Thoroughly enjoyed this Sci-fy adventure! I didn’t realize it was part of a series so I had the pleasure of reading book one as well. I thought the plot and characters were very well developed!

The strengths of the Neo-G series are the connections between the characters buttressed by interesting and well developed plots. The final entry into the series brings back this found family and throws them into a supernatural mystery they need to solve for both their safety and that of interstellar travelers. Overall this final book is a satisfying conclusion that weaves together the threads of found family while also acknowledging that at some point these characters will change and move on perhaps on their own or only with a few members of their crew. Wagers manages to convey the bittersweet nature of finding your people and knowing that some time in the future those relationships will have to change. On a less satisfying note Wagers introduces several new characters to help resolve the traumatic aftermath from events in the second book. Between the new characters, the transition of the core characters, the annual boarding games, the mystery to be solved the book often moves slowly despite all the action. Overall still recommended as a solid conclusion to a charming space opera.

The Ghosts of Trappist is the third book in KB Wagers' NeoG series of space opera novels, which follow a future space version of the Coast Guard in the 25th century, after humanity had experienced a societal collapse from which it emerged a better, more egalitarian and accepting, but still far from perfect society. The series, which began with the really enjoyable A Pale Light in the Black (my review is here), follow specifically a team of Neos who crew the interceptor "Zuma's Ghost" as they attempt to safeguard travel in the Black - both in the Solar System and around a human colony in the Trappist system - and as they form a found family...even as things can get rough for them personally and professionally. Also there's a fun inter-military competition called the Boarding Games that the team competes in for fun and bragging rights. The first book was largely found family and light-ish, even as there was a background conspiracy plot, but the second book (Hold Fast Through the Fire) got a bit darker, featuring betrayal, traumatic events, and struggles to pull through together (I didn't quite love it as much).

And so we come to this book, book 3, which tries to sort of hit multiple themes we saw in both books - found family, struggling with trauma and grief - as well as some new ones having to deal with AI, specifically the team's robot dog "Doge" who was one of my favorite characters in prior books. There's also a major new theme of abusive relationships, which was previously touched on in the family sense with major character Max's family (and is still dealt with here on that note) and now extends to other such abusive relationships, romantic and otherwise. And for the most part, I think The Ghosts of Trappist does this well - the characters remain excellent, both new and old, the dialogue and plot events are sharp and enjoyable (even as the horror nature of the plot never really is that horrifying and parts of the plot are predictable to the point where you just wish the protagonists would get a clue for a long long time). And I enjoyed getting point of view chapters from one Zuma member, Sapphi, who we previously only saw from the side...and seeing how the "hacking" seems to work in this book was kind of fun and enjoyable, even if it reads a little silly. That said, the book is probably spread a bit too thin, with some subplots not feeling complete amidst everything else, so it's not perfect...but it's still a very solid continuation of this series.



Plot Summary:
In the asteroid belt out by the Trappist system, Commander D'Arcy Montaglione, captain of the NeoG Interceptor Dread Treasure is struggling - with the pain of betrayal by one of his own, in an act that cost the lives of many others, with the trauma of the costs of that betrayal for himself - the loss of one of his other teammates - and with the new crew members that have come onto his team...including Master Chief Emel Shevreaux, a woman from his past on Mars. Emel brings up bad memories of how he left her and Emel's brother back in the day, and D'Arcy is having a hard time handling having Emel and the other new member of his team onboard.

Meanwhile the crew of Zuma's Ghost is dealing with their own traumas and struggles, even as they look set to win yet another edition of the Boarding Games. Max finds herself facing a nosy reporter who was clearly sent by her parents, who are once more threatening to drive a wedge between Max and the NeoG, and Max finds herself wondering if she can make the ultimate choice to cut off her own family. And then there's Sapphi, the team's elite hacker, who just barely survived death two years ago (and in fact did biologically "die" for a second), who finds herself struggling with the trauma from that experience. That trauma is only exacerbated by the return of an old flame from Sapphi's past, one who once took Sapphi to the brink of self-destruction, and who wants to try to resume their relationship. And then there's the weird fact that the team's robot dog Doge is acting strange, as if his simple AI program has obtained far more sentience and intelligent thinking than was previously believed to be possible...something that if known to the wrong people could get him shut down.

In the middle of all this comes a new mystery: a series of freighters showing up in the asteroid belt near Trappist, all abandoned, and all reported as missing years prior. Investigating this mystery reveals that the disappearances of freighters and other ships has only increased recently, such that even the local Pirate chief in Trappist space is scared of something out there. And then there's the mysterious song that plays near the freighters, one that comes as prelude to the strangest real space and cyberspace attacks the NeoG has ever seen - one which will require them to figure out their own traumas and to move forward if they can even hope to survive....
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Previous NeoG books focused largely upon the crew of Zuma's Ghost. Max and Jenks have been main characters in every book to date, with point of view segments of their own and usually big important plot arcs. Book 1 also included Rosa (who is bizarrely absent from this book, even despite being retired) and Book 2 included Nika as POV characters, while Book 2 also introduced new crew member and major character Chae as well. But the series has touched on other people as well, most notably other NeoG crews, such as the crew of Dread Treasure, led by D'Arcy. And so it shouldn't come as a surprise in this book that D'Arcy and a new Dread Treasure crew member Emel become major POV characters in this book 3. As I'll detail below, the expanded scope of this book largely works in its favor, and really allows for us to see how much of a family the NeoG fully is and how that family isn't limited to just each individual Interceptor's crew.

And the story uses each of these characters to deal with a number of strong and important themes in really usually well done ways. For D'Arcy, that theme involves dealing with trauma, betrayal, and grief, as D'Arcy struggles to deal with how one of his trusted crewmates betrayed the others and cost him the life of one other member of his team. D'Arcy can't help but feel guilty and responsible - with this not helped by the return of someone from his past for whom he also feels responsible - and finds it hard to trust anyone other than the two remaining members of his longtime crew...and D'Arcy's refusal to trust and to open himself up clearly is cost him and the rest of his team, forcing them into suboptimal decisions and situations. Worse, as the commander of the team, D'Arcy's actions are being imitated by the junior surviving member of his crew, resulting in more disarray. Wagers manages to make this theme play out really well, showing how hard it is to move past grief and trauma, and how it does take time even when it is possible to do, even with all the support you can possibly have around your side...as D'Arcy fortunately has in the rest of the NeoG.

For Sapphi, there's similar grief of the loss of a girl who she may have wanted to get into a serious relationship with had there been the opportunity, and that's only made worse by her own traumas from almost dying. And then comes along Yasu, a former flame who once led her down a path of self-destruction through drugs and bad decisions, and who seemingly is a new person (besides being trans) and wants to reconnect and apologize. The result is a story that is really well done as Sapphi relives the toxic relationship and finds it hard to now how to react when that relationship might be coming back. The themes of toxic relationships are also exemplified in Max's story as Max finally has to figure out how to make a stand against parents who, after getting off her back a little in book 1, refuse to back off and let Max be who she wants to be. For both Sapphi and Max, the key to getting through it is to realize how much support and healthy friends they both have, but even that's not always enough as the book makes fully clear and it requires a strong will that not everyone can have to try to get through it all.

All of this is tied in very well to the main plot, which deals with AIs - both new ones and Doge, who has grown into a being that has incorporated Jenks' and the rest of the team's teachings to become a worthy and trusted member of the team, who isn't just funny and perceptive but is a real caring person. The main plot is done well enough, even if it will be insanely predictable as to what's really behind the mysterious ghost ships for pages and pages before the main cast figures it out (hence why I'm not even using spoiler tags to mention part of it here), and it all ties up together really well with the book's general themes. And of course Wagers manages to use quips and great dialogue and some solid action to tie it altogether in a package that is really enjoyable even if the themes are really serious. Add in a plotline for Jenks that is basically just heartwarming and isn't really traumatic at all (a nice change for Jenks!) and there's a lot here for fans of the series, like myself, to like.

Not everything works - new character Emel's storyline of leaving her wife to join NeoG after her naval career because she just couldn't stay out of the Black just feels half-done, with her reconciling at the end without any page length really showing why her significant other should try to reconcile (it would've made more sense for that reconciliation to never happen, which is fine! Not everyone needs to stay together and this is a reasonable and realistic conflict). Also Max's struggle with her parents works well...but it's kind of hard for Rosa and especially Ma from book 1, who both helped her with that conflict in the past (and Ma knows her parents really well) to not show up. Still the result is generally a really well done NeoG book and one that is a very solid book in general, making this series still one I recommend to queer Space Opera fans.

3.5

I’ve had K.B. Wagers on my sci-if TBR for years now and heard them speak on a panel about this book saying it could standalone from the previous two so requested it on NetGalley. I ended up reading the first two before this anyway because I’m a completionist, and while I think this plot does mostly stand up by itself, it definitely works better if you have read the first two. Wagers does put in a little details about the plots on the first two books so you won’t be lost, but I think you lose some of the character impact if you haven’t followed the characters through those plots.

I think that the balance of Boarding Games to macro plot could flowed better. I had a similar complaint with the first book in the series but I love the way it worked in the second, so I was disappointed that this book went back to the awkward transitions. I did love the introduction of some space or elements though, and found that spooky bits pretty unsettling, though I do tend to find space and AI unsettling.

All that to say that I think this is a really fun series, though the second book is my favorite. I like how Wagers built out the crew and I love how diverse they have made this world, especially considering military scifi has historically, been very not diverse. That being said, I do find some of the ways diversity was noted a little jarring, like the writing would specifically call out cis or trans in a way that would’ve felt more natural it had been more subtle. I recommend this series anyone looking for a light hearted scifi adventure, and I look forward to diving into Wagers’s backlist.

I loved the first two books in this series but y’all this one was a STRUGGLE. We were spread super thin between more than the usual handful of POVs - and it was obvious that the ones that continued on from previous books didn’t learn from earlier events. When the whole plot of book two had to do with keeping secrets and gaslighting your friends/teammates and showing how that lack of communication is BAD, to then have that come up again in another flavor and be one of the main plot points… you could have totally skipped over that.

This book was long and we didn’t get enough tidbits of good mystery to hold us over. Instead we got BS side plots that just served to weaken the characters we already thought we knew. The main villain was a caricature and not particularly interesting, and the conclusion was sudden and didn’t feel remotely cathartic. I felt like we didn’t answer the core questions that this whole book’s arc brought up.

It was just… so disappointing.

A thoroughly exciting and compelling story, and that includes the entire trilogy. The camaraderie among the crew members and other characters is just as important as their adventures. The five star rating does not indicate it is perfect (what is?), but anything I could nitpick does not negate the overall feeling. If Katy ever returns to this world and these characters I want to read it. If not I should go back to their other two trilogies. Highly recommended.

I am a big KB Wagers fan yet I can't manage this book. Stilted writing. Uninteresting characters. This is not something you will likely want to read.

I received this as an Advanced copy from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Sooooo,... I screwed up. I did not realize this was the third book in a series. I have not read the first two books, so keep that in mind when reading this review.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. The characters were good, a mix of relatable characters. At the start of the book, I was overwhelmed with the number of characters and the rapid-fire introduction (but yeah books one and two). During this same time, I remember thinking there was a lot of hugging and touching for a military crew, but I don't necessarily feel it hurt the storyline. At about the halfway point I was feeling a little disconnected, when i picked it up again I felt it really picked up. From that point on I was much more connected and wanted to see what was coming next. I am glad I didn't give up on it. If I had it to do over again, I would most definitely start at one and two that perhaps would have chanced how I looked at and felt about the first half the book. So, if you are already into this series, I highly recommend this book. If you haven't read one and two it's probably worth it to start at the beginning, otherwise take your time at first to connect the characters.

I absolutely fell in love with the NeoG a few short weeks ago, and rushed through the entire series.
I loved it from beginning to end.

Just like the jump between books 1 and 2, there is a jump to book 3 as well. Two whole years have passed, new Neos join the crews, and there's some POV switches. Max and Jenks stay as the main ones, but we now get the addition of Sapphi, as well as extending beyond Zuma's Ghost with D'Arcy and new Neo Emel.

I found Sapphi especially intriguing after what happened to her during the events of Hold Fast Through the Fire and the plot hints that were dropped all throughout that book. Plus I was looking forward to some hacking stuff! While the coding and hacking never got super in depth, it was still interesting.

D'Arcy also made sense as he is in the lead of the joint task force on Trappist, and his history with Emel added some nice drama.
The first half of the book has a whole bunch of interpersonal drama, focussing on the issues the Neos have with each other, their relationships, and their insecurities. For the first time in the series, I found myself getting a bit annoyed with one of the characters for being non-sensical, especially since they admitted they knew they were wrong from the start
Of course, all of it is resolved without too much drama or miscommunication, and the second half of the book is much more plot heavy. While all characters undergo character development, some of them fall back into old habits, which reminded me a lot of issues from book 1. I do not hold that against them though, given that in real life people also don't just magically get over their flaws without them every popping up again.

The plot brings up a new threat, but still ties in somewhat with events from the previous book(s), which I liked. I will say that I enjoyed this plot the least of the three, but it was still fun and well crafted.
There also were the ever present Boarding Games again, though this time they felt very overshadowed by the plot, some interpersonal stuff happening, as a chunk of the POV characters not being involved, which all made them feel not as big.

I don't know if this is the last book in the series. It closes up most plotlines, both story and character wise, but still definitely leaves room for more explorations, characters and developments. I certainly would welcome more books, but I can also see this as a good cut from the crews.

Another great story in the continuing adventures of the NeoG. I love that this series has such a wide range of characters from just about any spectrum you care to name. And that isn't the important part anyway, preferred pronouns, preferred relationships, it's all just matter of fact. The characters are great, relatable and entertaining. (My favorite is Doge.)
This story focuses more on the anomalous ships around Trappist and less on the Olympic-style competition of the earlier books. I look forward to reading the next book and finding out more about certain characters.

Full Rating: 4.75 Stars

The Ghost of Trappist is set two years after the conclusion of the second book, with the team of Zuma’s Ghost working like a well oiled machine. The focal character of the first book, Max, has grown almost beyond recognition of the young woman we met before. She has grown well into her duty as Lieutenant aboard Zuma’s Ghost and, most importantly, spends most of the book taking a stand against her famous and hyper-restrictive family.

One strength of this book (and the series as a whole) lies in Wagers’ use of perspective and their constant expansion of it as the series goes on. From what I can remember of the first book, we’re really only allowed into the internal world of Max and Jenks, with a few characters here and there. The second book expands the point of view to Nika and Chae, and The Ghosts of Trappist expand that even further to include Sapphi, D’arcy, and a few new characters we’ve not met before. Though I’m not usually a fan of large casts of revolving narrators, I feel as though Wagers’ really pulls it off well and utilizes it as a way to expand their universe.

The characters are the shining centerpiece of this story, and I’m positive that’s what gives the NeoG series as a whole a different but familiar feel to most science fiction. From characters I’ve spent the whole series with to characters I’ve just met, Wagers is a master at getting me to care about them and their individual struggles. This attention to character allows the focus of this book on AI to feel refreshingly earned, and I’m very glad that, while it was hinted at in the previous two books, it only became a focus once the humans of the series became so familiar to me.

My only gripe with this book that it continues to share the split attention of the previous book, half focused on the Boarding Games just as the previous books were. While there was a dramatic cut back on the focus given to the games (compared to what I remember of the first book, which spent the majority of its attention on the competition and gave the secondary conflict nothing more than a minor look) that they were still included felt like they were distracting from the main mystery of the plot. I wholly agree with the in-universe decision of the crew to pull back from the Games and allow other teams to step up in their place, but I had hoped it could have happened at the start of the story, somewhere in that two year time skip. Should Wagers continue this series, I hope they don’t return to the Games as a sort of narrative crutch and allow the interstellar action to fully encompass the plot.

Conclusion:

I was excited to read through this book because, at the end of the day, I’m a sap and sucker for science fiction. It’s my bread and butter, especially if it features queer characters and queer narratives. The Ghosts of Trappist is queer science fiction for the science fiction nerd, with Wagers utilizing several tropes of the genre to build what I am sure will be a sprawling narrative should they continue to tell the story of Zuma’s Ghost and its crew.

I give The Ghosts of Trappist a hearty recommendation to any fan of science fiction. There’s a bit of something for everyone, a fun, spooky mystery with a dash of character driven conflict. There’s divorcee drama, a couple fist fights, and plenty of space fire fights.

Ghosts of Trappist by K. B. Wagers is a fun trip through space.  It is so easy to get lost in.  The returning crew if Zuma's Ghost give you the sense of familiarity, while the addition of the crew from Dread Treasure brings a new wrinkle into what is a fantastic story.  The technology is realistic enough that suspension of disbelief is easy.  The personal relationships are what really drives the story. The subjects of hope, family, betrayal, and loss are very relatable.  It feels like you know the characters on an intimate level and the changes in perspective feel natural.  Even if science fiction is not your preferred genre, this story is good enough to cross over to fans of all genres.

The conclusion to the NeoGuard trilogy, which focuses on a future “coast guard in space” but is much better than that sounds. The series has followed the culturally diverse and gender-diverse crew of an interceptor craft in and out of the solar system, as they deal with personal issues and frequently larger conspiracies. What makes the books are the crew, who are realistic, have human problems, and inter-relate well. Survivor grief, family disapproval of career choices, and a failed/failing relationship for a new crew member add to the interesting and sympathetic dynamics, set against the mystery of piracy in an extrasolar colony’s system, which links to a crew member . There is also the series framing device of the Boarding Games, which engage the crew (and bind them together as a unit) against other ships and other military services. Wagers is a strong author and proudly trans, which flavors the book without in any way dominating it. Start with the first and read all three. I would sign on for a second trilogy.

Yay, more KB Wagers! Such an inventive writer who always uses tech in interesting ways.

This is the third book in a very accessible science fiction series--Earth-based, not too too far into the future.
I enjoyed spending more time with the NeoG people

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC of this book available to me.

Another fine book in this modern space-opera series. This one (the third in this series) is the most complex yet, with several plotlines, and with AI being a major focus. It's so nice to have a book set in a future where gay, trans, bi, poly and cis relationships are all accepted and not a major point of contention. Just a thoroughly enjoyable read. Hopefully we will get more books in this series.