A foreword by Marianne Dyson explains the concept of a flight in constant motion between Mars and Earth, using the masses of the planets to boost the passage of a space vessel big enough to sustain a crew for months. Arriving at a planet, the crew could take a shuttle ride down and swap with a crew coming up while the vessel continued its motion. The scheme was proposed by astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

I tried reading this several times and had to stop and move on to a new book. In my downtime, I came back to this one. I started out alright but got so dull. I finished it but it was very boring for me.

This e-ARC was provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
---
I haven't read previous works by this author, but I thought to give this a try because of the blurb.

This novel, although nearly 500 pages long, is a pleasure to read as its plot is very well-paced.

The characters are well-developed and I'm interested to see where the story takes them.

Full review to come!

A thrilling and unique space opera, The Last Dance follows several different protagonists as they attempt to piece together the picture of a mutiny in space. The universe of this novel reminded me of a combination of Yoon Ha Lee and George R.R. Martin - a truly genius amount of detail with a wide cast of characters whose points of view all contribute to the same picture. I enjoyed many of the characters but I was particularly interested in Aames' pov, which I thought could've used some more time in the spotlight in order to understand the story conflicts better. Other than that small complaint, a great book!

A special thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Rounded up to 4.5 stars!

The story is centred around General Inspector Park Yerim, on whose shoulders it has fallen to investigate allegations of mutiny brought against spaceship Captain Nick Aames. It is told predominantly through a series of 'off-the-record' accounts by crew members of previous events in which the captain played major parts. It is through these accounts that the investigator and the reader come to form an understanding of the complex character of Captain Aames. Interspersed with these accounts the story reverts to the present and the investigation. Inspector Parks is in a difficult position - under pressure from all sides and finding herself being stonewalled and under threat.

Each crew member's account is almost a short story in itself and very interesting. The writing, dialogue, character-building and scene-setting were all brilliantly done. And I loved the very ending despite guessing it.

I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a book this much. This author was previously unknown to me, but I will now be looking up his back-catalogue.