The Bereft | Book Review

Thank you, J. J. Blacklocke, for sending me an eARC of The Bereft, the third book in The Tradepoint Saga, in exchange for my honest review.

If you've been following me for a while, you'll know that I've been reviewing the books in The Tradepoint Saga since the first one, Refuge, came out in November. And you'll also know I keep requesting the sequels because this world intrigues me so much, and I'm happy to say this third book is my favourite so far. In this series, we follow the Vennans as they journey to Tradepoint, a space station where different alien races can trade goods with one another. But on their first night there Gredin, a young Vennan translator, receives a message from the Power that their world no longer exists and it's up to her to guide their entire community in search of their new home.

If you're interested in my reviews for books one and two, you can read them here and here, respectively. I initially thought this was only supposed to be a trilogy, but after reviewing Aftershock I discovered that Gredin's journey is bigger than that. I'm not sure exactly how long this series is going to be, all I know is that The Bereft was the end of the first phase of this story, and it did a brilliant job in concluding this chapter in a very satisfying manner, while keeping me longing for more.

This had a lot more action that the other two books and it was faster paced, something I loved. It's still really focused on the characters, but this multiple POV series had amazing twists that'd keep me at the edge of my seat hoping we'd go back to that character soon to find out what would happen next. This world is so rich and so well-written, I felt like I was in Tradepoint with them.

My favourite thing is still the intricacies of the alien races, but I loved how this expanded on the plot. It isn't simply a survival story anymore. The Vennans are (mostly) past their grief and are now much more active, intriguing and have a lot more depth to their actions. They're over their first shock and are beginning to thrive again, making this the most interesting of the books so far.

This gave a lot more dimension to some of my favourite characters, making them even a bigger part of Gredin's journey, and their character evolution is brilliant. It also finished on a beautiful note, giving this chapter a proper ending while letting you know that there's much more to come from the Vennans.

I still think these might be a tad longer than necessary, simply because some things are explained in too much length and it makes the story feel repetitive. But even this is a clever choice done by Blacklocke, because the least I expected from a universe coming together is overexplanation, in order to avoid even more misunderstandings.

Overall I truly enjoyed this one and I can't wait to accompany Gredin and her friends in their journey to find New Venna, I expect it'll be full of surprises. The first three books in The Tradepoint Saga are all out right now. If you're interested in "human" relationships, with a very detailed sci-fi twist, this is definitely for you.

Love,

N.

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