Stearns, R. E. Mutiny at Vesta. Shieldrunner Pirates No. 2. Saga, 2018.
In this sequel to Barbary Station, our loving couple of Lesbian engineers once again face problems with self-aware AIs, spaceships, computers, and people that need fixing, evil corporate bosses, and a few other surprises it would be too much of a spoiler to reveal. Lesbian romance aside, Mutiny at Vesta is old-school space opera. It seems to me that minor characters were better developed in the first novel, but if you can stomach some of the clichés, the action keeps you engaged. I wish the Ais were more fully developed, but I do like the notion of a virtual workspace that one must take dangerous psychedelic drugs to enter. Three stars. ( )

While I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as Barbary Station, I think it’s largely because I know Stearns’ style now, and because the plot was so different, it took me a while to readjust expectations. The threats are less varied, they have a safer base to work from, there’s an actual bad guy instead of bad tech, the sense of doom isn’t quite omnipresent, and so on. Looking at it objectively, it’s just as good of a book, but in an almost completely different way. Once the tension kicks in, it really kicks.

As you can maybe guess from the summary, there are multiple heists and other jobs here, which are to a one fantastic to see in action and/or planning. A lot of the tension comes from trying to work out how they fit together (plus the through-line of the awakened AIs from the last book). I don’t remember wanting to reread Barbary Station to catch clues I missed. Rereading Mutiny at Vesta would yield so much, I’m sure.

Stearns’ sense of character and world-building is still on point too and I think I appreciate her casual way of relaying it even more after reading this one. Every character has a personality and a purpose, there are few world details wasted, there’s lots of diversity of race, gender, and sexuality (including, of course, the main characters), and the plot’s tight and well-paced. Stearns doesn’t really up her game, but she also doesn’t need to.

My main complaint is that there is a semi-cliffhanger, no date on a third book, and Adda and Iridian still haven’t had a proper honeymoon. Ah well, can’t have everything.

7/10

To bear in mind: Contains various space-related dangers and mishaps, a number of dead, dying, and tortured people, kidnapping and coercion, use of hallucinogenic stimulants, clinical depression, off-screen attempted suicide, general dislike of megacorporate bullshit, mind control, as seen from the outside, threatened violence due to same, and a severe drug overdose. ( )