Book Review – After Moses Prodigal by Michael F. Kane

With the first book, I bought the rest of the series in hardcover after only reading nine chapters. With book two, it was a wise investment that has paid dividends in a great story with a well-paced plot and fantastic prose.

Where book one contained a number of almost vignette stories that added to a whole story and set up the world, book two splits up characters to keep the pacing and change in setting to keep the reader interested. Kane knows how to handle his characters as they are maturing with age or working as a team or being better versions of themselves (or trying to be). While the focus of the story, as seen in the cover, is focused on Grace, she is not a damsel in distress and Davey is a sniveling child that he once was. That’s not to say they are perfect and that allows for them to grow as characters even during this story.

While readers may feel the pace of the story is slower at the beginning half of the book, the ramp up to the second half shows why the pacing was needed at the start. This is not to say that nothing happens but in comparison to the second part and with the first book there is a shift. Characters are not sacrificed for the plot and the plot doesn’t slow down for the sake of the characters. How characters learn new things or grow is all done as it’s happening. There’s not a seismic shift that happens in isolation after deep, internal monologue. There is clear growth with the younger characters but with a decision made by another character on the crew, it shifts her entire arc and realise that these are people not written as monoliths but act like real people. Addition of new people are understanding of them make sense and are welcomed. No one has easy to guess decisions or free from reprocussions when they make seemingly easier choices.

My comment in the first book was that it was nice that there wasn’t this giant, overarching plot that needs 15 books and 1,000 pages between to get to the end (well, in fact, Kane did it in 6 books). In this book, more of that bigger story unfolds. However, Kane earns the attention and I even forgave the inclusion of a broken MacGuffin puzzle piece that will unlock secret information. With the fun adventures and well-written people to follow, it adds to the fun of the story and it doesn’t become the sole driving force of the story. In fact, not having unlimited funds becomes an issue that makes the world feel real (my problem with The Expanse series is Holden and his crew never need provisions or purchase bullets for their Rocinante ship).

Two items of note that were exceptional. The first is that the opening chapter entries are diary-like entries that describe the after-effects of the AI Moses up and leaving one random day. In book one, these really helped build the world and they were fun to read about what a Moses built solar system looked like. In book two, they do just the opposite. The tone is darker for Moses leaving and the impending doom and the slow wind down humanity’s former sole reliance on the AI for its way of life in the universe is weighted even more here. Reading these were snapshots of dread and horror to come – I loved it. The second was an inclusion of the introduction of a few characters from a multigenerational line that occurs in a flashback. It does tie into the current story in a big way but the quickness they are introduced and the conclusion of their story happens in the middle of the book and within maybe 50 pages (roughly). Kane’s writing shines here in making me care about them, seeing them for what they are and could have been, and ties to the story and to the character that comes through in the end. A character in distress needing forgiveness after a confession and another fatherly character freely offering it shows not just character growth but is the theme of the whole story.

The story does not conclude at a reset. Each person on the ship is not who they are at the beginning. Not all of – in the positive. Kane has a clear perspective and if it wasn’t clear from the first book, this book shows he knows where he’s going and he cares about the reader in having a good time. While I loved the first book a lot, I really enjoyed this book as a different story but in the same universe that the author believes in. I could not recommend this series more for those who enjoy sci-fi and are searching for a book where hope resides.