This whole book is a comedy of errors. The characters operate from their past experiences rather than acknowledging that the present may be wholly different. There are lots of misunderstandings and some misleadings that take awhile to work out. However this is generally a comedy and things work out in the end, though not at all how I expected. I liked this book and feel that most readers will feel the same way.

This was a quick and absorbing read. The story was rich with worldbuilding details, and the alien species and societies were provocative and interesting. I especially appreciated the development of the main character, primarily through flashbacks, and the superposition of his prior life (as a student, and a soldier, and a son) with his current life (as a diplomat / prisoner on an alien planet). The ending was the perfect combination of inevitable, surprising, and satisfying.

But the story felt underdeveloped and even flat at times. The motivations of nearly all the characters remained obscure throughout and the world-building lacked breadth. The story's ending was perfect except that it also felt like a beginning. <i>The Fourth Consort</i> is supposedly a standalone but I hope it's actually the first of a series; I want to know more about this world, and I'd definitely read a sequel. 4.5 stars.

I absolutely loved Mickey7 and Antimatter Blues so I was stoked I was allowed to read this early. This book felt like it could've been in the same universe. This one did lack some the charm of the Mickey books and was more based on the politics of the universe. It didn't have the heart and emotional tug as Ashton's other books.

However, it was still well written and worth the read. It's a great book to get into SciFi. It's very accessible and has so much humor without being stupid. The ending was great and I strongly recommend this book.

Thank you, NetGalley and St Martin's Press for allowing me to read this book early. The opinion on this review is my own.

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this book. It delivered on that unexpectedness, and then some! I very much enjoyed this book, but expect it to need some thought processing time as it’s a unique spin on alien contact!

I really like Edward Ashton's writing! I've read all his books from Mickey 7 on, and each one I've liked more than the last. His books are a very accessible version of sci Fi because the stories are personal and comedic, but they are accessible without being too simple. They have complex and interesting world building just on a small scale. 

The Fourth Consort reminded me a lot of Antimatter Blues, the sequel to Mickey 7 which is one of my favourite stories. It also reminded me a bit of the spin off Animorphs book, the Andalite Chronicles.

I love stories about diplomatic relations between aliens because there's so many places you can go with them.

I won't go too much into plot points in this review because I found it enjoyable to read the book and figure out what was happening as I went.

If you're a fan of this authors other books you'll definitely like this one too. Id recommend it as well to fans of Becky Chambers and other more light hearted sci-fi authors.

Thanks so much to the publisher for the advanced copy!!

🚀I love a great funny sci-fi story and this is a great one! Humans are making first contact with a new planet. But surprise! They weren’t the first ones. The rival species has also made first contact. We follow Dalton, the human delegate, as he navigates learning the customs on this new planet while keeping an eye on his rival. We learn his back story and how he ended up exploring space in the first place. Dalton is witty and free spirited and fun to read! The different species are new and innovative and this with unique cultures and customs. Highly recommend!

🚀Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the advance digital copy! All opinions are mine!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 out of 5 stars

This is the part of the description that got me: "The only actual members of Unity that he’s ever met are Boreau, a giant snail who seems more interested in plunder than spreading love and harmony, and Boreau’s human sidekick, Neera..."

The fact that Boreau makes a very, very brief appearance and only in flashbacks was tragically disappointing. Still, I was taken by the story. I don't read a lot of sci-fi, and even less about space and alien species, but this has definitely captured my interest.

Dalton Greaves has just lost his father, and has stagnated, a feeling that I identified with so deeply it hurt. Then he was dumped publicly (...ish, the only person I can gather was a witness is the aforementioned Neera), and is offered the opportunity to leave his lonely, sad life on Earth behind to see worlds other than this with a giant snail while they try to save sentient species on other planets from destroying themselves. It's hard to be a sentient species and not self-destruct, you know?

Almost on a whim, Dalton agrees, and off they go. After so many months of travelling through space, they come to a planet where there are sentient insects (minarchs, which in my head were cockroaches), and at the time Unity (the company that hired Dalton and Neera) arrives, the Assembly also arrives (another company which Unity claims to be blood-thirsty resource pirates).

While Dalton and Neera (in my head, Neera is Calhoun from Wreck-It Ralph) are meeting with the minarchs' First-Among-Equals, as well as the Assembly's ambassador (who Dalton later refers to as Breaker and who in my head was a praying mantis), the Unity ship and the Assembly ship, up in space while the ambassadors are at ground level, begin firing on each other and appear to destroy each other, leaving Dalton, Neera, and Breaker on this planet with the minarchs to try to continue the mission in getting First-Among-Equals to choose either Unity or Assembly to help them continue the species.

Neera wants to kill Breaker immediately, but ends up allowing (more or less) Dalton to accompany First-Among-Equals into their city, along with Breaker, while she stays at the ship.

What unravels is quite the testament to Ashton's writing capability. Not only do you get personality and individualism from the various minarchs and Breaker, but you get political intrigue and friendship and betrayal and character growth.

Dalton is named a fourth consort to First-Among-Equals, angering some minarchs, who believe that Dalton is beneath her, and an animal, not of the same species. He is placed in a cave (?) with the second and third consorts (in my head they are Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Merry and Pippin, the Martians from Sesame Street), and finds that there is a reason the female micharchs run this world. He also discovers what happened to the first consort.

I have to say again that I was impressed by how much individualism Ashton was able to assign each individual character.

I was also impressed with this in a way I wasn't expecting when I realized I wasn't going to get a book about giant snails.

That being said, I felt the ending was trash. Not necessary the way it ended, but the way the ending was written. I felt cheated a bit. And yet, I am kind of hoping there will be more to this story.

The Fourth Consort is a quick, interesting Sci Fi read. I haven't previously read any of Aston's work, but I am eager to pick up something else after finishing this book.

I liked how fleshed out all the races were, especially for this book being on the shorter side. I thought each one was really well defined and their morals/belief systems were well thought out and explained. I thought the mixture of humor was a nice touch to the story. I was really impressed philosophical aspects of this book and was a wonderful surprise.

My only complaint is I never really felt attached to any of the characters. I didn't find myself sitting on the edge of my seat during the intense moments. I can't exactly pinpoint why that is though. Maybe if this had been a longer book? Don't let this discourage you though, I still had a great time reading this book!

I think readers Sci Fi lovers (and those who don't often pick up the genre) will enjoy this one and I encourage you to give it a shot!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This just wasn't for me. I think the idea is fun so it may have just come down to my mood.

If you're a fan of sarcastic sci-fi, you'll probably enjoy this one. It's a quick little read, I don't find that it lingered in any one spot for too long. If it sounds like something you'd otherwise enjoy, you'll probably enjoy it. I know there are a few people in my life that I'll recommend it to. It just wasn't for me.

This was my first experience with this author and he did not disappoint. If you are looking for cozy SciFi in the vein of Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir or Nether Station by Kevin J. Anderson, where you get a great human and alien friendships in the end, this book is for you. The story was character driven and each one was so well written that I definitely wanted to learn more of each one's back story. This books feels like such a great introduction to a new universe, that I a hoping to get more of it from this author so this could also be picked up as a television series.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook. Opinions are my own.

With both Mickey 7 (my #13 book of 2022) and its sequel Antimatter Blues earning strong 4-star ratings from me, I was excited to receive an ARC of Edward Ashton's latest novel, The Fourth Consort, and to see what he had come up with in a non-Mickey world. The novel's protagonist is Dalton Greaves, a human from Earth recruited by an alien-led company called Unity to help them find and colonize other more primitive civilizations across the universe. He's paired with Boreau, a giant snail-like creature and commander of their mission, and Neera, another human who is tasked with studying new planet biospheres and resource bases. Dalton's job is to make first contact with other species and effectively act as Unity's diplomatic liaison.

The novel opens with one such first-contact meeting, between Dalton and a group of creatures called minarchs. Via a translation device, Dalton is able to communicate with the minarchs, and we learn that he's not the first to contact them. Just days prior, a "stickman" from Unity's rival colonization company, known as "the Assembly", had visited, and the novel becomes a competition between Dalton and the stickman to determine who can best befriend the minarchs and secure the planet for their respective group.

When Dalton, Neera, and the stickman—who comes to be known as Breaker—are temporarily stranded on the planet, the stakes are raised. While the off-planet visitors may be more technologically advanced, the minarchs have a natural predatory advantage over the humans. The minarchs are "considerably bigger than a human...with a half-dozen armored legs, a segmented, tapering body that ends in a wickedly barbed tail, and an insectile head topped by a predator's forward-facing eyes." Add in that stickmen are even more lethal, a group used as "the Assembly's shock troops" and notorious for being killing machines, and Dalton is at constant risk of death and dismemberment.

Against that backdrop Ashton builds a scenario in which Dalton must unravel the internal politics of the minarch society, while keeping himself alive and also keeping alive the hope that he can preserve the relationship for Unity. While the situation is perilous, the tone is somewhat jocular (not dissimilar to what we saw in Ashton's Mickey 7 novels), and so the level of white-knuckling is kept to a minimum. However, despite the potential for layers of palace politics, there's not a tremendous amount of mystery or plotting in the novel. The most interesting wrinkles come when Dalton's translation device struggles with certain parts of the minarchs' and stickman's language, leaving critical holes in Dalton's understanding of what those species are actually saying to him. The margin for error is already slim given the complexity of understanding nuances of a new society, and omitting key concepts as "<UNTRANSLATED>" adds an extra layer of stress to Dalton's mission. It's also a low-effort way to build in some misdirection, and one that Ashton employed a bit too often as a crutch when needing to manipulate a situation.

While the novel was enjoyable, it lacked some of the depth of plot that I'd come to expect from Ashton via his previous books. He uses flashbacks to Dalton's time before arriving on the minarchs' planet to help more fully develop that character. That was, for the most part was an effective tool. But like the "untranslated" crutch above, there were also moments where doling out that backstory in pieces felt too convenient, never more so than when it's casually revealed near the end of the book that Dalton happened to participate in an unusual sport in high school and college, just before having skills in that sport would become useful in a situation. That reveal felt a little lazy, and honestly unnecessary.

And so overall this one was just okay. I wasn't disappointed by the read, but it fell short in places to the level of my expectations following the Mickey 7 novels. I'd suggest starting with those if you're looking for a sci-fi novel with a decent dose of humor and societal commentary—they're quite good. The Fourth Consort felt a bit lackadaisical by comparison, and it's probably one you can skip.

When trying to figure out what exactly to say about this book - because I liked it, but I'm not sure why I liked it?? - I realized that it's totally my thing ... but the masculine version of whatever "my thing" is. The Fourth Consort is SF with a fast-paced plot and a conflict based on cultural misunderstanding. The hero of the book is a near-future Renaissance Man: humble, intelligent, sarcastic, but not afraid to defend his ideals with his life, Dalton Greaves studied engineering at Carnegie Mellon, was an officer in the armed forces who saw action and was even a POW, and is a former successful tech employee who now works as a first contact specialist with the Union.

Except his current assignment turns out to be a total FUBAR situation when his first contact specialist "stick man" counterpart from the rival Alliance gets in before he does with the newest alien civilization.

Soon Dalton finds himself at the center of politics on this new planet. He's married off to their Queen (or is that their First Among Equals?) while also navigating a fraught bromance with that stick man. But also, everyone seems like they're out to kill him ... maybe? Or it could be that his translator is just malfunctioning...?

While I didn't find this groundbreaking, it was super entertaining, and I was always invested in how Dalton was going to get himself out of another (extremely violent) pickle. The closest comp I can think of is if Megan Whelan Turner's Thick as Thieves were written by Isaac Asimov. and yeah, those two tastes together are definitely a little odd!

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the ARC.

It's official, I am totally an Ed Ashton fan. I have enjoyed every book of his I have read so far and will absolutely keep reading his stories going forward. I love the humor, and his characters are always so interesting and grow throughout the story and while you think you know where the story is going, he always ends up surprising you and taking it places you don't expect. The Fourth Consort is a standalone and takes place in the far future as humanity has spread beyond Earth and are coming into contact with new species. Our protagonist, Dalton, is one of 2 human crew aboard a spaceship, the Good Tidings, which belongs to Unity, a group that makes first contact with sentient species. He is now on a planet with the minarchs, a species of intelligent, very large insect-like creatures and let's just say his diplomacy is........not going well. As Dalton struggles with trying to understand not only the minarchs language and customs, he also has competition from another species known as the Assembly, who are definitely not friendly with Unity.

One of Ed's strengths is how relatable he makes his characters, and Dalton is so easy to like, and you understand how he has gotten himself to this point in his life. While you are not certain that his bosses are on the right side of things, Dalton is trying his absolute best in a tough situation, and you can see his growth throughout the story. His self-deprecating humor and interactions with his interpreter, Neera and the other characters is spot on. I don't want to spoil anything but his relationship with the Assembly representative is such a highlight of the story, and I love a good bromance!!! If you don't read a lot of science fiction and are looking for a good entry novel, this totally fits the bill!! I absolutely recommend this to anyone looking for a great scifi read. Am also thinking this would make a great movie as well!!

OMG This title. 😂 Knowing that the author wrote Mickey7 my first thought was consort to what? 😱 Dalton is essentially a mercenary who ends up in the middle of a diplomatic political conundrum on an alien planet. Oh, did I mention that it’s a matriarchal society? Add in the fact that he’s a male with obviously no power or authority to this particular sect of aliens. His soft parts are outside his body and therefore he must be puny and weak no matter what the enemy delegation claims about humans being deceptive and dangerous. Resident aliens laugh at such a concept.

My favorite characters were probably Consort 2 and Consort 3. Might as well make popcorn and watch the show. But don’t ask about Consort 1. We don’t talk about Consort 1. When Dalton ends up in the middle of two factions of the indigenous Minarch society vying for power, what’s a puny human to do? Second one side in the ensuing duel, of course. Soft human parts and all. All laughs aside, I did enjoy his friendship or frenemyship with Breaker. Is it too much to hope that we will see them again?

I laughed off and on throughout this tale. It was entertaining and fun. It has the snark of Andy Weir with the lighter touch Sci-Fi of Rob Hart or John Scalzi. Just don’t take it too seriously.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy provided for an honest review.

The Fourth Consort is sci-if that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Two humans (Dalton and Neera) stranded on a planet while trying to make first contact with an unreceptive host and a more honorable alien adversary (Breaker) who is trying to do the same.
Dalton constantly brought to mind Mark Watney of the Martian. Humorous and self deprecating I frequently laughed out loud. Honor, morality and humanity or lack of come into play here. While Dalton finds himself in constant untenable situations with Breaker as his unlikely ally. Really enjoyed this story and wished I could read more of this friendship. Thank you Netgalley and St Martins Press for this early edition.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. I really liked The Forth Consort, it was an easy to read sci-fi that I feel like would be easily digestible for those who are new to the genre. I liked the premise, the writing was to the point, and I genuinely enjoyed the characters! A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads for release.

I'm going to be the odd one out and it's my fault - I'm not a huge sci-fi fan and this novel of first contact hit me at about my limit. That's on me not Ashton who does a good job with the characters. I appreciated the worldbuilding but I would have like more of it. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Over to others.

DNF. Very plain, blunt prose, minimal worldbuilding, not terribly interesting characters. I'm not sure this is a bad book, so much as, it's not the kind of sci fi I like to read and that I hoped it was - but I do have a hard time imagining who might love it. (Not like, love.)

The Fourth Consort is, at its heart, a novel of first contact with an alien species, although it's more than that - it's about learning who you are, and how that fits in with others. Dalton Greaves is an ex-soldier with no family and no real prospects, when he's contacted by Neera, the human assistant to Boreau, an alien most closely resembling a very large snail. Boreau is a member of the Unity, a multi-species organization that exists to bring more species into its community, in competition with the Assembly, which exists, effectively, for the same purpose. The two groups are in competition for new members - a competition in which they both attempt to gain the insectoid minarchs, the inhabitants of a newly-discovered world, as new members.

Throughout his time on the minarchs' world, Dalton navigates the honor codes of humanity as well as that of the minarchs and Breaker, as he calls the representative of the Assembly, a species known to humanity as stickmen, for their long limbs, exoskeletons, and generally similarity in appearance to walking sticks (the insect). Dalton and Breaker, as polite enemies each courting the minarchs, converse often about the aims of their respective organizations, and attempt to navigate the complex honor code of the minarchs' society while not truly understanding it. This is a novel with serious themes, but also a lot of appropriate humor - appropriate in that it enhances the characters and the plot. Recommended for older teens and adults.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book provided by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Edward Ashton’s The Fourth Consort is a remarkable addition to the first-contact science fiction genre, delving into the intricate realms of language, culture, and the inevitable miscommunications that arise when two vastly different civilizations collide. I absolutely loved this book! Ashton, known for his sharp wit and compelling storytelling in Mickey7, has once again crafted a world that feels immersive and thought-provoking.
In The Fourth Consort, humanity encounters an alien species so different from our own that even their ways of thinking are almost incomprehensible. Ashton masterfully illustrates how difficult (and often absurdly frustrating) true communication can be, especially when there is no shared cultural context. Ashton’s use of misunderstandings and mistranslations cleverly highlights how language is not just words but a vast cultural web that shapes how we see the world—and each other.
One of the most compelling aspects of the story is how Ashton tackles the common tropes in first-contact stories with a fresh perspective. Instead of relying on standard science fiction stereotypes, Ashton digs deeper into what happens when both sides genuinely strive to understand one another, even when faced with what seems like insurmountable differences. The story is as much about what it means to be human as it is about the aliens themselves, and that makes it resonate on a profound level.
Speaking of Mickey7, fans of that novel (like me!) will be thrilled to know that Ashton’s knack for blending action, humor, and philosophical musings continues here. After Mickey7 was picked up for a movie, I'm even more excited to see how his unique storytelling style will translate to the screen, as this book feels cinematic in scope and richly layered in themes.
Overall, The Fourth Consort is a must-read for science fiction lovers, especially those interested in stories of first contact that explore language, culture, and the inherent messiness of trying to understand the unfamiliar. Ashton’s thoughtful exploration of communication and culture clash is as entertaining as it is enlightening.