Although I am not as big a fan of this novel as I wanted to be, it is good enough that I will read the next series Wells produces—if she ever decides to move on from Confluence, the fifth volume of which came out in 2018. In Remanence, I enjoyed the shifting point of view and the changes of voice that it generated. It is fun to watch linguist Jane and her crew and the squid-like alien that has adopted them try to understand each other. Once the novel morphs into a planetary adventure, I found it less compelling. ( )

Fun sci-fi book. Won't make any sense unless you've read the first one. Took a turn toward Serious Issues (Slavery) about halfway through. Frankly, I'm a bit surprised by how much I enjoyed the story and characters (well, most of them - there are a couple of folks that I wouldn't have cried too much if they'd met dusk).

Audiobook narration - the same narrator as the previous book (Susanna Burney) returned and did a very good job, but for some reason they brought in a second, male, narrator. I thought that maybe it was to break up the chapters according to whether it was Jane or Alan's chapter, but the book isn't told in first person, and the chapters jump between characters' viewpoints. Having a second narrator for no obvious reason served only as a distraction. ( )

Jane Holloway and her crew leave for Sectilius to return the ship to its rightful owners only to find that the system has been placed under quarantine.

The book finished on quite a cliff-hanger but dragged rather in the middle sections. Apparently. despite the cliff-hanger the next volume in the series follows a different character rather than resolves the cliff-hanger. I'll put it on my wishlist and see later if I want to continue. ( )

This sequel to [b:Fluency|22566044|Fluency (Confluence, #1)|Jennifer Foehner Wells|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403451883s/22566044.jpg|42028608] proves to me that I need to keep my eye out for this author's other works. There's a lot of great classic SF that gets revamped here for the more modern readers who are quite up to date on the technology-concepts and who don't want to slog through long explanations or embarrassing social bits of the 70's or earlier. :)

That being said, I like being right about some other things, too. I thought the main character wasn't Jane and the eventual focus on this book kinda vindicates me. :) Maybe they're co-main characters. :) I love my squiddy pal. :)

We get to leave old Terra behind and do some major exploration on an alien homeworld. There's some fun social stuff, some better *more* alien stuff, some unwelcome surprises, and after we pass the midway point, we've got ourselves a bona-fide space opera. :)

The adventure only gets better and sets us up for even bigger and badder things to come, because of course we've still fighting the Swarm and it's influence from the first novel. I personally think it's about time that these folks find some friends. Fast.

This is some pretty darn good SF adventure yarn that fits well in the basket held out by Charles E. Gannon, only we've got a reluctant linguist in the role of a captain of a full-sense telepathic alien spacecraft in conjunction with her squiddy navigator. :) I can't recommend it enough for those of you who like this particular brand of SF. :) ( )

excellent follow-up to Fluency; if Jennifer Foehner Wells isn’t on your radar yet, she will be soon ( )