Jack Mercer

It was hard to find much I could recommend about this novel to Mass Effect fans. It contributes nothing to the established lore of the galaxy in the Mass Effect trilogy, nor any fresh insight into the Andromeda Initiative. The plot lacks an appropriately engaging narrative style for the story it is trying to tell. It attempts to set high stakes, but doesn't seem to take them seriously. As a result, the supposed threat to the galaxy is treated with inappropriately flippant and impassive attitude combined with dialogue that feels more appropriate for a B-grade action movie. The worst part is that Cora herself isn't integral to the story. You could swap her with Liam, Alec Ryder, or anyone with biotic powers from the franchise and the story would feel the same. There is no essential character journey for Cora, no personal stakes that are resolved, nothing that gives the reader insight to who she is, nor is she written to mirror her game counterpart. Instead, she is unprofessional, rude and quick to anger. Traits that are unbecoming of someone trained for years by the graceful Asari. It would be good character development if it was a flaw for her to overcome, however, it reads more like the author substituted Cora's personality with her own. And as much as I wanted to avoid it, I have to mention the identity politics inserted into this novel. An experienced author can add into their stories certain elements or issues that they wish to address, but usually it will be subtle or play some role in the story. Jemisin does not do this. Instead the modern day 2017 political writing is more evident due to how amateurish and out of place it reads within the Mass Effect universe. Twice the story is put on hold for Cora to interact with a group of xenophobic humans. It is here that Jemisin's writing deviates from her usual style and devolves to that of an angry social media post. It is painfully clear that these these characters exist in the story solely as substitutes for Jemisin to project her contempt for their real word counterparts and not for anything remotely related to the story she should be telling. Like many, many other video game tie-in novels written by people who know next to nothing about the source material, Initiation offers nothing to fans of the franchise, nor could it be accurately described as a companion piece to Andromeda, or Mass Effect as a whole.