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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
In Red Mist, the second book in Thomas S. Brown's Echelon series, Cassian Stroud has grown up in the underground Martian colony of Redrise Sector and trains as a spacecraft pilot for the Mars Mining Consortium. When he joins Hera Solance’s long-range mission aboard the vessel Ascendant, the crew intends to establish a remote base near Jupiter. During the journey, a magnetic anomaly near the planet damages the ship and forces Cassian to redirect the mission toward Earth. The crew soon learns that more than a century has passed since they departed from Mars and that Earth now operates under a global system linking citizens to a neural network that guides human behavior. As officials urge the crew to accept integration, Cassian begins to suspect the network influences society in ways its architects never intended, forcing him to decide whether to accept the new order or search for people who remain outside its control.
Red Mist by Thomas S. Brown proves that there is no such thing as a saggy middle in a series when left to the hands of a skilled author, leaning into a title that places itself in a massive storm system of red cloud formations near Jupiter, and radiation that destroys Cassian's navigation readings. This leads into a brilliant technological framework that operates through believable engineering solutions related to interstellar travel, the bedrock of the ship's mobility. I love Cassian, whose piloting and leadership skills repeatedly become the reason anyone makes it out alive. Malek Ren is a totally fascinating ancillary character, tech-savvy and loyal to the crew. Readers familiar with the series will recognize the AI baddie, Echo 9, and its quietly terrifying influence through the neural implant network. The visuals are off the charts, from Earth’s wide coastal park bordered by ocean water, to silent vehicles gliding along elevated transit lanes, and a dark forest concealing a resistance settlement. Well written and excellent in every way, we are fortunate that there is no wait for book three in the series, Echoes of Humanity, which I am diving into now.
