I listened to the First Awakenings audio book the day after I listened to Command Decision, and I was glad I had the “back to back” experience. Ash is introduced in Command Decision and while we get to know him a lot better here, I felt already knowing him helped in the early chapters.
I expected this story to pick up after Command Decision, but time wise it back tracks, and parallels Command Decision for quite a while. I enjoyed not only finding out what Ash was doing during those weeks, but getting a different perspective on some scenes, but I don’t know if all readers / listeners would like it taking half the story, or more, for it to feel like the high level arc is advancing.
When the meaning / intent of the title was revealed I really liked it, mostly because it was a story element I hadn’t assumed was coming. I had been thinking of the title metaphorically for Kella, and perhaps more simply for Ash in this Alien environment.
All in all, I really enjoyed this trip to this Universe and can’t wait to find out about May, Sergei and Julia.