I liked the first book in this series so much (surprisingly, given the wretched title) that the decision to buy and listen to the very long second audiobook was easy. However, about a third of the way through the book, things started to go wrong for me. First of all, I get that in a book where people come together from all different backgrounds, and one of the three main characters not being able to communicate verbally with the other two, there are gonna be misunderstandings. But in this book, there are MISUNDERSTANDINGS. And not just the human and the aliens, who, again, can’t speak. The other two misunderstand each other constantly, and when there are other characters introduced, everyone misunderstands them, and they misunderstand our trio. For the entire twelve and a half hour audiobook, nobody knows what the heck anyone else is thinking or trying or doing, and for me, at least, it gets real old, real quick.
In fact, even when our human hero, Carter, successfully learns their language, there are STILL misunderstandings. And these are predicated on one of the least believable writing tropes, over and over–starting to ask a question and getting interrupted, and then not following through on the question. Or, alternatively, not asking the question in the first place. Time and time again we hear the phrase “I wanted to know _________, BUT I DIDN’T ASK.” Well, why didn’t you? Things could all be cleared up in a matter of minutes.
In addition, I know I’m in a very, very small minority here, but I can’t stand the character of Pikh, and he just gets worse and worse throughout the novel. I get fed up with his stupid childlike wonder (and tantrums) about thirty minutes into the book, and I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to find him adorable. I don’t. The book is well written–much more than I would have expected from a series with such ludicrous titles–but I’m gonna throw in the towel after this second book, sorry.