3.5 stars

i found this book almost out of place in tone and presentation from most of the rest of the series so far(a good thing!) but the content was very much the same (mining operation gone wrong, human colonist military, creatures underground, conflict of morals vs. money). it was a bleak story, and in a distinctly different way from how, say, [b:Doctor Who: Longest Day|71397|Doctor Who Longest Day|Michael Collier|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1519681542l/71397._SY75_.jpg|69141] was bleak. the bleakness of Dreamstone Moon wasn't just an onslaught of tedious atrocity within eyesight of a teenager who still has a bit of belief in something. it was this utterly brutal, systemic display of the inefficacy of any form of goodness or any will to do good in the face of a colonial corporate-military complex. we're shown level by level that there are good people, or at least people with good in them, in not only the activist group but the miners, the head of the mining base; there's even reluctant humanity in a military commander. and we're also shown that at any level of power no amount of sympathy will ever be enough for anyone to actually act against anything happening, and the people who try to act are doing so completely futilely. characters who know they're wrong go to their last scenes realising they can't even defend their actions and still carrying them out with dumb obedience. these are high ranking characters in this corporate-military complex. once colonialism has begun even if the actors start to regret it the action is in motion and the need to preserve their image will keep them on their original course.

the character work was done in a scattered manner, but was still more interesting than anything in the last few books. the doctor didn't do much, but especially towards the end we got some fascinating choices out of sam, ultimately of course

Spoiler

her decision not to reach out to the doctor when she finally got the chance

. i think having her finally in a position where she can face her attraction to him with enough distance she can actually consider it in a less biased way, and having her come out realising it's not something she wants to engage with to the point she willingly gives up not only having a single familiar person there for her but also her only way home if she ever wants to go back-- that was a bold and also great character move.

there were some things that didn't work for me; the framing of certain characters and things put me off, and i thought the pacing was all fucking over the place in a way that, sure, added to the sense of disorientation in the story, but read as loose and unintentional. i've heard so many good things about [b:Doctor Who: Seeing I|71399|Doctor Who Seeing I|Jonathan Blum|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1204851766l/71399._SY75_.jpg|69143] i'm looking forward to finally reading it.