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

This novella, the third in a series, continues with the main characters still tiptoeing around defining their relationship. The scientist half of this duo hares off to a distant settlement to try to help an old school friend whose professionalism is being attacked on multiple levels. We see more of the various major social and scientific factions, and maybe even some eventual progress in the relationship between our two protagonists. The ending of this book would tend to imply more stories in the works. Nice mystery that keeps you guessing.

4.5 stars rounded up. I was very excited for a novel-length Mossa and Pleiti book, even if it was a short novel, and it paid off quite well. The slightly longer length gives the author more time to explore the worldbuilding, the themes, and the characters, which was very much needed. While the previous two books in the series technically feel a bit more tightly written (in part because they're novellas, and they need to be), I greatly appreciated the breathing room that this book had, allowing us to really sit with the events of the book and what the characters were going through in a way that we haven't been able to do before.

Pleiti is off on another adventure, but this time Mossa isn't with her. This leads to a really lovely exploration of Pleiti as an investigator, trying to apply Mossa's techniques to a situation involving claims of academic fraud and increasing threats against a scholar. It is always a delight to see the "Watson" try to be the "Holmes", but what I truly loved about this particular iteration of the idea is that there is a realization that Pleiti needs to be Pleiti, and her own training is equally useful to an investigation, if in a different way than one might think. I really loved this outcome for Pleiti, and seeing her continue to grow is one of the best parts of this series. And while Mossa is largely not present for half of the book, her absence is certainly felt, and the weight of her character is never forgotten. The reunion between the two, and the mix of emotions about the situation, was very well-handled.

(I also loved that this was in many ways an homage to Hound of the Baskervilles, although not in the way one might expect.)

The mystery itself is solid, though slower than the other books because it has more time to be explored. The worldbuilding really gets to expand in this book, as we go to another university and see the reputation and rivalry that the universities have with each other, as well as the tensions between the Classicists and Modernists. We learn more about the different platforms of Jupiter and the cultures that those platforms have. We also see more of the impact of the events from the first book, in a way that has some promise as the series progresses.

One thing other reviewers have commented on, and which did strike me more than ever while reading, is the work that Older is doing with language. Older imagines a world in which language from Earth has evolved and changed, with different languages mingling together to create a new standard language. There were bits of this in previous books, but because this book is longer, it is much more present in the narrative. I didn't find it distracting or overwhelming, but there were occasions where I'd pause to look up the meaning of a word, since it came from a language I don't know. I thought it was well-done, as there are plenty of context clues, and you can certainly figure out what is being said even if you don't know the exact meaning of the word. But it is more present in this book than in other ones, as a heads up.

I continue to enjoy this series very much, and am grateful that Older keeps returning to these characters and this world. Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC; all views are my own.

A recipe for an extremely cozy reading evening: a new Mossa and Pleiti book! Very much in keeping with the first two novellas, it's an investigation set on the Giant, a Jupiter of the future that has become home to people who made Earth uninhabitable, and now hosts life on iron platforms suspended over a gaseous planet, linked by orbital railways. I'm very pleased to come back to what I've always loved about these books: descriptions of endless cups of tea with delicious food had while huddling from the Jovian storms, a gleeful deployment of loanwords from all kinds of languages as a reflection of the mixing of cultures (I had a whole little monologue to my partner about whether I would use mingbaied the same way as Malka Older did, if I was constructing a futuristic slang), distressingly authentic depiction of drama and tensions in academia as a fuel and backdrop for most cases Mossa and Pleiti end up tangled in. The third installment also continues to challenge some of Pleiti's complacent assumptions (I do hope that Modernist ethnographer comes back!) as it fleshes the societal fractions and biases on the Giant. I did not expect a very literal hook to the originating Sherlockian lore with this one: obviously played with more sensitivity, but until it was spelled out, I hadn' realized that the tension-driver on the romantic side of things would be depression. And then another, even more cheeky nod to the SH canon at the end: I somehow keep forgetting these books are homages, because the worldbuilding is my favourite aspect of them, but yeah, they are. Unlike the second story, in this one Pleiti spends the first half investigating alone, and agonizing over Mossa, which sort of took away from the enjoyment a little - I like them most when they play off each other - so I am looking forward to future instalments bringing them back together more.

Does stand alone. Nice story. Interesting characters. Kept me guessing right up to the end. Good set up for next book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

I'm so torn on this series - I love the concepts and the writing isn't bad, and I think the length is right - but man they can be tough to read sometimes because of the language and formatting changes. Using a lot of obscure and “$100 words”, even some that were made up...I understand that our POV is a highly educated scholar, hundreds of years in the future on a different planet....but feeling dumb so often when reading is frustrating, especially when there are a lot words that simply don't exist.

But overall, I continue to enjoy the series overall. The story was interesting, I enjoyed the new characters and expansion of the world, and it definitely had higher stakes than some of the previous stories. The premise, world building, and commentary on how we treat our planet continues to be fantastic.

This series shows so much promise but it is a bit overwritten with confusing language - enjoyable overall but needs a bit of tweaking to be fantastic.

I have been a big fan of this series. While I did enjoy this addition, I felt like Pleiti was portrayed a little pathetic. She was so over the top yearning for Mossa it was difficult to read. Also, the reveal of the villain was, by the admission of the book itself, sudden and illogical.

The third book in Malka Older’s Mossa and Pleiti series, The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses sticks to the basic formula: an intro where Mossa appears (which gives us something of her situation and thoughts), followed by narration by Pleiti of the main plot.

For a good chunk of this one, Mossa and Pleiti are apart, and feeling more mismatched from each other in the previous book, due to a fit of depression on Mossa’s part. Given that the chemistry between them is part of what I’m attracted to in these books (not just in relationship terms, but as two people playing off each other), it’s not surprising that things picked up in pace once Mossa arrived in the story, though she and Pleiti continue to be out of step with each other. It feels like there’s a reckoning still to come there — or a constant, ever-shifting dance of adaptation and compromise, which might in the end be more realistic.

One thing I noticed a lot in this installment was the use of language. There were a lot of borrowed words I didn’t immediately know the meaning of, which I don’t remember happening in the previous two books. Mostly it’s clear by context (or similarity to an English word), but once or twice I was stymied enough to try to look up a translation, which I definitely didn’t have to do with the previous books. I wonder if I was just flowing with it better, in the past? But it definitely struck me very strongly this time.

My overall impression was that this book was a bit longer than the other two, and the pace didn’t quite work for me — but that should be taken with a pinch of salt since I still read it in half a day, in just four reading sessions! It might not be my favourite of the series, but I enjoyed it.

This is the fourth in the Mossa and Pleiti series by Malka Older, and it is a worthy sequel -- we learn more about Pleiti's past and more about the world of the platforms. There's also a mystery, though hanging out with these great characters on this wonderful world is enough for me.

As usual Older is a delight - honestly I just enjoy spending time with these characters. The mysteries are always fun but maybe not the richest - the joy is in the worldbuilding and character work. What a pleasure!

An excellent whodunit, with a loving, true depiction of depression. This series gets better with every book.

This was a strong third entry in the Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti series, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed the scifi element to this book. The characters had that feel that I was looking for and enjoyed the space opera element. Malka Older was everything that I was looking for and was glad I got to read this. I hope there is more in this series and from Malka Older.