Cover of “Hyvilma” by Gideon MarcusI’m back with another book review, and this time I’m reviewing “Hyvilma” by Gideon Marcus! This book is in the same series as “Kitra” and “Sirena.” The author was kind to send me a free copy of this book in advance of its release date (the book will be released on March 31st this year, 2023—ten days from now!) in exchange for an honest review! Thank you so much!
Here’s a quick summary so we know what it’s about:
“A damaged ship, a dying shipmate–can she save them both?
Under attack! The flight back to Hyvilma should have been the easy part for the crew of the Majera–until a deadly ambush by pirates sends them reeling through hyperspace. Now getting to the planet in time is the only way Captain Kitra Yilmaz can save her dying friend.
But landing at Hyvilma may be impossible: war has broken out on the Frontier.”
Plot Development: 3.5 out of 5 stars
I thought that the plot lagged a bit in the middle. But the overall story was fun to read. Even though there was a civil war that Kitra and the others had to deal with, the story itself never got too heavy to read. Yes, there was the risk of death and getting caughti n the crossfire, but the situation itself was never too bleak and hopeless.
Despite the overall story being good, and the harrowing obstacles the main characters face, I felt that it lacked a bit of “oomph.” It’s hard for me to pinpoint what’s missing from this book given everything that happens in it. However, the ending was satisfying and ties up loose ends.
Worldbuilding Development: 4 out of 5 stars
The worldbuilding given in this book mainly built off the past two books. But the additions of a civil war and dealing with one of the other crewmates falling ill was fun to read. It was great to see how it affected the main characters and how they tried to solve their problems. Much of the book’s intriguing parts came from how they worked under these new pressures.
Character Development: 3 out of 5 stars
I thought that the character development could use more, uh, development. This might be what I felt was missing from the overall story, given how character-driven the plot is. Yes, there’s a civil war and people get sick, but there are also many other new characters that are introduced and don’t have much development other than being plot functions. This was especially the case in the civil war part of the plot, so that disappointed me a bit.
However, Kitra and her crewmates had some more development on their end individually and with each other, which I appreciated. I like that this book showed more of their inner conflicts with each other and how they resolved them.
Overall, I’m rating this book 3.5 out of 5 stars!
This book is not my favorite of the three I’ve read so far. But if you enjoyed reading the other books in the series, you will enjoy reading the third one.
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