My feelings towards this book changed a lot while reading, but in the end, it came down to this: It started out and ended very strong and disappointed in the middle, especially in one regard. And in not just one way, it didn't quite deliver what it had promised.

What I liked:

- I love me some different POV characters.
- Corporations, dynasties and their conflicts ... IN SPACE.
- It's not US-centric, which is basically a guarantee I'll read it.
- The technology is interesting and believable.
- Knife fights ... IN SPACE.
- Great worldbuilding.

So, this book should have been right up my alley. Sadly, it wasn't.

- The beginning and the ending were very good. In fact, the ending is the best thing about this book, but it does not quite make up for all the rest.

What didn't work?

- I feel like I never really got to know the POV characters, except for one (

Adriana Corta, and she doesn't have much impact on the current events

). I think it was because their chapters were too short and there was too much switching between characters, so they never developed beyond their respective stereotypes and I couldn't empathize with them. Thus, I didn't really care about what happened to them. I only started caring about Lucasinho right before the book ended.

- There was a lot of unnecessary content that didn't contribute anything to the story (Wagner!) I do think it might become important in one of the next books, but I don't like this whole 'You have to read all the books to really appreciate them' thing. Get my attention with your first book!

- The writing is bloated, with repetitions. Too many repetitions, always repetitions.

- I did not like the narrator of the audiobook. He speaks too slowly and flatly, even in emotional scenes. Didn't work for me at all, even after I sped it up.

What disappointed me

The author tried to write strong, female characters (I think), but wrote 'strong, female characters'(TM) instead. Every one of them is either a mother or a sex object or both. Even Ariel, who is a POV character, and is presented as an independent woman with a great career who knows what she wants, is treated this way. I can't think of one decision she made for herself throughout the book. Every decision is made for her by someone else, usually a man.
Like, there are really cool ideas in there, and interesting female characters, but they rarely ever get the chance to be more than a mother or a body.

Additionally, this author is weirdly fascinated by women having sex and likes to describe it in excruciating detail. Almost every woman (who is not clearly 'just' a mother) talks or thinks about having sex (sometimes in the least probable situation, like when

Marina nearly died and thinks about having sex with Carlinhos while still recovering

) or is described having sex. And the description doesn't even try to be from her perspective, but is written for the onlooker, the voyeur.

I actually went back and confirmed when this book was written, because it reads like something from the 70s or 80s, and I do not have this kind of patience with male authors writing female characters in this day and age anymore. It usually makes me angry, but here, it just disappoints, because I really wanted to love this book, it had such a great premise.

Let me give you some examples: (Spoiler tags ahead)

The Ariel scene. I get why it's in the book,

it establishes her as an autoerotic person

. But then why do we need all this detail about what exactly she does? And why does the author feel the need to

add a mirror, so he can describe what she looks like and does from the outside, if it is about her own feelings - inside? In the end, the scene reads like a cam-girl scene and not remotely like something about a person who's only aroused by themselves.

Also,

she orgasm'd for the first time when she put on a really tight space suit?

Seriously? It's 2020 (or 2015, in the case of this book). If you don't know how women work, ask them!

Rafa, a main character, goes down on his wife, but only the woman's (a side character's) body and (re-)actions are described in excruciating detail. The only thing said about Rafa is how amazing he is at it.
Also:

'He didn't even pressure her for a blow job afterwards.' - How bloody nice of him! Yeah, maybe that's just his character, but it was established how much they love each other, so ... which one is it?

In contrast to that, Lucasinho having sex is a big part of his character, and he is never described in this kind of detail. (Which I am thankful for, he is a teenager after all!) Every single one of the male characters gets a '...and they fell into bed. Several hours later...' kind of scene and it seems to be sufficient for establishing their characters. Not once does the author describe a man's body while he is having sex in any detail.

...................................

I feel like the author wanted to write this huge, epic 'A Song of Ice and Fire in Space', something I would have loved. But sadly, it isn't quite that.

I was torn between two and three stars, but I actually had to force myself to finish this book because of the bloated writing, so two stars it is.
I don't know if I am going to read the next book in the series.