Alex White’s The Worst of All Possible Worlds is the 'what happens next' for their Salvagers trilogy. The final volume in this high-stakes, high-octane space-opera-with-magic series, it sees the crew of the Capricious in a final showdown with the so-called gods of the Harrow for the fate of the universe ... Did I mention that it’s batshit fun, and introduces a whole new conspiracy? ... apart from Boots, Nilah, and Orma, White’s characterisation feels pretty slight, and the frenetic pace leaves very little time for thematic argument or emotional weight. The Worst of All Possible Worlds is an action-packed hustle of a novel, with a sense of humour and a keen eye for the ridiculous. It’s not deep or terribly meaningful, but it is cracking good fun.
A ship’s crew is like a family. They fight together, succeed together, love together and, if things go wrong, die together. As with previous installments of Alex White’s Salvagers trilogy, the crew of the starship Capricious does a little bit of all of these. The stakes have never been higher than in this last entry, The Worst of All Possible Worlds. But one of the best parts about reading books in a series is that by the end, you feel like part of the family, too ... Worlds is a high-water mark for emotional precision in the space opera subgenre. White injects so much heart into their characters, and the toll the mission takes on them feels immediate and challenging. We’re far beyond the getting-to-know-you phase, and White takes full advantage. That said, this book contains a flood of incredible moments. It’s hard to go 20 pages without finding a brilliant action set piece, and the driving pace is such that you never have a chance to guess what’s going to happen next ... one of the best sci-fi trilogies released in the last several years.
The unputdownable final space opera of White’s Salvagers trilogy (following A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy) launches the scrappy crew of the Capricious into a deadly, all-or-nothing battle against a magic-wielding genocidal maniac who plans to obliterate life across the galaxy ... White’s tale of justice and vengeance sends the series out on a high note with electrifying action sequences, depth, and darkness. This thrilling finale will have readers on the edges of their seats.
