A good read, though a little confusing with too many primary and supporting characters. I like the use of thoughtful science and the humanity shown by the main characters, but I prefer more depth and less of a crowded caste in a story. It seems trite when its mostly dialogue and drama on ten different frequencies, but then again that isn't my favored style of writing either. Czerneda would do well to focus more on a few people without throwing so many in that we start to feel claustrophobic.

Extra 1/2 star.

Final part of goooood trilogy.

I believe I rated the first two books 3 of 5 stars, a lower rating because I found the story difficult to follow at times. However, I'm giving this last book 4 stars because I liked the way that everything came together for the climax and ending.

This is the strongest of the 3 in this trilogy. Basically front to back all good. The relationship is so much less cringe than in the first 2. I love this author and her books. This was the first series I had read by her and now that I have read some others of hers and done this reread (via audio book) I can say that it is still good, worth finishing the series, full of good nuggets of alien biology and scifi goodies, and still a series I love. That being said, so far this is her weakest work. I say this for the slow starts in book one and to a lesser extent in book two, the cringe romance (that does level out in the 3rd book significantly), and some of the human to human dialogue. However, I don't read Julie Czerneda for romance or the human dialogue, it's for the aliens and their worlds. It's for the world building and the fascinating interwoven wonderfulness. The societies of aliens and their perspectives/ways of thinking. This may be why the second half of the series comes out so strong compared to the first half, because more aliens and fun stuff. I don't think I can express enough how good the last book is.
This series will always be special to me. It introduced me to an amazing author (even if it seems like I'm picking her work apart, that just means I was really into it). I love how alien the aliens feel, they don't just seem like cookie cutter humanoids. Each feels unique and well developed.
Another note, every person I had loaned this series to read, every one of them ended up really liking it, even one who usually doesn't like science fiction ended up loving it. If you like this one, everything else by her I have read so far has been even better. If you didn't like it, try another of her series (web shifters is my fav so far).

Book three and finale - worth waiting for!

The plot was becoming a little convoluted by this part in the series, and there was a little too much going on. There were loops that kind of went off in various directions, like they were going to be very important, but they never really circled back. I can't tell if these were leftovers from early ideas that didn't get used later and weren't taken out in editing, or perhaps these side trails will be used in a spinoff series later, focusing on a different set of characters. It felt like there was a lot of effort put into some of the characters that weren't used all that much, so perhaps they will get their won series later. That's something that  Elizabeth Moon does more than Julie Czerneda, that I've seen so far, but that's the best explanation I've heard so far that doesn't reflect poorly on her and her editors.

Although the plot kind of got too big for itself a few places, the greatest strength was the characters themselves, particularly Mac. Czerneda does an exceptional job with characters that you can relate to; they seem like real people caught up in extraordinary circumstances, not like superheroes who treat the end of the world like another day at the office. There is a "heroic" character here, to balance Mac, who is the Every(wo)man here. I'd read these again, because even though the plot lost me a couple of times, the characters will keep me coming back for more.

A satisfying finish, but it wandered a bit. There were things that happened that *seemed* important to the plot, but really didn't have any impact. Took longer to get going than I thought it would.

I find that happens more than I'd like -- author seems to write themselves into a corner and then wanders a bit trying to write themselves out (if you can excuse the mixed metaphors). Unfortunately, after 700 published pages, you've got a commitment to finish the story and probably a publisher wanting to know exactly, ummm, when it's going to be ready to go. Still, I'll read her again.

A fun and exciting finish to this trilogy, though either I wasn't reading carefully enough (always a possibility) or the characters made some leaps of logic that didn't seem supported by the evidence they had at the time, because I was confused a couple of times by how they figured something out.

I guess the thing I really liked about these books - the characters who seem to start out primarily as antagonists or just sketchy mostly end up having more depth. Oversight, Fourteen, even Norris reveal themselves to Mac as people instead of just annoyances or obstacles, and end up being integral to helping her save the day.

I skipped #2. This ending book ties it all up. The tone is fairly even and measured; lots of interesting aliens, one species is too powerful (not humans) but benevolent (a recurrent theme of hers).

Conclusion of alien invasion / fish biology trilogy. Solid, but I don't have much to add to previous comments.

The third installment did lag a bit in the middle and occasionally the humor was forced, but when the story was exciting, it ripped along. I often couldn't wait to get back to the story to see what Mac and all her alien friends were up to. I'm definitely going to pick up some more Czerneda.

RTC, LOVE THIS TRILOGY SO MUCH