SPSFC2 Quarterfinalist Review: Inquisitor by Mitchell Hogan

The At Boundary’s Edge team has narrowed our original allocation down from 28 books to 7 “Quarterfinalists”, all of which we are now reading in full and scoring out of 10 points. The top three books will move forward as semifinalists.  As always, this is my own review and reflects only my own individual opinion and score, not that of the team

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Hi everyone, I’m back with my fourth SPSFC ‘quarterfinalist’ review! Let’s take a look at the book and then I’ll share my thoughts.

Bookish quick Facts:

• Title; inquisitor
• Series: N/A
• Author: Mitchell Hogan 
• Publisher & Release: Self, 2015
• Length: 300 pages (Kindle version)
• SPSFC Rating: 7/10 

Here’s the synopSis from Am*zon:

To Inquisitor Angel Xia, it was just another corporate killing on a backwater planet. But as the bodies begin to pile up and she finds herself a target, she realizes she’s stepped on one toe too many.

Barely escaping attempts on her life by powerful agents with seemingly limitless reach and influence, Angel senses even her co-Inquisitors can’t be trusted. But as the web tightens, she receives a cryptic message from a computer program claiming to be a little girl in desperate need of her help. She insists she’s being held prisoner by a major corporation, but is this just a trap to silence Angel…permanently?

Now a fugitive with her life inextricably linked to the girl in the program, Angel is taken to extremes she never knew she was capable of, and to forgotten places at the edges of known space that hold the darkest secrets of humanity, and the greatest threat to its future.

My thoughts:

Inquisitor is a fast paced adventure featuring an agent (inquisitor) who ends up in an interstellar race for her life as she unravels a corporate scheme.  The thing is, what she initially encounters and investigates is only the tip of the iceberg as far as the scale of the crimes and conspiracy taking place.

I really liked the idea of the book, and it was blisteringly fast paced. The reason I rated it so high is because despite it’s issues, I couldn’t put it down, and for me the entertainment value of a space opera/adventure counts for a lot.

The themes cover a lot of AI ethics, a rogue AI and rogue agent, the agency of sentient creations, right and wrong on an interplanetary scale, and the rights and needs of one vs many.  Plus don’t forget explosions and high tech weapons.

The issue is that the “big plot” has a lot of “big questions” left highly unresolved.  *Oh, they’re working on it* isn’t a resolution to me.  Which brings me to MY big realization: this was supposed to be a character centered book.  I didn’t like the characters and the idea that *women are useless if they can’t procreate*. Hello, we have other goals too. There are big plot questions with the main character’s family and with the genevolve race that were hinted at and not answered, so I was getting ready to buy the sequel and was shocked when there wasn’t one.  Alright, so he probably just didn’t know how to wrap it all up.

About the characters: both main characters were emotionally volatile, flip floppy, and ultimately annoying, also like REALLY ungrateful, and I hope the author thinks women can be more than that 😅 I think overall he just really didn’t know how to wrap up the plotlines, so he gave the characters resolution and called it a day. (PS how exactly does he think 2 year olds act? Those kids are kindergarten age at least)!

I think the author should have given the relationship a little elaboration too, he didn’t give us anything to make it believable and also hinted at infidelity (a huge turn off for me).

That ALL said though – Inquisitor was still entertaining as hell. If the end hadn’t changed my view of the entire story, I’d be up at 8 or 9 points. I love AI stories and the action was on point.  If you like international agents in space and rogue AI, I’d recommend it for sure.

You can also see my team mate’s review here! 

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Thanks for checking out my ‘quarterfinalist’ review of Inquisitor by Mitchell Hogan! A free digital copy was provided for judging purposes although I did find mine through Kindle Unlimited. As always, all opinions are my own ♥️