The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton

Edward Ashton burst onto the science fiction scene with Mickey 7, the story of a failing colony and a dispensable crewmember (now the movie Mickey 17). Mickey as a character was snarky and observant but also intuitive and a great problem solver. Mickey returned in Antimatter Blues by which time he was suddenly a mission leader and had a relationship with an alien as he led an expedition into alien territory. All of which is to say that Ashton’s latest book, The Fourth Consort, while it features a main character with a different name on a different planet, could easily just be Mickey again encountering slightly different bug-like aliens.

Dalton Greaves, is one of two humans on board a ship that searches the galaxy for new species to bring into the ‘Unity’. The Unity is a collection of races overseen by a species of giant snails which humans call the Ammie. The Unity is competition with another polity known as the Assembly and there are hints throughout the book that Unity is not quite as benign as it makes out and maybe the Assembly is the better bet. The two are in competition over first contact with a new species and blow each other up in the process. This leaves Dalton, his companion Neera and the Assembly’s envoi stuck on the planet competing to win over the local population while waiting for reinforcements. However, that local population – predatory bug-like creatures – have their own ideas and their own internecine politics.

Greaves has to walk a fine line of local politics and his own mission, a job that ends up with him being placed in the harem (hence the title of the book) of the female leader of the world for reasons that never really make any sense (since she does not do the same to the other envoi). Greaves himself is what is quickly becoming a standard Ashton character – smart, resourceful, moral but also jokey and sarcastic. As noted, he is a little too much like Mickey (particularly in the sequel) but also reminiscent of Andy Weir characters, particularly Ryland Grace from Project Hail Mary.

It is hard to know what to make of The Fourth Consort. At many points it feels like an episode of Star Trek – with prime directives and aliens who might look alien but act (and speak) in a very human manner and have different conceptions of honour. Ashton gives the feel of larger forces at play in the ongoing competition between Unity and Assembly but does not give readers enough information to decide which side is potentially in the right.  So while The Fourth Consort is marketed as a stand alone novel it feels like part of a bigger story and a universe that Ashton could return to (there is a stinger suggesting this and he leaves Greaves in a more interesting place).

The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton

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7.0/10