DRC/ALC Review: The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton
Release date: 25 February 2025
Rating: 4/5
Narrator: Barrie Kreinik
Narration Rating: 5/5
Synopsis: Dalton Greaves is a hero. He’s one of humankind’s first representatives to Unity, a pan-species confederation working to bring all sentient life into a single benevolent brotherhood.
That’s what they told him, anyway. The only actual members of Unity that he’s ever met are Boreau, a giant snail who seems more interested in plunder than spreading love and harmony, and Boreau’s human sidekick, Neera, who Dalton strongly suspects roped him into this gig so that she wouldn’t become the next one of Boreau’s crew to get eaten by locals while prospecting.
Funny thing, though—turns out there actually is a benevolent confederation out there, working for the good of all life. They call themselves the Assembly, and they really don’t like Unity. More to the point, they really, really don’t like Unity’s new human minions.
When an encounter between Boreau’s scout ship and an Assembly cruiser over a newly discovered world ends badly for both parties, Dalton finds himself marooned, caught between a stickman, one of the Assembly’s nightmarish shock troops, the planet’s natives, who aren’t winning any congeniality prizes themselves, and Neera, who might actually be the most dangerous of the three. To survive, he’ll need to navigate palace intrigue, alien morality, and a proposal that he literally cannot refuse, all while making sure Neera doesn’t come to the conclusion that he’s worth more to her dead than alive.
Part first contact story, part dark comedy, and part bizarre love triangle, The Fourth Consort asks an important question: how far would you go to survive? And more importantly, how many drinks would you need to go there?
Review
Having already experienced Ashton’s writing through Mickey7, I had a modicum of expectation for the dark, sardonic humor The Fourth Consort possesses in abundance. Mixed with a touch of weirdness, even for the Scifi genre, the story of Neera and Dalton goes down in my reading repertoire as creative, a bit disturbing, and just plain fun—but with a grimace. A bit like the old rides at pop-up fairs, such as The Zipper, Ashton’s writing should always be given a go at least once for the experience but never on a full stomach.
Dalton begins the story with a sarcastic disposition, a sullen attitude, and a bleak outlook on everything in existence. He’s a representative for humanity and a type of planetary confederation, Unity, on a mission to establish contact—and, of course, beneficial trading agreements—with previously undiscovered lifeforms in the ever-expanding known universe. His sidekick, Neera, shares a remarkably similar personality, excepting a moral compass.
With these two space hoppers, readers travel to a planet populated with warrior insect-type beings, which I interpret to be some resemblance to praying mantises, given the matriarchal structure of their society and their tendency to kill and eat the males (all off-page allusions) after mating. I’ll leave the details of what the title means to readers, should any decide to pick the book up and give it a read. It’s certainly very Ashton-like.
For a book that doesn’t quite hit the 300-page mark, this one packs an awful lot in a smaller space Ashton’s writing is both dense and concise, making The Fourth Consort a great choice for those who want the genre but not the hefty investment of time. Stopping far shy of the over-the-top humor in first contact comedies like Mars Attacks or Galaxy Quest, Dalton’s experiences with the minarchs still manages to offer something deeper for him to experience.
I appreciated Ashton’s humor immensely. Not much in books can make me laugh, but the wit had an air of intellectuality about it. For all his attempts at professionalism, Dalton sinks into a few spots of familiarity with some of his contacts/counterparts and lets some idioms and exasperations slip. To my delight, the characters clap back at him, showing humanity does not have the corner market on sarcasm.
Kreinik’s narration perfectly fit the characters and the genre. The enunciation was superb as well, allowing me to speed the book up to 2.5x, which helped the story zip by that much faster. The many character voices were easy to track, and the humor and sarcasm came through perfectly.
Overall, 4/5 for the story and 5/5 for the narration. It’s hard to find fault with Ashton, though some of the background story could have used a tad more development where Unity is concerned. A lot is left to interpretation, which I don’t necessarily like, but it does make for great literary discussions in classrooms or book groups.
Heads up—this book contains explicit language and descriptive violence.
My thanks to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the DRC/ALC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.
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