Raising Solace

Raising Solace takes up from where Hidden Solace leaves off and this is a series that really does need to be read in the right order as the books hit the ground running - as, often, does Opal - and there's important references to what has happened previously. As I started reading Raising Solace, I could clearly remember the events that preceded Athene's vow and Karl Drinkwater takes us straight back into the action in what is a thrilling next installment. I love Athene and Opal's relationship which is becoming stronger book by book. Athene's intricate planning is so often frustrated by Opal's intuitive spontaneity, but together this makes for an almost insurmountable team. There were several moments where I dreaded the other AI, the golden Dulcetta, getting the upper hand though so nothing is ever a given in the Lost Solace universe.

My favourite scenes are those in which Athene envisages her virtual data environment in real-world terms such as climbing an almost sheer rockface or striding across icy plains. She has such a way with words when she puts these scenes across to readers that they are gloriously evocative. I admit I did sometimes lose understanding within Athene's streams of technical description, but then she is far more advanced than I could ever even hope to be! The claustrophobia of being aboard Leviathan is also very effectively portrayed. This is a massive submerged vessel, in a vast expanse of water, but those two facts made many of the confined spaces in which Opal finds herself seem even smaller to me. There's so much water above and around this old ship!

I appreciated how Drinkwater picked up incomplete threads from previous novels during Raising Solace. I got some of my questions answered with one particularly satisfying 'aha' moment too, and I absolutely loved the return of the little maintenance robots. There's still plenty for Opal and Athene to resolve though, so while Raising Solace did end at a satisfying resolution, I feel it's a distance from the end of their story.