Review: Minor character retcon that could have been told in a few paragraphs in the actual book series
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 03 28, 2014
For$2.99, this "novella" (actually, a short story) is ultimately unsatisfying and doesn't advance the story.Retconning, or retroactive continuity, is a device sometimes used to better connect elements of a long series and answer questions of continuity. In this case, it merely feels like Molles is grasping to explain Darabie's pretty unexplainable behavior about wanting to kill Harden.Remember, these so-called coordinators (exactly one per state, a mess that can never successfully be explained away) were chosen after intense, rigorous processes including whether they had "mental flex." Darabie doesn't...and got chosen anyway.That's really all you have to know about that character, but if you do want to plunk down three bucks and read a short story about a combat mission (it's pretty obvious this is what Molles really wants to write about anyway), then have at it. I personally think this small effort spells trouble for Book Five of the series. The universe of The Remaining is a pretty soggy, illogical mess and this short story does nothing to tighten it.