asha und Rhys konnte ich keine richtige Beziehung aufbauen, weil die beiden einfach so dermaßen untergehen in der Fülle an Handlung und Charakteren. 3. Die Anzahl der Fäden. Band 1 und 2 haben eine Menge aufgebaut - es ist klar, dass das zum Abschluss kommen muss. Aber dadurch fehlte mir hier ein bisschen Überraschung und ein bisschen das, was die vorherigen Bände so mitreißend gemacht hat. 4. Der "Plot Armour" für sämtliche wichtigen Charaktere. Was haben wir in Band 2 für einen wilden Ritt mitgemacht und gelitten! Hier kam einfach nicht dieselbe Spannung auf - vielleicht, weil man nach Band 1 und 2 schon wusste, dass die Hauptcharaktere das schaffen. Oder vielleicht weil einfach zu häufig auf diesem Fallschirm rumgeritten wurde. Kaufman und Kristoff haben keine Scheu, hunderte unbenannte oder einmal benannte Charaktere umzubringen, auf Kerenza, auf den Schiffen, auf Heimdall, aber ihre Hauptcharaktere sind in Band 3 alle stark geschützt (es wirkt zwar natürlich anders im Plot, läuft aber darauf hinaus). Dennoch ein grandioses Buch - vor allem, wenn man es ab Band 1 schon als Love Story zwischen Kady und Aidan liest, ist es herzergreifend, wunderschön und geht wirklich unter die Haut mit allem, was da im Text steckt. (Sorry Ezra.)

Holy fucking shit. Those last 50ish pages killed me, put me back to life and killed me all over again. This was a fantastic conclusion to the series. This book was much more political than its predecessors, which brought an interesting change of tone to the series. Of course, the crappy jokes and gorgeous artwork were kept, but overall, the topics were a lot more morally afflicted and mature. I don’t think I can properly put into words how much this series means to me. They fucking changed, and by changed I mean improved my life. These characters there, they are role models. All of them. Also, call me crazy, but I think I’m in love with an AI...? (So, AIDAN, if you aren’t otherwise preoccupied, I’m sure I can find some space for you on my palmpad *wink wink*)

Oh man, I have still not emotionally recovered from this beautiful journey that these book took me on. The third book of the Illuminae files is exactly as gripping as the others! In Obsidio, we meet two new characters: Asha, a survivor of the attack on the illegal mining colony in the Kerenza system that started the plot, and Rhys, a BeiTech-employee who belongs on the attacker's side and helps suppress Asha's resistance movement. And he just happens to be her ex-boyfriend after a truly terrible break-up. (Doesn't that sound like delicious drama?) This time, the characters who survived the first two books had a lot more screen time. I liked that a lot - knowing what was going on at all the different settings was really interesting. The files jumped from character to character sometimes, but it wasn't confusing to me. This time I noticed how the files also showed the point of view from the antagonists. It made them a bit more relatable - even though I tried really hard to hate them. They don't deserve any sympathy, but in the end they are still human. Those changes in point of view also showed the details of the lives of refugees, survivors and fighters and that was very heartbreaking. The files overall focus on the battles between BeiTech and our main characters, but sometimes they show little scenes or mail exchanges. That showed the horror on a very personal level and I was very emotional because of those little bits. And still, despite the terrible things that happen in these books, the humor was yet again top notch. The authentic conversations, the sarcastic gallows humor, blacked out curse words (sometimes exceeding my creativity because there were so many of them!), the perfect dynamic between the main characters - all of that was hilarious to read. I am now carrying a hole the size of an illegal planet in my heart. Having to say goodbye to such an awesome story is always a little sad. I loved every minute of it (even when it made me cry). It was a story that prompted both laughter and tears, a story that speaks to basic humanity, a story that asks the big questions and small ones. I can only stress how much I recommend everyone to read this amazing trilogy!

So after I was completely disappointed in Gemina, the cheap ending and romance and basically EVERYTHING about the multiple universes thing, I had low expectations for Obsidio. I was annoyed with the Nik/Hanna relationship, that annoyance didn't disappear with this book, but I did actually learn to like Nik. Surprising to me, but I'm still not that content with him. Anyway, the new main characters of this story, Asha and Rhys, made me a bit salty in the end, cause they had the exact type of relationship Hanna and Jackson could have had but whatever. Also I felt like, they didn't get the time and development they deserved, cause the book dealt with all the previous mains, too. I would have liked to see more of their interactions and less kinda useless talks between Hanna and Kady. I also would have exchanged every scene with Hanna and Nik, but that's just me. I also think some plot points in the last battle where kinda cheap. Well cheap shocks, like in Gemina. This kind of stuff only worked in Illuminae, after that it just felt weak. Overall I was quite surprised by the twists and turns this story took. It really played all my heart strings, I almost cried once. It wasn't at the ending, that was sweet, but a bit overkill to me. I still think it was an amazing book with (mostly) surprising and heart wrenching twists and turns. Actually more emotional than Illuminae and def a worthy end to this trilogy.

Wow! Absolutes Jahreshighlight. Ich weiß gar nicht so ganz, wie ich meine Meinung zu dieser Reihe in Worte fassen soll. Aber es wird wohl auf ein Wort hinauslaufen: Wow. Ich bin immer noch hin und weg von dieser Reihe und konnte Obsidio nach Beenden erst einmal stellvertretend für alle drei Bücher auf meine Jahreshighlight-Liste packen. Was die beiden Autor*innen hier geschaffen haben, ist etwas ganz Besonderes. Ich kann es irgendwie immer noch nicht glauben, dass ein Roman mit dieser Struktur mich dermaßen mitnehmen kann. Aber Obsidio hat noch einmal gehörig auf meine Tränendrüsen gedrückt.

This book is a masterpiece! Like the previous books it is narrated through files so each page is different than the next. But that's nothing new and I loved this aspect as much as in the previous books. New were the different places and different POVs involved. Every person and every couple appears in this mindblowing finale. We get to see how they all work together and how all the different strings come together as one. There are even some new character to get to know and obsess over. A boy with perfect hair and his one true love, who doesn't really see eye to eye with him on this one true love part. But being confronted with that kind of perfecr hair one can only resist so long. This book takes place on Kerenza IV among other places and gives insights into what is happening on the ground. You even get to know (and actually like) some BeiTech members - I especially liked these grey characters, because I fell they were portraied very accurately. We also get to see out favorite villain (or is he?) AIDAN again. My relationship to him is still undecided, but I loved how the authors potraied him (I don't want to spoiler). While reading this book I was constantly at the edge of my seat or fidgeting around, because I had to let the tension of the story out somewhere. I cried, I laughed and I didn't want to say goodbye to these incredible people just yet. There were plottwist I didn't expect, love stories, that stole my heart and sad scenes that made me want to hug every character in this book. Because I feel like I took this journey with them, which is the greatest compliment to an author in my opinion... and it was hard. I can only recommend this series like the 100th time and hope you pick up this book (or maybe start with the first one) very soon.

Auch wenn ich, wie bei den beiden Vorgänger-Bänden auch, wieder eine Weile gebraucht habe, um einzusteigen, habe ich das Buch geliebt. Ein Science-Fiction-Roman der etwas anderen Art. Die Reihe war super und ich habe mich gefreut, dass in Band 3 nicht nur ein neues Paar aufgetaucht ist, sondern, dass auch die Protagonisten der ersten beiden Bände teilnehmen und alle zueinander finden. Großes Kino!

I am a complete Illuminae files TRASH. LIKE I WILL READ ANYTHING FROM THIS SERIES AND BE IN LOVE WITH IT. Do you really need a review? I am only gonna talk about how great the characters were, the layout is, the storyline is.. the plot twists and everything else. It's great. I don't know what you are waiting for and why haven't you picked this one up yet or read it? Why? Don't do this to yourself. Treat yo self ALREADY. :)

Asha Grant hätte nicht damit gerechnet, ihren Ex-Freund Rhys Lindstrom jemals wiederzusehen. Seit Kerenza IV vor sieben Monaten von BeiTech angegriffen wurde, versuchen sie und ihre Freunde alles, um am Leben zu bleiben, auch wenn die Hoffnung, dass jemand dem Planeten zur Hilfe kommt, mit jedem Tag schwindet. Doch dann steht plötzlich Rhys in BeiTech-Uniform vor ihr und endlich bietet sich den Überlebenden eine Möglichkeit zurückzuschlagen. Währenddessen haben Ezra und Kady, Nik, Hanna und Ella den Angriff auf die Sprungstation Heimdall überlebt und befinden sich mit 2000 Überlebenden auf dem Frachter Mao. Da die Station zerstört wurde, haben sie keine andere Möglichkeit, als nach Kerenza IV zurückzukehren, um dort die mobile Sprungstation Magellan wieder instandzusetzen, um ins Kernsystem zurückzukehren, um ihre Geschichte erzählen zu können. Doch auf dem Weg zurück liegen noch viele Gefahren und auch die Ungewissheit, was sie auf dem Planeten vorfinden werden. Doch eins ist klar: Sie werden nicht ruhen, bevor BeiTech nicht für seine Taten bezahlt hat. "Obsidio" ist der dritte und abschließende Band der Illuminae Files von Amie Kaufman und Jay Kristoff. Wie die beiden vorherigen Bände wird auch dieser auf ungewöhnliche Art und Weise erzählt. Mithilfe von Chatprotokollen, Transkriptionen von Videos von Überwachungskameras, Zeichnungen, Akten und E-Mails verfolgen wir nicht nur die Geschehnisse auf Kerenza IV, wo wir Kadys Cousine Asha Grant und ihren Ex-Freund Rhys Lindstrom kennenlernen, sondern auch die Geschehnisse auf der Mao, wo die Geschichte von Kady Grant und Ezra Mason und Niklas Malkow und Hanna Donnelly weitergeht. Auch Ella Malikowa und unsere liebste künstliche Intelligenz AIDAN sind natürlich wieder mit von der Partie! Die Handlung setzt nicht mal vierundzwanzig Stunden nach dem Ende von "Gemina" an. Die Sprungstation Heimdall wurde zerstört, der Weg ins Kernsystem abgeschnitten und die Überlebenden von Heimdall und der Hypatia siedeln auf die Mao über, um dort über ihre nächsten Schritte zu entscheiden. Die einzige Möglichkeit scheint eine Rückkehr nach Kerenza IV zu sein, sieben Monate nach dem Angriff durch BeiTech und niemand weiß, was sie dort erwarten wird, da der Kontakt komplett abgebrochen ist. Doch es gibt noch Überlebende auf dem Planeten, unter anderem Kadys Cousine Asha, die vor dem Angriff eine Ausbildung im Krankenhaus absolviert hat, und ihre Freunde Joran Karalis, der in der illegalen Mine von Kerenza IV arbeitet, Bruno Way, einem Klempner und Stephanie Park, einer Mechanikerin. Sie gehören dem Widerstand an, denn noch immer befinden sich BeiTech Soldaten auf dem Planeten, die versuchen die mobile Sprungstation Magellan wieder fit zu machen, um so Kerenza IV entfliehen zu können. Sowohl Asha als auch Rhys mochte ich total gerne, wobei ich allerdings das Gefühl hatte, dass man sie nicht ganz so gut kennengelernt hat wie zuvor noch Kady und Ezra oder Hanna und Nik, weil man deren Geschichten in diesem dritten Band ebenfalls noch weiter verfolgen durfte und Asha und Rhys nicht komplett im Fokus der Geschichte standen. Früher waren Asha und Rhys unzertrennlich, doch die beiden hatten keinen guten Einfluss aufeinander, sodass Ashas Eltern sie nach einem schrecklichen Zwischenfall zu Kadys Eltern ins Exil geschickt haben. Drei Jahre später steht Rhys wieder vor ihr, doch als Soldat von BeiTech ist er eigentlich ihr Feind. Aber Rhys ist kein skrupelloser Soldat und ist schockiert, als er die Zustände auf Kerenza IV mit eigenen Augen sieht. Auch die Geschichten von Ezra und Kady und Nik und Hanna durften wir weiter verfolgen. Während Ezra und Kady schon im ersten Band wieder zueinandergefunden haben, müssen Nik und Hanna noch die Ereignisse von Heimdall verdauen und besonders Hanna ist ziemlich durcheinander, denn sie muss auch den Tod ihres geliebten Vaters verarbeiten. Ich fand es sehr gelungen, dass sie nicht sofort zum untrennbaren Traumpaar mutiert sind, sondern sich noch mal Zeit genommen haben. Die beiden sind auch meine liebsten Charaktere der Reihe. Wenn ich gewusst hätte, dass der dritte Band nächstes Jahr im Mai doch noch auf deutsch erscheinen würde, hätte ich wahrscheinlich gewartet. So habe ich das Buch auf Englisch gelesen und nach kurzer Einfindungsphase konnte mich die Geschichte auch komplett mitreißen! Ich liebe die Erzählweise der Reihe einfach! Es ist so spannend, den Chatverläufen zu folgen und die Zusammenfassungen der Überwachungskameras zu lesen! Amie Kaufman und Jay Kristoff haben einen unglaublichen Humor und die Illuminae Akten sind einfach nur genial! Ich habe diesen dritten Band echt geliebt, fand es großartig, wie alle Fäden in diesem Band zusammenlaufen und ein stimmiges Bild ergeben! "Obsidio" hat meine Erwartungen einfach übertroffen und ich bin restlos begeistert von dieser grandiosen Reihe! Fazit: "Obsidio" von Amie Kaufman und Jay Kristoff ist ein absolut gelungener Abschluss ihrer Illuminae Files! Ich habe diesen dritten Band von der ersten Seite an geliebt und bin restlos begeistert, wie genial die beiden Autoren die Fäden verknüpft und welch spannende Geschichte sie hier erzählt haben! Das Buch konnte mich komplett mitreißen, die Erzählweise ist grandios und auch die Charaktere haben mir wieder richtig gut gefallen! Ich vergebe verdiente fünf Kleeblätter.

Every story needs a Monster Wow....So I just finished another beloved series. And what a rollercoaster ride this was. Some many different places and action strands! I still love the layout of these books so much! Small little suprises waiting after almost every page. But it wasn't as good as the other books in this series. Rhys was a bit to flat in comparison to Ezra or Nik in their books.

Turns out not everyone on Kerenza IV died, there were a lot of survivors actually. And the BeiTech team that attacked was not completely destroyed by the Alexander. It's still there, some in orbit, others on the ground. And the Magellan is getting ready to jump to the Core system. There is a rebellion of course but it can't do much since the miners' families are under BeiTech control. Still, some people kill BeiTech personnel. In one such occasion, when a ship explodes, we meet. And he and Asha had a cliché but not necessarily bad love story. It was actually an epic love story, the kind where they fall for each other so hard everything else is ignored. The kind that ends up bad and Asha's parents prohibit the relationship. But she doesn't care and neither does he. Except when she ends up in the hospital for trying to stop a fight they send her to Kerenza. Where she meets Rhys again. He seems to be the kind of innocent and sweet person, but his employers, and by extension him too since he's there, invaded Kerenza and killed hundreds of people! But he seems good and he stills has feelings for Asha... Even though she's a tad freaked out he's there and he doesn't quite know what to do about it either. Hanna and Kady are so amazing together, their friendship so fast and so natural and it's super sweet! I love it! The chief of security, Garver, doubts Syra too much. But it's only natural after what he and the rest of Heimdall went through... AIDAN has a thing for Kady. I don't think I have said this before or even truly noticed. But it does. Everyone on Hypatia moves to the Mao, whose engines are perfectly functional and whose defense is pretty good! But for that they also need to destroy the Hypatia and a part of AIDAN. And it's sad about it... It has more human in it than it did in the beginning and more than some humans! Meanwhile, back in Kerenza, Rhys once again shows how he's not like the others in BeiTech. Him and the woman with him, Oshiro, get a ride from a man who is disposing of corpses and they are both so blasé about it... It is so... Inhuman... And the captain of the fleet is even worse, having killed over two and a half thousand people just because they were deemed “non-essentials”... And Rhys's shocked beyond words... He seems to be the only one... The rebels in Kerenza communicate in place sight without BeiTech noticing it. They have a cipher that changes daily and that's how they told other rebels that BeiTech had communications online and that the hermium mining needed to slow down to buy them time. And so a man, on his birthday, volunteers for it, through the same cypher... He's lost it all and maybe he thinks he'll see his family again, I don't know, but he blows himself up along with a tunnel... It's quite horrible, all of this in Kerenza... Maybe even more so than in the other two books and places... Everyone in this book is seriously hurting. The tragedy at Heimdall finally caught up with both Hanna, who feels depressed, and Nik, who still feels horrible for killing people... They have no idea how to interact, the moment they shared was not really with each other, it was with other versions of themselves, and with their problems now it's a little harder. Neither knows how to deal with things... Back in Kerenza Rhys isn't having an easier time. Between the horror he just learned and the love of his life screaming at him and hating and blaming him, he's not doing very well. And he's about to risk his life for her, because the resistance asked her to use him to get the upper hand with BeiTech. I don't really think Asha is being just with Rhys. She's not seeing everything but what she does see and hear she doesn't seem to care... He has said again and again that he didn't know, he's devastated with everything he's seen, horrified! But she's only seeing her side and his BeiTech logo. Nothing else. And that's not fair. AIDAN is seriously damaged after everything. He's just coming back online and merging with the Mao and for a second, with Nik, it's really scary. Kady needs to teach AIDAN not to try and make its own jokes! Especially when those jokes involve scaring a person to death! Nik was trying to deal with his problems and smoking in an airlock, the AI pretends to sound an alarm and when Nik pulls a gun on it AIDAN tells him he's going to drop oxygen levels! And that's its idea of a joke! Kady! Teach him better! Fix that screwed up sense of humor! But then Ezra comes along and talks to him and, like the girls' friendship, it seems nice and comfortable. And, even against explicit orders from the captain, Ezra invites Nik to be his gunner. And he says yes, because as much as he says he doesn't, he cares about what people think about him, especially Hanna. And he wants to be better for her. Kady invites Hanna and Ella to help her with the gathering and curating of information from everything that happened since Kerenza, since the poor things are tired of doing nothing. And Ella isn't too happy when she speaks with AIDAN and almost breaks it, twice, after using sarcasm. I think that the thing that finally breaks Rhys, at last leads him to the resistance side is the fact that he just watched some BeiTech pounders shoot a ten-year-old in the head. And being berated for doing that! It's horrible, these people are horrible. And when he broaches the subject to Oshiro you can see not only his anger, but hers. Her frustration at the situation, her hate of it. She's been there the whole time, had to kill hundreds of people, saw friends get killed, suffered the repercussions of the invasion from the rebels. She doesn't like this anymore than he does, but she's more of a soldier than Rhys is. Rhys is at the end of the rope at only two weeks in. Oshiro learned to survive. She had to... Asha is in such deep pain. She didn't leave her parents just because they wanted her away from Rhys, but because the night she got stabbed, her younger sister got hit by a car and died... Just a couple floors from her! And her parents didn't know where Asha was, the hospital staff couldn't find them either... And they were right there the whole time, going through the death of their youngest... So Asha swore she'd never fail Katya, a girl of eight she found starving outside. They are like mother and daughter and it's super hard for Asha sometimes. She's giving her rations to the girl because she's hungry, she's protecting her and it's heartbreaking to know what happened, to see Asha fall apart... AIDAN is seriously wrong! It's back to how it was when it blew up the Copernicus! It flooded two entire levels, over two freaking thousand people, with carbon monoxide! Because Kady disapproved of the way it killed DJ and Mantis, by cutting off the oxygen. That was its solution to conserving food and water and oxygen! AIDAN is broken! Kady kills it... Because she understands that AIDAN did this. The captain orders her to too, but even without that she would do that. She hates having to do it, AIDAN is frightened, but she does it anyway. She has to save the rest of the people on-board. Rhys has a plan to let the rebels transmit to the system, to try to have someone hear it. So while one of Asha's friends creates a distraction, she and Rhys go into a restricted area to plant a device that will allow that. Their conversations are still uneasy, despite how hard Rhys tries. Because there's a moment when they are in deep trouble and the only way to pretend their being there is innocent is for Rhys to kiss her. So when the pounders get in the room all they see is a couple getting in on. But the they recognize him, from when Rhys punched their major. Thankfully Oshiro is there and helps Rhys and Asha out, even though she screams at him afterwards, saying that he's a soldier and he needs to start acting like one. Garver and his pals scream their hate when Syra is trying to do a funeral for the people AIDAN killed. McCall knows that an uprising is about to hit, but when only thirty people take three different levels in crucial levels, including the bridge, killing several people there, starting with the captain. It's brutal and a tad unexpected how it goes down. The mutineers are so few compared to the rest of the people, but their job is so easy! At least the taking. There had to be another way. And to think that all this started because some adults refused to acknowledge the "kids" that saved so many people and who have done so much already to earn their place. And of course the idiots that took the ship want to stop going to Kerenza and form a "safe and sensible" plan! Heavens, the idiots! I absolutely love Hanna's drawings and narration of said drawings! She's adorable and super cute and the fact that she's with both Ezra and Nik makes it so much better! And thanks to Kady warning and asking for help from Ella, they four of them concoct a plan. And part of it includes bringing AIDAN back online. Don't get me wrong, I really like it! But it's scary given what it did last time and how damaged it was for being a copy of a damaged copy... But it's the only thing they can rely on now. Even though it's weird when he calls Kady, again and again, his queen as he knocks out the mutineers with her in the brig. The crew of the Mao divide and conquer, and while they do that, they receive the message the resistance in Kerenza sent. And finally Kady knows her cousin is alive and gets a few details on what's going on planet side. When Steph didn't answer her friends it just so happens to be because BeiTech found some of the explosives that went missing, the night Asha and Rhys were found communications array, in her bench. But it was only a small part and since torture didn't yield answers, they killed her. And then it was all hands-on deck as every BeiTech personnel was enlisted to search for the rest of the explosives. Rhys is on his way to the barracks with his friend Duke, when he is "summoned" to the hospital, where Asha tells him all about what Kady said. But as they are coming back to the reception, the team Rhys was with the night they killed the little girl comes in. They hear Katya in the air vents and things go downhill from there. Asha has four guns to her face and Rhys kills all four of those people for her. Rhys feels as haunted as Nik now, after having killed for the first time. Duke then calls him, tells him he's late because something happened with another squad and then Bruno, a friend of Asha, encounters him in the barracks and he's the one who had the rest of the explosives. And he explodes the school, with himself and Duke there... Rhys is pissed! So much so that he turns Asha in. He's furious! Roaring at her, not caring about her for a moment! Because he warned her not to hurt his friends, asked her about the explosives. And yeah, she didn't know, but he doesn't know that, which makes it all the worse... Isaac Grant is such a soft and good person! He is such a good dad and he just went around saying, to Hanna, Ella and Nik, that he'd be their family, care for them and try to fill their father's shoes for as long as they want! It's such a sweet moment. Rhys was pissed that hiss friend was blown up, but the whole betrayal was on purpose. He sent Asha's palmpad up to the Churchill on purpose, to take down BeiTech! And oh my God! When AIDAN breaches the Churchill it's chillingly amazing! So awesome! It just takes command of everything, especially the armaments, and starts shooting at BeiTech pilots! I know I shouldn't be laughing, but damn this is beautiful work on AIDAN’s part! With the Churchill frozen by AIDAN, its captain decide to go to the dead ship that still has guns to fire, Kenyatta. AIDAN is spread too thin to be able to predict things properly, and after all the damage it suffered those errors almost costed eveything... And then it simply fails them and BeiTech is fast approaching the Mao. Meanwhile, the miners are getting the better of the soldiers, but it doesn't seem to last long, because Ezra and his team soon have enemies on their tails. Rhys and Asha also have problems finding Katya, who she suspects is right at the epicenter of the fight/BeiTech landing zone... In the Magellan things turn critical and the crew starts losing for BeiTech, and then it goes downhill when Garver calls surrender for his entire team, undermining McCall's orders... Which was a play! So that Hanna and her two companions had time to implant Ella's virus and open doors that lead to oxygen into space, so that only the Mao's crew survives inside their envirosuits. Since the Mao has no way of destroying Kenyatta, its nuke can't be launched, it starts driving towards it in a suicide mission. But AIDAN comes back online and does that for Kady. And I know that it was not always good, its sanity started to vanish after Kerenza, but I ache for losing it. For Kady losing it. It loved her, even if it's weird to have an AI love a person... AIDAN deserved a better end, but he protected Kady and hundreds of others with the end he chose... Asha sees Katya across from her in the middle of the battlefield. The fighting stops long enough for the kid to think it save to traverse the space toward Asha and Rhys even calls a cease fire. Still a pounder shoots the girl, looking miserable after, and as everyone stares the girl falls. But Oshiro was the one commanding that squad and so she sends her medics to the pair and orders her people to lay down their weapons, after being reminded, thanks to Asha's words, that a soldier's first duty is to his conscience. Nik and his goddamned parachute save both him and Ezra from being annihilated along with their ship. They work out a cease fire with the BeiTech survivors and jump to a safe place, where they lie low as they compile their files. At the end of the trial they are all there, either inside or outside the court. They watch as BeiTech is found guilty of the charges brought against them, especially Ezra's mom. Then they all have the promised dinner, and it's so nice and soft. The perfect ending for this trilogy. It was truly a great story! And AIDAN survived inside the Magellan but didn't tell anyone, and I'm so glad I actually had tears in my eyes! This story was brilliantly written, from the characters to the plot, and especially to the way it's written! I have no words to describe how much I loved the entirety of it, and I miss it already. It's the kind of book/series that left me with a small whole in my heart when I reached the final page. And even with the huge number of books I own and have already read, it's a very rare feeling. If I could have more, I'd love to devour it. But since I can't, I'll just stick with r