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In Apostles of Mercy, Lindsay Ellis returns to her Noumena series with a story that explores the intricacies of human - and alien - connection. If Truth of the Divine told a story about how humanity might react to an impending alien invasion, Apostles of Mercy tells a story of hope and desperation. How would you react if you knew that everything you’ve ever known was destined to end in absolute hellfire? Would you fight tooth and nail to save the world? Or would you take the first chance at escape that crossed your path? This question is at the center of Apostles of Mercy, and it’s one Ellis explores quite effectively. Apostles of Mercy might just be the best entry in the Noumena series so far, featuring a tightly paced, laser-focused story that feels all at once sweepingly epic and shockingly intimate.

Apostles of Mercy begins a year or so after the events of Truth of the Divine, and Cora and Ampersand have all but retreated entirely from human society. Despite their efforts at achieving a higher form of connection, they remain further apart than ever before, haunted by the knowledge they may soon have to flee for their very lives. But when members of Ampersand’s sister species are discovered elsewhere on the planet, everything changes. Does the existence of these physeterines offer salvation or certain destruction? And can humanity, which seems hellbent on militarizing itself against an extraterrestrial threat, make a case for its own survival? In Apostles of Mercy, Ellis posits that humanity’s greatest threat might not come from the stars but from humankind itself.

Ellis tells a story both about the survival of humanity as a species and about the survival of these specific characters. Like all good first-contact stories, the Noumena series explores the ideas of what, exactly, makes us human, and Apostles of Mercy doubles down on that idea. Cora and Ampersand's relationship takes center stage here, even more than it previously has. But this time, Ellis contrasts their relationships with each other to their relationships with members of their respective species. It's a love story in the face of certain destruction. But alongside that intimate love story comes plenty of gripping political drama, heavy sci-fi ideas, and enough horror to make the Alien movies quiver in fear. It's impressive the number of plates Ellis juggles throughout the book. And, even more impressive, is just how perfectly Apostles of Mercy's various ideas come together in the end.

One of the things that’s made the Noumena series so stellar has been the way it juggles its focus on Cora and Ampersand’s relationship with the broader implications a first-contact scenario might have on humanity. And while Apostles of Mercy certainly maintains that balance, it’s safe to say it focuses a lot more on Cora and Ampersand than it does on the geopolitics of the situation. And that’s a good thing! For as epic a tome as Apostles of Mercy is, it simultaneously feels very focused and intimate. This is a story about survival in its rawest sense. A story about the lengths we go through to save those we love and about persevering in the face of certain defeat. Sure, every character in Apostles of Mercy finds themselves trapped underneath the political realities of this extraordinary situation, but that’s not the book’s focus.

Instead, Ellis focuses on the idea of connection. What is more human, after all, than our drive to connect with each other? We spend our lives looking for meaning in every interaction. We assign human characteristics to decidedly nonhuman objects and beings. And, even in our darkest moments, we reach out for those we love, in search of that final, desperate bit of hope. And that’s exactly what Cora and Ampersand find themselves doing throughout Apostles of Mercy. Cora rests her hopes in her budding new relationship with Paris, who rests her hopes in the answers she might glean from her interviews with Nikola. Meanwhile, Nikola rests his hopes in escaping captivity and reuniting with his beloved Ampersand, who rests his hopes in finding Nikola and putting a stop to the physeterines’ plans. It’s all just an endless cycle of finding hope in the connections we make with one another.

What's interesting when viewing Apostles of Mercy in the wider context of the Noumena series is the way it feels like a reworking of the series' overarching plot. The earlier books depict humanity as this unstoppable force of destruction. And while Apostles of Mercy doesn't renege on that depiction, it offers much more nuance. Previous books suggest that humanity might not be worth saving from extraterrestrial destruction. But Apostles of Mercy offers a glimmer of hope, shining a light on both the good and the bad of humankind. And that sets the series up to go down quite an interesting pathway in future installments. What initially seemed like the beginnings of an all-out war might, instead, be the beginnings of something far more intriguing. A political thriller in its truest sense, but one tinged with emotional truth. Put simply, the future of the Noumena series looks brighter than ever.

For now, Apostles of Mercy steers the Noumena series into more hopeful waters. It tells the story of lost souls desperately searching for connection, hope, and love in the face of near-certain destruction. It's a page-turner in every sense of the phrase, making its lengthy page count go by in the blink of an eye. Ellis' gift for writing complicated yet immensely relatable characters remains on full display here, as does her penchant for creating a detailed, realistic, and believable alternate history. Apostles of Mercy takes everything great from the previous books in the Noumena series and makes them even better, doubling down on the very human emotions at the heart of the story. It's a gripping, emotional, sometimes horrifying, and startling human read that's well worth a gander.

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Thank you to the publisher for providing me an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

A new book, a new conflict, new characters, but a familiar threat looms. Apostles of Mercy shifts the lens back away from humanity which was largely the focus of Truth of the Divine, and back to the aliens (but with a twist!). While I preferred this perspective and found the story to be interesting, as the end of a series, it left me scratching my head.

After the events of the last book, Cora is picking up the pieces of her life yet again. After Kaveh's death Cora develops a relationship with Paris as well as continuing to develop a deeper bond with Ampersand. As a result of events from the last book, Ampersand now lives in Japan which has extended rights to extraterrestrials, and Nikola has been forcefully imprisoned due to him trying to kill both Ampersand and Cora. It's discovered that the amygdaline sister species, the physterines, are on Earth and have been for decades, hiding from the Superorganism, trying to survive. While the exiled amydalines, the Fremda group, the physterines, and humanity all have a common goal in eluding the Superorganism, that doesn't mean they can work together as Ampersand is dead set on killing the physterines and the physterines are ready to claim Earth as their own. When their presence is found out, the physterines don't hesitate going on the offensive, capturing Nikola and Paris as Cora and Ampersand desperately try to get them back. It takes our full cast of characters, including CIA agent Sol and even Cora's awful father Nils to prevent the end of humanity, but with the multiple different parties trying to protect their own safety, how will humanity come out on top?

Just trying to recap this book made me realize that perhaps it wasn't as structurally sound as I had thought going into it. There are a lot of moving parts here, and unfortunately I feel that some of the development of these story lines was lacking because there was just so much that the story was trying to do.

Let's start with the characters. Okay so we have Cora and her relationship with Ampersand. It's mostly trucking along as usual, but now he wants to teach her high language, an invasive merging of consciousnesses, and it freaks Cora out, but he's insistent. Little bit of tension there.. Then there's her relationship with Sol, which is weird because it didn't exist in the second book so I hardly remember how I'm supposed to feel about him, but it's tense and strange, but I feel like I was meant to be rooting for it? Then there's Cora's relationship with Paris, which was very insta-lovey and mostly developed off page which made it harder for me to understand their deep connection. And then there are the smaller relationships, Cora and Nils, Paris and Nikola, Sol and Nils, Cora and Luciana, Paris and the physeterines, Ampersand and the Fremda group.. There was a primary conflict that drove the narrative for the majority of this book, but there was SO MUCH relationship development that felt like it was hastily included for some reason, I wish more attention had been put on fleshing out the relationships most critical to the story rather than worrying about wrapping up every single relationship before the end of the series.

The main story was very good, extremely compelling. The threat of the physeterines was so fascinating and the author did an excellent job of making it supremely difficult at figuring out who to "root for". The physeterines are just refugees and trying to survive, farmers trying to make their way in a universe trying to kill them, but they want to destroy humanity to have the planet for their own. Humanity is trying to survive by fostering good relationships with both the amygdalines and the physeterines who are dead set on killing each other, but they won't hesitate to destroy either one to protect themselves, and typical humanity will always go with the genocide option. The amygdalines are also trying to survive and navigate their new place on Earth, but seem to have no mercy for the physeterines and want them eliminated at all cost for their own survival. Almost with each chapter, your feelings towards any of these factions shifted and waned, driving you to hope that somehow all of them get what they want. While I found the pacing to be strong, it was a bit jarring for the narrative to shift so strongly from the second book to the third. The second book was almost entirely about humanity's acceptance of the aliens, and that was all but abandoned in this book. I personally prefer the focus on the aliens, but it did feel strange to leave that story behind so suddenly.

As a book, this was fine, probably 3 stars or so. With so much going on in the story, I feel like the characters and relationships were left behind and I prefer character work to plot honestly. But as the conclusion of a book series, it's much more compelling. Each book was so different and novel in its own way. While Axiom's end could be thought of as another first contact story, it is so much more than a "chosen one girl bonds with an alien and they go off on adventures". It is deeply political and scary. The second book pivots hard into the global politics of what it would mean to encounter super intelligent aliens and how to protect them while also protecting your own species. And then the third book kind of pivots into galactic politics and finding your place in the universe. Each book was a totally unique take on what first contact might mean, and I thought it did a fantastic job of really exploring those themes. So while there could be improvements at the book level, I really appreciate what this series did as a whole and I thought it was a refreshing take in the first contact genre.

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Between you and me I am never quite sure where this series is going to go when I pick up one of the book, I lock in for an experience and hope for the best. In this installment we obviously have to spend some time with characters processing the character death that was at the end of the second book, something that gutted me more than I thought was going to happen. That's not the only thing going on though. We have to deal with the fact that Ampersand and Co definitely aren't the only aliens in the universe, but they also aren't the only aliens on Earth and what those implications have for our characters. Once again Ellis does a really good job balancing the human characters and their alien counterparts; interjecting the political backdrop of the mid aughts that is the setting. What we're building toward in terms of a series plot still feels mostly nebulous in favor of zeroing in on the questions that this specific book wants to answer. It's something that I think works, not only for this book, but the series overall. Like really good TV it has the sense of telling a contained story that will ultimately benefit the overall season arc. It's also just very refreshing to have a science fiction series that is so grounded on Earth and the characters having to wrestle with the issues they face with resources that feel relatable in an era that still feels close but also has a thin veneer of nostalgia.

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As soon as I got the notification I had received this book, I dove straight into a reread of Axiom's End and Truth of the Divine so I could fully immerse myself in this new installment of Superorganism dread. Ellis's writing truly showcases the intense nuances that Cora & co. have to deal with when dealing with the aliens and the existential questions they pose. I found myself just as engrossed in Book 3 as I was in 1 and 2, and there was a pivotal moment that hit me straight in the gut and that I never saw coming. It's safe to say after this book, I will read whatever else Lindsay Ellis puts out into the universe! Thank to to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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I really enjoyed the previous books in this series and while I still greatly enjoy the writing, I didn't love this one. To be fair, I thought this was going to be the series conclusion, so when nothing was getting resolved, I was a little miffed. I like Cora but I don't get why everyone falls in love with her. Overall, something was missing in this novel. Excitement? Character development? Energy? Not sure.

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While I enjoyed the earlier books of this series, I found that this third book lost me somewhat. I felt like I was being "told" instead of "shown" a lot of the inner workings of the story. So many characters and motivations that the plot became, I felt, too sprawling and lost its momentum as we keep jumping from person-to-person, plot-to-plot etc.

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I was extremely excited to receive an ARC for this title, so thank you NetGalley! And I'm pleased to say, I enjoyed it a lot more than I did the previous title in the series. This book really made me feel like it achieved the perfect balance in Ellis's writing: the polished prose of Truth of the Divine with the more balanced plot structure of Axiom's End.

Ampersand has returned as a more prominent figure this time around, which brings it back to the alien romance that spoke to me in the first novel. As much as he can be a frustrating figure to observe. Also, it's been great to see Cora build up more agency in her personal and political life. I was really excited leading up to this entry, wondering how Cora would evolve after her decision too leave humanity behind, and I'm enjoying the journey so far.

This book introduces some plot elements that were alluded to in previous entries but that I was NOT expecting to manifest in this way, so that was a fun surprise. This book is more action orientated than previous entries, and I'm loving that Cora is now more capable of participating in these things. I really want to see where she goes from here.

I'm extremely eager for the next entry, whenever it comes about.

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When Netgalley emailed me to offer me an ebook ARC I was both elated and a little annoyed that they had foiled my plans to re-read the first two books before starting this one. I must plan better for next time. I thank them wholeheartedly for the opportunity to read this early.

Lindsay Ellis has once again crafted a novel that encompasses the breadth of people's (very pointedly not referring only to "human" here) emotions when faced with desperate situations. The myriad reactions to fear, the things we will do to save ourselves and those we love, the urges to be cruel or compassionate in the face of impending doom, and how there are always choices.

There is infinite nuance in how Ellis writes her characters. It makes one wonder what one would do in those circumstances, between a rock and a hard place. The times when we would choose cruelty over mercy. It's easiest to imagine oneself as noble and self-sacrificing, but I know how irritable I am when I haven't slept well, so I cannot possibly imagine being my very best self when faced with horrific existential quandaries. I hope never to find out. Some of these characters are irredeemable, and it comes down to their own choices when the only unforgivable sin is protracted callous self-interest.

I believe we are, slowly but surely, societally moving away from finding earnest hope and love as a way to move forward naïve. Ellis very carefully steps away from nebulous revolutions as a solution to anything and advocates for slow, steady changes in policy as the only way to fix any problems we are dealing with. The solution is not blowing up the Bad Guys because there are fundamentally no collective Bad Guys. There are individuals who make choices. American imperialist politics and the military are scrutinised from within.

And then there's the romance. How the characters love each other is incredibly compelling. I can't go into any detail without spoiling things, but one of the most touching scenes in the book is one I did not expect at all. I simply can't wait to read what Ellis publishes next.

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In Apostles of Mercy we continue the story of Cora and the alien Ampersand. I don’t want to give too much away for anyone who hasn’t read the first two books, so I’ll be a little vague in the synopsis. Cora is still acting as interpreter for Ampersand due to their connection, and many of Earth’s nations have offered legal personhood to the amygdalines. Things aren’t all rosy though – there’s still anti-alien sentiment, the worry about the Superorganism and their response to humanity, and now another group of aliens that Ampersand considers enemies. In the midst of this, Cora also begins to question her own connection to Ampersand and what it means for her and her future.

Both of the previous books in this series were 5 star reads to me, so I expected something similar from this book. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy this one nearly as much. In terms of personal enjoyment I’d give it 2 stars, but I also can’t deny that Lindsay Ellis is a fantastic writer. The depth of the characters, the prose, everything about her writing itself is masterful, so I’m bumping it up to 3 stars on those merits.

A lot of people are really going to enjoy this book, and there IS a great deal here to enjoy. The characters feel like real people with real and believable motivations, even the ones that are absolute jerks. (I’m looking at you, Sol.) The story has a broad view which I appreciate; it doesn’t focus only on Cora and Ampersand, but considers the broader impact of first contact on global politics, and the internal dynamics of the alien group itself.

Where this fell apart for me was the relationship between Cora and Ampersand. It didn’t bother me so much in the first two books, but here the uneven power dynamics began to really make me uncomfortable. That’s not because of bad writing or a bad story; in fact it’s realistic that the cultural norms of an alien civilization WOULD feel alien and off-putting. I would compare it to the Lillith’s Brood series by Octavia Butler; an amazing and seminal work of science fiction, but one that I could not enjoy purely because of the alien/human dynamics and relationships. But I believe it was Butler’s intent that we were made uncomfortable, and that very well may be the case here; certainly some of Ellis’s characters have serious questions about their connection, and Cora’s wellbeing.

Or, just as likely, there’s a deeper message here that I’m not seeing and I need time to sit with it and let it soak in. That’s entirely possible.

In the end, while this book didn’t resonate with me, I still think Ellis is a fantastic writer and I plan on reading the next book in the series if there is one; I’d like to see what happens with the Superorganism and if I continue to feel this way about Cora and Ampersand.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advance digital copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review!

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