The lack of those Mycroftian tangents feels like a loss at first – a loss of charm. Instead, Palmer dives into the chaos and complexity of this future world that is trying to control a “world civil war”. And for a while there are no more interruptions by Thomas Hobbes and others, no more psychotic episodes warping reality, and less musings on gender. Palmer eases back on the references to philosophers and on the slippery games with narrators. Due to war circumstances it doesn’t have the globe-trotting flitting from palace to forum to conclave as Mycroft was doing, and because of Palmer’s choice to severely restrict her point-of-views we are stuck with the current narrator and whatever they can cobble together from messages of events around the world. This first chunk of the book may feel restricting. The first thing to notice about Perhaps the Stars is that the first quarter of the novel is different in tone and almost works as a bridging novella between the third and fourth novels. One thing is certain: there will be a lot of crying. How does it conclude the tapestry of a dozen interweaving plot threads? What will be its final words on the sociological, philosophical and theological questions that the series engaged with? Palmer unavoidably had to make choices had to narrow down the possibilities that the first books raised towards an emerging shape of the future.

Palmer eventually delivered a hefty novel, large in events and word count. After the first three books of the Terra Ignota series got published in quick succession in 20, fans had to wait a couple of agonising years for the conclusion.

Terra ignota review