MINRS 2

The children of Perses deal with more troubles.

In series opener MiNRS (2015), Christopher Nichols, Elena Rosales, and the other child survivors fought off the first wave of invading Landers, but the mining colony of Perses is still under threat. More Landers are coming, and the kids are receiving no help from Earth. When the Landers show up with the villainous Kirk Thatcher leading a fleet of lethal diggers, the kids have no choice but to go further underground and hide. But infighting among the kids, divided between children of miners and actual child miners, is just as threatening to their survival as the Landers are. Christopher’s narration is stiff and cumbersome, detailing action scenes and verbal exchanges with little urgency or pizzazz. The characters are paper-thin, defined by single characteristics and simple motivations. The book’s biggest sin is its jaw-dropping length, which drags out the cat-and-mouse game between the colonists and the Landers, removing urgency and wearing readers’ patience thin in the process. Making things worse, the kids end up basically right back where they started with a signpost pointing at a third volume. The middle book in a trilogy needs to push the characters forward emotionally or evolve the narrative effectively, but this sequel does neither.

An infuriatingly wasteful sequel.