Polaris (Avalon, #2)

by Mindee Arnett

Jeth Seagrave and his crew of mercenaries are pulled into one last high-stakes mission in this breathtaking sequel to Mindee Arnett's Avalon, which SLJ called, in a starred review, "an exciting piece of science fiction that keeps up its energy from beginning to end." Jeth Seagrave and his crew are on the run. The ITA, still holding Jeth's mother in a remote research lab, is now intent on acquiring the metatech secrets Jeth's sister Cora carries inside her DNA, and Jeth is desperate to find the resources he needs to rescue his mother and start a new life outside the Confederation. But the ITA is just as desperate, and Jeth soon finds himself pursued by a mysterious figure hell-bent on capturing him and his crew-dead or alive. With nowhere to run and only one play left, Jeth enters into a bargain with the last person he ever thought he'd see again: Daxton Price, the galaxy's newest and most fearsome crime lord. Dax promises to help Jeth, but his help will only come at a price-a price that could mean sacrificing everything Jeth has fought for until now.

• ISBN10: 0062235648
• ISBN13: 9780062235640
• Publish Date: 20 January 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 432
• Language: English

Reviews

[KitsuneBae]

Is it me or is it the book? This, I asked myself after reading Polaris. The things that made Avalon awesome are still in this book but then, everything just felt off. Avalon made me excited. Avalon made my emotions run high. Avalon made me feel like I was one of the crews of Malleus Shade. Avalon made it to my list of Best Reads in 2014. Avalon was awesome. Polaris is… not.

I think my disappointment with Polaris lies with the characters particularly Jeth Seagrave. If you’ve read my review for Avalon, you’d know that I have an issue with his characterization. If Six of Crows has Kaz Brekker, Fast and Furious has Dom Toreto and Paul Walker, Lupin III has Lupin, Ocean’s Eleven has Danny Ocean, Iljimae has Iljimae and The Thieves has Chewing Gum and Yenicall, then Malleus Shades has Jeth Seagrave. He is Hammer’s Golden Boy and supposed to be the cunning leader of a notorious crew of intergalactic heist criminals, the Malleus Shades. But Jeth Seagrave is just so annoyingly incompetent I’d have to shake his hand for not blowing up his own ass.

Polaris’ introductory scene immediately threw us into an ongoing heist. Jeth and his crew’s continued existence are depending on that heist but guess what, due to Jeth’s lack of foresight and overall incompetence, it failed. Not only that, Jeth’s stupidity also secured them a new dangerous enemy which, if he wasn’t such a dumbass, he could have eliminated at the first opportunity. To add salt to the wound, Jeth’s epic failure also resulted to the death of one of his crews. And the worst thing is, he didn’t even have the decency to kill himself after that. Sigh.

The plot was also boring that it didn’t compensate for Jeth’s dumbassery. There was a lot of running around and too much was focus was spent on the stupid brain implants. There were some twists along the way that I didn’t see coming but really, with all the annoying stuff going on in the book, it’s easy to miss those twists.

So, as I was typing this review, I’ve come to a decision that there’s no use in keeping up with this series. Avalon, thanks for the good times but I’m done.