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Jal hasn't had anything to eat in over a day. He is on the run under a false identity and is looking for anyone who could use a laborer in exchange for a meal. By sheer accident, Jal is picked up by Ambit, a special little spacecraft with two things on board that are of particular interest to him:

1. Fresh apples, and
2. A broody lad named Saint, with whom Jal shares a pretty complicated history.

Although the Ambit's crew puts Jal in handcuffs for the first few pages of his on-board presence, he integrates into the team remarkably quickly. When a distress call leads the crew to a remote planet, the unfamiliar world is eerily quiet. The barbed wire on a fence points the wrong way. The lock on a heavy door still has the key sticking out of it. What happened on the planet sends the characters on an adventure that might be more fit for television than a novel.

This is a strange blend of Annihilation and an ensemble sitcom, intermingled with some interpersonal baggage. Unfortunately, it didn't come together cohesively enough for my enjoyment. Largely, this comes down to poor character development. The novel makes the mistake of sending the characters on a big and scary mission without setting up what going on the mission means for any of them.

Cascade Failure is written in third-person point of view with the narration giving us insight into the thoughts of multiple different characters. The head-hopping feels unfocused and doesn't make for a very insightful look at any given character. I think the novel would benefit greatly from limiting the narration to the inner world of a single protagonist. But ensemble casts are trendy, and who am I to argue with trends.

The characters read like too-cute clichés rather than real people. Whenever the text over-explained their personalities, I felt patronized. There are too many declarations about things that are either obvious from the existing dialogue or should be written as dialogue or actions instead. Here's an example. I underline the extraneous declarations.

Saint was less forgiving.

"Don't go lumping us in with the likes of The Trust," he growled at them both - perennially composed, yes, but he could still be a grump when the mood struck.

Many reviews say that this is a 'found family' story. But I feel like if that term applies here, then it must have lost all meaning. Cascade Failure has an ensemble cast with sitcom vibes, but it lacks the emotional complexity, evolution, and impact that would earn the title "family" for a group of unrelated characters who are on an adventure together.

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Audiobook narrated by Torian Brackett:

In this narration, women sound like badly depicted silly creatures with inflated emotions. It does not help the existing issues with character development.

Thank you, Macmillan Audio and Tor, for a free Netgalley audio ARC of Cascade Failure.