Lifemaker by Dean F. Wilson
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
The Regime is on the hunt, forcing the Resistance to take refuge aboard the Lifemaker, an advanced submarine that houses a special cargo: a handful of women who are can give birth to human children.
To evade the Regime’s own submersibles, all parties must work together, but tensions are high, and not everyone on board is looking out for the greater good.
As they descend into the deeps, they quickly learn that not all monsters work for the Regime.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook in conjunction with the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.]
Lifemaker is the sequel to Hopebreaker, a steampunk novel featuring a smuggler named Jacob as he navigates a world essentially controlled by demons. I had given the first book 4 stars in March and was eagerly awaiting this second installment. So when I saw the blog tour for it, I signed up immediately. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed with Wilson’s second book in the Great Iron War series. Not because the characters had truly gone downhill or because he world-building suddenly tanked, but rather because of the plot.
Despite all of the good things that do happen in Lifemaker, I was a little disappointed in the plot. It was predictable in comparison to the first book and not more than a little boring around the halfway point of the book. There are characters interacting, sure, but there’s not really all that much for interpersonal conflict. And until the end there’s really not all that much for action either. It was essentially just Jacob and Whistler having a sweet sort of father-adoptive son bonding time and occasionally being interrupted by Taberah. Oh, and playing cards with Rommond. Compared to the sheer action of Hopebreaker, this second book was a bit of a letdown. It does set things up nicely for the third book but at the same time I did have a little trouble getting through it.
Jacob is still a decent enough character although I’m still having problems relating to him on an emotional level. It’s much better than my struggle to relate at all with him in the first book but it’s definitely still there. He’s not a bad character and he’s more of an ambiguous figure than a bad or good person but I found that because he wasn’t really doing anything that I got bored. Essentially he skulks around the ship and bonds with Whistler, occasionally running into members of the crew. I liked that he’s finally attempting to woo Taberah back to him and is trying to mentally prepare himself for fatherhood, though. In that respect, Jacob has certainly improved.
The world-building was still good here in Lifemaker. It didn’t expand all that much, but we learned some fascinating things about Rommond’s background, Taberah’s past and the history of demons taking over. The submarine everyone is staying in doesn’t exactly make it easy to expand on a whole world but Jacob’s exploring does lead him to some interesting new discoveries. Was I absolutely as blown away in this book as I was in the first one at the world-building? Not really, but it was still very solid and despite the somewhat boring tone of the book you can feel Dean F. Wilson’s enthusiasm for the world he’s created shine through.
So overall, Lifemaker was not a bad book, but it was definitely not as good as its predecessor, Hopebreaker. The plot got a little boring and I definitely predicted the ending but it was not a book that I actively disliked. I even enjoyed some parts of it. Really, the main problem is that it suffers from Book 2 Syndrome: its trying to set everything up for the super exciting third book. Still, if you loved Hopebreaker, you’re going to want to read this book. The little cliffhanger for Skyshaker will ensure that and there’s still many things to enjoy about Lifemaker. It’s just that an exciting plot isn’t one of them.
I give this book 3/5 stars.