I'd heard a lot of hype for this debut novel. That it would suit fans of Becky Chambers's books, and that it would bring the feels, so I was excited to read it.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐3 stars (out of 5)

There was a lot to enjoy about the novel. I really liked that the main character, Captain Beni Alvarez was bilingual, and used Spanish and English interchangeably, without there being any Spanish translations. I enjoyed that the story was full of action which continually complicated the plot and took Beni further and further away from her goal. The story sets up the stakes well, and made it seem impossible for Beni to achieve her goal, and I was really excited to find out how she would overcome all these obstacles and come out on top. However, about two-thirds the way through the story switches up and the stakes change, which I didn't personally care for, but it's a matter of opinion. I did think the stuff about the Prokarke was well done, and I admired the way the final set-piece used the tech to solve the problem of how to get everyone off the station when their wasn't enough time.

My main issues were the tone, the pace of the story, and the character development. Usually I love a fast-paced novel, but we only spent a couple of pages with the characters before the action started, so all we really knew about them were their names and descriptions. When the pacy violence started it was difficult to keep track of who did or didn't like certain things. I generally felt that all of the characters apart from Vakar were very underdeveloped. I thought Beni's character was quite odd in that she murders truly dozens of people during the book (most of them unnecessarily) and I didn't get any sense or remorse or whether her behaviour was out of step with most other people in the world. Also, we're told she has a mechanical heart, but there's nothing about how that has changed her physicality. I definitely felt the book was lacking emotionality, as I think that would have helped me relate to Beni more. The tone of the book I found odd, in there was a lot of snappy dialogue, and joking in difficult situations, but it ended up (for me at least) undermining the severity of the situation.

I don't know why the psychic cats are in the cover blurb, because they do nothing to serve the story. I thought the psychic cats were going to be Chekhov's gun, and would turn up in the final act to save the day, but they did not, they actually just acted like regular cats for the whole book.

There's a lot more violence and conflict in Chilling Effect than in Becky Chambers novels, but the world-building is certainly very similar. In both there's lots of different alien species living in close quarters with humans with no explanation of how that is possible (given the uniqueness of Earth and its gravitational field and given that other alien species wouldn't have evolved to breathe oxygen). I personally would have liked to spend more time with the mechanics of BOFA space, but again, that's just my preference.

I did enjoy this story and I thought there were really strong story elements in this debut so I would definitely read more in the world.

There are so many reasons you should read Chilling Effect. My three favourite reasons are:

POC Cast and Own Voices
Outerspace Sci Fi
Excellent Pace and Character development. 

This wonderful book manages to find a balance between Epic Drama, and Casual Humour. Each character feels whole and unique, whilst also tiptoeing around tropes people love to see like; the best friend who served alongside them, the rogueish yet cerebral love interest and, the animal sidekick who always seems to know better than the protagonist. 

I didn't know I'd been looking for a book like this. I feel like...

You know that scene at the end of 100 Days of Summer, where it looks like LoverBoy has learned his lesson from chasing Summer, and then he meets Autumn? And you realise he hasn't learned his lesson and he's about to have his heartbroken again.

I am LoverBoy.

Summer is Firefly.

Chilling Effect is Autumn. And I'm so ready to have my heart broken again, you don't even know!