Chapter By Chapter (usually) features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as a read-along book club.
I hope everything fits in one chapter because my time is limited this week, kind of like the actual murder investigation in a novel about a series of murders. I’d still like to see more integration of the character stuff and the actual plot, but we’re almost at the end of this 35 chapter book. Last time we got to see some of the extra security measures taken with Amanda as they prepare to take her out of status and the machines basically running her body while the treatment takes. So if our killer is going to find a way to attack again, this is his or her last shot.
I know I keep harping on this disconnect between the plot and the character moments, but it’s still my only issue with the book. The character interactions are great, but the whole academy murder thing kind of takes my attention away from it because that’s what I’m expecting the focus of the book to be, with the character moments providing motive, opportunity, and alibis. Take that away, and you have a really interesting examination of Vulcan versus Terran culture as a new relationship forms between members of both cultures and races. If that’s the focus Lorrah wanted, then using the murders when Remmington’s recovery with an experimental treatment would have been enough. Again, I came into this after reading the sequel, which was about a medical crisis, but it was a plot that allowed for these kind of character explorations and I’m still looking forward to re-reading The IDIC Epidemic in the future. You didn’t need the murders, but with it there we should be spending more time with the suspects and the investigation than we have thus far.
I’ve stopped asking if this is the chapter that resumes the murder plot or not because I’m always wrong. Let’s just see what happens next.
