One of the more Visceral scifi reads I've experienced...

This week I listened to Alexandra Haag's narration of The Goodall Mutiny by Gretchen Rix. This is my first experience with both the author and the narrator. Told from the 3rd person limited perspective of Lt. Joan Chikage, the story immediately launches in on an incredibly self contained tale of her & the 10 crew members she commands dealing with an unknown crisis on their own. The story takes some turns - some expected and others not so much. From Chapter one, Rix's writing is among the most visceral I've read recently. As I listened on my commute & elsewhere, I wondered what people thought as I know my face cringed from her repeated descriptions of vomit, body odor, mangled corpse, etc. Initially, I was fairly grossed out, but after listening through most of the book & reflecting on it - I think Rix managed to get the 3rd person limited perspective as close to 1st person as possible without crossing that line. The reactions I had were what I'm sure Chikage had and it got me in her head and feeling things the way she would.

The plot - fairly simple - I was honestly waiting for some sharp out of nowhere change that never quite came. There's a cat that is a focal point in the disaster. Thoughts of Red Dwarf crossed my mind occasionally. There are a few plot lines that are just left dangling at the end, but not in such a way that this is any kind of cliffhanger. Rix did virtually no "world building" in this book. The characters, their history, and the ship (such of it that we see) are all pretty well self contained, other than letting us know that some of them have served together longer, or come up the ranks together. Chikage Van der Ryn and Nestor, and are the only ones with much of a character arc, and by the end of it I definitely liked Lt. Joan Chikage. Nestor's character arc takes a sharp turn that is never really explained much or resolved in this book.

Alexandra Haag does a great job as the narrator for The Goodall Mutiny. She doesn't diversify her voices for different characters much, but I think that goes with the writing style well here. Her pacing was perfect and the sound production was good. The only character that I could identify, aside from Chikage, from her narration though was Van der Ryn. That being said, this book is not dialogue driven.

4 Stars on the Narration
4 Stars on the Writing quality
3 Stars on the plot
3.75 Stars overall.

Overall - I enjoyed The Goodall Mutiny. Would I read something else by Rix? Yes. Would I listen to another narration by Haag? Yes. But at the same time, I don't feel compelled to continue the series, nor would I say I'll steer clear of it. Engaging story, but not one that I feel sucked into. If you like a good sci-fi space romp and don't mind a little vomit, you'll probably enjoy The Goodall Mutiny.