This novella is a beautiful vignette about early life on Laconia. It doesn’t answer many greater questions about the ecosystem of this world due to the limited point-of-view of the main character. But it answers quieter questions about how Duerte came to power and how he imposed his views on the burgeoning society.
On the surface, Laconia appears to be a much “better” place to live than Ilus/New Terra (a terrible, terrible planet), but it has its own share of unique and dangerous differences. This is the first extra story set in the world of The Expanse to make me incredibly excited to the next main installment of the series.
An excellent read for fans of the book series, though it doesn’t have much relevance to the time line in the television show yet.
Rating: 5 (out of 5) stars. Cross-posted to Amazon and Goodreads.