“Critical Mass” by Daniel Suarez picks up where ”Delta-V” left off: J.T., Jin, and Chindarkar are back on Earth and eager to get everything ready for rescuing their crew mates from the Konstantin once 162173 Ryugu gets close again in 2042. This book then focuses on the preparation of that rescue mission that involves a lot of work on the Moon and the Lagrange Point 2 (behind the Moon).
The story-telling is once again very technology-focused, as you’re already used to if you’ve read any other high-profile novels by Daniel Suarez. Unfortunately, this time I think he focused a bit too much there and too little on the actual story. With a couple of exceptions the plot is mostly predictable and there is very little character development outside of me starting to really dislike J.T. up until the last few chapters where he gets somehow likable again.
There are also lots of “fast forward” moments. Sometimes an event is told at a level of detail that borders on tedious while other times we skip ahead a year. Time which could still have had interesting events but they just never got the chance.
Still, the world building is excellent and the interplay of technology, ecology, and society is highly interesting and inspiring. If you enjoyed the first book then this is a good continuation of the story. Unfortunately not much more, though.
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