The Fourth Consort is a sci-fi novel set in a universe where the earth is still very much like present, but part of the space-faring Unity, after aliens showed up to make sure humans don’t destroy the planet. But the Unity isn’t quite that altruistic and they always get something in return. From the earth, they get people.

Dalton Greaves is an engineer, a former soldier, and an all-around accomplished person who has lost the grip of his life after his father died. No other family is mentioned. When even his girlfriend dumps him, he’s more than willing to accept an offer to work for the Unity and leave the earth.

Three years later, somewhere deep in the universe, he’s starting to question the wisdom of the decision. For years, he’s travelled from one potential planet to another in a three-person grew captained by Boreau who is a giant slug representing the Unity, and Neera, a fellow human who recruited him. He hasn’t really had a chance to do what he was hired to do, diplomacy to win over the inhabitants of whichever planet they want won over. Mostly, he and Neera are very bored.

When they finally find a promising planet with intelligent civilisations, it turns out they’re not the first ones there. The Assembly, a rivalling alien organisation on the same mission as the Unity is there as well. Dalton, Neera, and the representative of the Assembly have barely landed on the planet, when both their motherships are destroyed, stranding them.

For Neera, the proper way to handle things is immediately to kill the person from the Assembly, an insectoid species derogatorily called stickman, though we never learn what they call themselves. Dalton refuses. As a former soldier who has done his fair share of shady missions in Bolivian jungles, there are things that shouldn’t be done, and unprovoked killing of an unarmed person is one. Miffed, Neera decides to stay in their landing craft while Dalton and the stickman go to negotiate with the natives of the planet, giant ant-like people called minarchs who live in underground hives.

The negotiation takes a bizarre turn though, when the queen of minarchs (First Among Equals) decides to make Dalton his fourth consort. Consorts two and three (Bob and Randall) are still around, but the first consort has met an unfortunate end. Consorts don’t have any power—males are powerless in the female led society—and Dalton finds himself confined to a harem and sidelined from the negotiations.

For minarchs, exchanging consorts is a way to deal and consolidate power with neighbouring hives. But choosing Dalton, who they see as a prey species, is an odd choice that triggers a coup to remove the queen. And the easiest way to do that is to kill Dalton.

That’s only the beginning of his troubles. He’s constantly juggling between trying to stay alive, the pressure from Neera to kill Breaker, the stickman he’s sort of befriending, and making sure the Unity wins the negotiations. But it seems that the only thing he has any influence on is choosing how to die, honourably—according to the codes both minarchs and Breaker subscribe to—or dishonourably. Someone will be disappointed, no matter how he chooses. But increasingly, he’s starting to lean towards disappointing Neera and the Unity.

This was a really good and entertaining novel. It’s deceptively small; it takes place in one hive, and nothing major happens, even if a coup is going on in the background. Dalton sort of drifts from one event to another, with no real agency over anything but his own reactions to them. But he’s not helpless, and in the end, he pulls through on his own terms.

Dalton is a great character with a good moral code, even if Breaker and the minarchs don’t understand or respect it. Neera, for her part, is a corporate drone and her actions are dictated by her fear of the Unity leaders. Breaker is the aloof knight type of a character, a teacher or sensei, who is more atop of things thanks to his clearer understanding of what kind of people minarchs are. He has the teacher’s hope of elevating Dalton to his and the Assembly’s level, and in the end, the two come to understand each other as friends. (The description mentions a bizarre love triangle, but that’s misleading in every way, as there is no third or even a romance.)

The ending is good, and while it concludes the story, it does have a seed for a new beginning. I’d definitely read more stories of Dalton travelling the universe.

Bob and Randall forever.

After reading a certain number of books by an author you can tell whether they're a sure thing or not. I've officially reached that number with Edward Ashton and, much like Blake Crouch, it's safe to say I’m guaranteed to have a good time with his writing 🙌🏽

Set in the not too distant future, our unlikely protagonist is your standard ex-marine character who has planets to explore and trouble to find. He soon lands himself in a predicament with a race of aliens who consider themselves much higher up the food chain than he is.

Unusually I found myself really enjoying the sections focussed on political tensions within the strange alien colony, probably more than any other part of the book, although there were also some hilarious moments of misunderstanding where human turn-of-phrase or behaviour was lost in translation.

I love a bit of comic relief when the plot gets a bit tough and there were some perfect examples from Ashton in this book 👌🏽 I honestly love the way he blends sarcasm into different situations, it's always done so well that I wish he built more of it into this one. But I guess I can't have everything.

It was short but brilliant, and as with Ashton's other books its left me wanting more!

I have loved Edward Ashton's other works, however, I'm not very keen on this one. It's not that it's badly written or anything like that, it's just my reading preferences. The story is character-driven, and I enjoyed the banter and dry humour of Dalton Greaves' interactions with the AI Translator, also those between Dalton and the "stickman". Personally, I think the Translator stole the whole show.

I found the social aspects of the aliens, and the perks(!) and pitfalls of being a diplomat a wee bit flat. In particular, the Second and Third Consorts were more like a couple of Scottish "sweetie wives". There was a lot to enjoy here, though I did feel a bit disappointed overall. It might be right up your street, so don't let me put you off. I'll still read anything this author writes.

I chose to read an ARC of this work, which I voluntarily and honestly read and reviewed. All opinions are my own. My thanks to the author, publishers, and NetGalley.

Well done Mr A, I can always count on you to provide a volume that engages brain and senses and imagination and The Fourth Consort is no exception.

Ending up as the only human male on an inhabited planet in order to decide what should be done with said planet is an interesting concept. Add into the mix a bossy human female who likes to stay in her landing craft, a very idiosyncratic Universal AI Translator and things get weirder; just the way I like it. Then add in the inhabitants of said planet, ruled on all levels by the females; better and better. The current ruler First-Among-Equals then decides the only human male needs to become her Fourth Consort and things get interesting. Even more so when you take into account that the First-Among-Equals is enormous and a hybrid reptile/insect.

The denouement is just perfect.

Enough from me, buy the book, be amazed, be entertained and bemused.

Another amazing read from Edward Ashton with his unique style of “fun” sci-fi with deeply serious undertones.

A story that really shows how human nature works. How we deal with adversity and how we are viewed.

The premise of an intergalactic company who scour the universe for civilisations deemed as weaker to help them but with the deceptive intention to harvest the planet of anything good just cries out how our planet works.

It’s intriguing and genuinely emotional and just very compelling. The character of Breaker , a scary alien with a reputation as a cruel killer is quite genius as this Killing machine serves to make us as humans think about what we are.

Incredibly good. I loved it

4.5🌟
Such a funny and entertaining read, this made me chuckle and outright LOL.
After everything that he’s been through, Dalton decides to join a space confederation called Unity. Supposedly as a hero he should be continuing to do heroic things, such as travelling through space, helping to bring other planets into peaceful alignment. Except what if it turns out that he might not be working for the good guys. Trapped on a planet, with only the colleague who recruited him, he gets caught up in local politics and finds himself forced to join the leader’s harem.
There are so many twists and turns, with some heart warming and head scratching moments. What makes us human and is that a strength or a weakness.

To note, there is no smut or spice. It’s not that kind of book.

I know this is terrible, but I legitimately thought we would have some form of smut or romance in here. I'm 99% sure I requested this after hearing about this on BookBub and well, while I didn't the romance or smut, I'm very happy I read this.

As someone who has been out of reading sci-fi for a very long time, it was definitely hard for me to visualise a lot of the other beings encountered and keeping track of their details. That being said, I think the world building was very well done in the conversations between the characters and the descriptions. I also love the details that aren't 100% cleared up; such as why do the male minarchs get eaten and is Breakers friend a friend or like a "friend"?

It's also interesting to see how Breaker and Dalton interact with the minarchs and their customs; Dalton is such an American, while Breaker does have a genuine interest in making sure he doesn't mess up in his interactions and helps. I also love how things are left untranslated or the AI tools says that it's not 100% accurate; there is so much lost in translation.

Neera was a whole back of crazy and I love that, but I also wonder how many times she's been stuck isolated before she got that way? It is a bit sad that this is a standalone, because a series where these guys interact again would have been very interesting.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this ARC!

In The Fourth Consort we follow Dalton on a mission to establish friendly relations with an alien race called the minarchs. However matters get complicated when not only a possible enemy shows up, but he also loses contact with his direct superior leaving him stranded on an unfamiliar planet with a politically volatile society.

This novel is fairly slow-paced and could in a way be described as cozy scifi. While there are elements of suspense and action, there is a lot of focus on the day to day life, and on the social and political dynamics.

"You are my consort now, blood of my blood. It is my place to lead, and yours to follow."

Dalton is our protagonist, and is surrounded by a colourful cast of mostly aliens. I enjoyed seeing how different his interactions were with every character. From the camaraderie with his only human companion, Neera, to the at times adversarial, at times cordial attitude towards the various aliens he comes into contact with. My favourite aspect of this was the relationship between Dalton and the stickman, Breaker. While they came frome very different backgrounds it was interesting to see how their interactions often led to fresh insights for both of them.

Ashton possesses a sharp sense of humour shown with not only the comedy duo of Bob and Randall, but also the nod to Animal Farm with the minarch's leader First-Among-Equals. He manages to grace us with some very memorable quotes.

"Offense is by necessity a matter for equals, no? One cannot afford to take offense at the actions of one’s superiors. At the same time, however, one can hardly take offense at the bumbling of a simpleton."

While I can certainly appreciate a slower pace, I do feel The Fourth Consort has some pacing issues along the way. The beginning and ending move along at a fairly steady pace, but in the middle there is a lot of (literal) waiting around for things to happen. The switching between Dalton's present predicament and his memories of the past helps to keep the storytelling feel more dynamic, in my opinion portions of this novel could have been shaven off to make it flow better.

Despite this small gripe overall I enjoyed my time with this novel, and I was especially happy with how Ashton manages to wrap it all up. The ending felt very fitting to the whole of the story and its characters.

"You still present a mystery to me, and I am not willing to end you until it is resolved."

The Fourth Consort could be your next favourite read if you enjoy character-driven, politically focused novels with a unique scifi cast. Some parts of the novel are in a way reminiscent of Murderbot, so if you enjoyed that series, you might want to give this one a try as well.

I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and honestly review an advanced reader’s copy of this book.

The Fourth Consort is my first Edward Ashton book, and after this, I’m eager to read more of his work! This small-scale sci-fi story was fantastic—layered with so many elements, yet never feeling convoluted or overwhelming.

One of my favorite aspects was Dalton’s strange and fascinating relationship with Breaker, an alien “stickman” representing the rival confederation known as the Assembly. I’m usually not a huge fan of the miscommunication trope, but it works so well here, especially considering that humans are still struggling to translate alien languages.

I had a great time with this book. While it stands well on its own, I’d love to see a sequel—there’s so much potential for this world to expand. If you’re a sci-fi fan and excited for Mickey17 to hit theaters, definitely check out The Fourth Consort!

Dalton, the human. Neera, his human counterpart and navigator of their ship. An alien planet with insect-like creatures with their own political system and problems.
Breaker, Dalton's enemy. Or is he?
A fight for survival with a surprise alliance.

I read an eARC of this book on Net Galley so thank you to the author and the publisher.

I really like Edward Ashton’s writing. He manages to blend peril and humour so skillfully in a sci-fi setting in a way that’s similar to what T.Kingfisher does in Horror. It’s so well done and manages to give you some comfort when the characters are going through extremely dangerous and terrifying situations!

This was a fascinating book. Our main character is human and has been hired by an alien race to help them with making contact with other species to bring into their fold. However his endeavours in diplomacy with a species called Minarchs is derailed by a ´stickman’ from an organisation called Unity. When their ships are destroyed they are taken in by the Minarchs but the situation is perilous. Our main character will have his beliefs tested as he tries to survive in this strange and veering towards hostile world while he waits for rescue.

This was a really interesting character driven tale. I hope there’s a sequel because I want to know more about the situation with Unity and their issues with the ´snails’. I was on the edge of my seat for parts of this where I had no idea how the main character would survive or what they were going to do to navigate the tricky situations they were in!

I love the small scale of this book, I do enjoy big space operas but there’s nothing quite like an intense character study in a sci-fi setting to look at how characters navigate new discoveries, early relations with very different species and potentially hostile situations and how their worldview changes as their experience grows. I really enjoyed this and I thought the exploration of being a consort was so interesting. There was some real political machinations in this book!

Edward Ashton burst onto the science fiction scene with Mickey 7, the story of a failing colony and a dispensable crewmember (soon to be the movie Mickey 17). Mickey as a character was snarky and observant but also intuitive and a great problem solver. Mickey returned in Antimatter Blues by which time he was suddenly a mission leader and had a relationship with an alien as he led an expedition into alien territory. All of which is to say that his latest book, The Fourth Consort, while it features a main character with a different name on a different planet could easily just be Mickey again encountering slightly different bug-like aliens.
Dalton Greaves, is one of two humans on board a ship that searches the galaxy for new species to bring into the ‘Unity’. The Unity is a collection of races overseen by a species of giant snails which humans call the Ammie. The Unity is competition with another polity known as the Assembly and there are hints throughout the book that Unity is not quite as benign as it makes out and maybe the Assembly is the better bet. The two are in competition over a new species and blow each other up in the process, leaving Dalton, his companion Neera and the Assembly’s envoi stuck on the planet hoping to win over the local population while waiting for reinforcements. That local population, predatory bug-like creatures, have their own ideas and their own internecine politics.
Greaves has to walk a fine line of local politics and his own mission, a job that ends up with him being placed in the harem (hence the title of the book) of the female leader of the world for reasons that never really make any sense (since she does not do the same to the other envoi). Greaves himself is what is quickly becoming a standard Ashton character – smart, resourceful, moral but also jokey and sarcastic As noted he is a little too much like Mickey (particularly in the sequel) but also reminiscent of Andy Weir characters particularly Ryland Grace from Hail Mary.
It is hard to know what to make of The Fourth Consort. At many points it feels like an episode of Star Trek – with prime directives and aliens who might look alien but act (and speak) in a very human manner and have different conceptions of honour. Ashton gives the feel of larger forces at play in the ongoing competition between Unity and Assembly but does not give readers enough information to decide which side is potentially in the right. So while The Fourth Consort is marketed as a stand alone novel it feels like part of a bigger story and a universe that Ashton could return to (there is a stinger suggesting this and he leaves Greaves in a very interesting position).

I am undecided about this book. I liked the setting, the plot premise, the idea of the main character , the interactions between Dalton and Breaker, and the snarky translator AI.
However I found the pacing to be off and the character building to be under-developed. I almost stopped reading in the middle but was glad I persevered as it picked up at the end. Now I am curious what happens next!!
If you want pacey action this isn’t for you. If you want detail on the alien cultures this isn’t for you. If you want moments of dry humour and social comment all wrapped up in an undemanding read then this is entertaining. I would certainly try other titles by this author to compare

I went into this book expecting a fun, chaotic, vibes-driven space opera—something along the lines of The Wayfarers series, which blends rich worldbuilding with thoughtful social themes, but with more action and a more intricate plot. And at first, it seemed like that was exactly what I was getting. I mean, it quite literally starts with a bang! The early chapters had that fun, chaotic energy, and I was excited to see where it would go.

But instead of a more character-driven, first-contact narrative, the story quickly shifted toward court intrigue and political maneuvering. At times, it reminded me of Winter’s Orbit — not just in its heavy focus on political plotting but also in the way it explored the relationship between Dalton and the other Honoured Guest.

The book dives deep into the challenges of diplomacy, particularly the struggles of overcoming language barriers and deeply ingrained cultural differences. To his credit, Edward Ashton does a great job illustrating how these shape interspecies interactions and how true understanding can be nearly impossible when meaning is lost in translation. On that note, the little translation device mostly stole the show when it came to humour! The book also highlights how context and intent are just as important as the literal meaning of words, adding an interesting layer to the conflicts.

The portrayal of humanity? Uncomfortably accurate — points for that. And here, Dalton’s character development is actually quite strong; watching him wrestle with his morals and justify his choices might be the book’s highlight.

But other aspects of worldbuilding felt underdeveloped or contradictory. The setting features a matriarchal society where men are treated as little more than status symbols and bargaining chips, yet somehow, two of the four male characters still find time to belittle women. This interaction felt unnecessary—it added nothing new, as there were already plenty of examples of these characters being awful without this extra layer. The dynamic just didn’t make sense.

At first, I was intrigued—especially by the high stakes of the competing visiting species and how their actions could shape the planet’s long-term relationship with the wider universe. But as the story progressed, I found myself getting bored. A shorter, tighter book might have helped maintain momentum and avoid the repetition of certain themes (seriously, how many times can you have the exact same argument with the only other human on the planet?). Even so, after all the trials and difficulties, the resolution still felt rushed and a bit too easy.

So while I enjoyed certain aspects of the book, I can’t say I had a great time with this one.
I'd rate it at 2.5/5 stars.

—Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an early copy of this book. All opinions are my own and reflect my honest reactions.—

The Fourth Consort was a fun and easy read. The world building was interesting with Dalton a human from Earth, trying to navigate a literal alien society with no idea of their customs, culture and politics when he ends up being stranded on an alien planet. I liked the fact Dalton remained clueless right till the end of the book which is felt realistic although this did mean we don’t learn much about the Monarch’s matriarchal society and why its leader was in a precarious position.
Dalton agrees to become the Fouth consort to the leader of the society and promptly becomes embroiled in a a world of politics and misunderstanding. The writing is easy to read with plenty of humour and action- the AI translator is truly the best character with an innate sarcasm that is hard to resist. Breaker the stickman alien is just as sarcastic as he forms a tentative friendship with Dalton.
If I had any gripes, it would be there isn’t enough Neera time in the book- this funny, smart ,scientist who isn’t afraid to destroy anything in her way deserves her own book. There are numerous flashbacks of Dalton’s life on Earth, but I found these distracted from the main story.

The Fourth Consort is an intriguing stand alone novel about human first contact with a race of aliens. In fact, for this particular human, Dalton Greaves, it’s his first contact with not one, but two alien races when he and his partner Neera are stranded on a planet. Dalton has to act as an ambassador for his patrons, The Unity with the planet’s inhabitants, the insect-like Minarchs .As well as that he has to deal with Breaker, his name for the representative of the rival consortium the Assembly who is also stranded on the planet.
I hadn’t read anything by Edward Ashton before and it took me a while to get used to the writing style. However, I did really enjoy the story. First contact stories are always fascinating as races try to discover common ground while maybe having nothing in common at all. This one was no exception as Dalton tries to negotiate with the Minarch’s as well as come to terms with the negative opinion that both the aliens hold about humans.
I liked the character of Dalton and I enjoyed the flashbacks which were scattered through the story and gave us insights into his background and character. His cynicism and self deprecation made him an interesting protagonist. However, his confusion with the events as they unfolded led to him often being quite passive and for most of the story, things were happening to him rather than him having any agency over them. I also enjoyed the character of Breaker who has a very negative view of humans but finds that Dalton doesn’t conform to this. It was interesting to see how he gradually came to see that some of his views might not be completely correct. The AI translation unit was also brilliant and I loved the snarky comments that it made.
My main reason for only giving the story 4 stars was that it all felt very under-developed to me. The physical world building was brilliant but I wanted a lot more about the Minarchs and the situation that Dalton found himself in. The story is told entirely from Dalton’s POV but I would have loved more insight into both sets of aliens and their cultures.
This was a great story though and I look forward to reading more by the author. My thanks as always to NetGalley and the publishers, Rebellion, for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Fourth Consort promises an entertaining mix of alien diplomacy, political intrigue, and humor, but it ends up being less of a thrill ride than I signed up for.

Dalton Greaves, an ex-soldier turned reluctant emissary, is stranded on a bug-filled planet and awkwardly crowned as consort to the alien queen. That setup sounds wild, right? It is, but the book doesn’t really lean into the absurdity or go deep into the politics. Instead, we get surface-level world-building and a main character who’s just kind of… there. Dalton isn’t terrible, but he’s so passive it’s hard to root for him. He reacts to things rather than driving the story, and that lack of agency drags everything down (subjective).

The alien culture and political drama are cool in theory but undercooked in practice. The translator chip, with its snarky potential, barely gets a chance to shine.

On the bright side, it’s fast-paced and has its funny moments, even if some of the jokes feel a little forced. Overall, it’s an okay read—not awful, not amazing. If you’re here for suspense & intrigue, though, you might leave wanting more.

I feel like this book was a mismatch of character and plot. The plot involves two humans stranded on an alien planet of insectile creatures doing their best to stay alive. This is made harder by the fact that they aren’t the only foreign travelers to be stranded on this planet; with them is Breaker, an tall, dangerous alien who belongs to a rival interstellar alliance who would rather see the natives ally with them. Dalton ends up being heavily encouraged to live with the bugs while Neera, his human co-worker, stays behind in the lander. With the weapons.

The bug races — both the matriarchal natives and the “stick man” Breaker — are kept mysterious. Neither their cultures nor their beliefs nor their language is made accessible to Dalton, which I enjoyed. Dalton is an outsider, he shouldn’t know things that he can’t figure out, and why would a semi-hostile alien race tell him about their culture, their biology, their religions?

The writing is strong, the plots withing plots and cultural differences are interesting. Dalton, however, isn’t. He’s apathetic, uninterested, bored and boring. He doesn’t do anything, think anything, or feel anything. He doesn’t question, and he doesn’t care. Dalton’s POV is flat, monotone, and so, so boring. If it weren’t for the plot and the quick pacing of the book, I’d have put it down and probably forgotten about it.

If it weren’t for Dalton, this would be a four star book. Because of Dalton, it’s a three. However, because I enjoyed the writing, the plotting, and the world building, I’ll be looking for more books from this author in the hopes that they’ll have another story I’ll enjoy, and hopefully a more interesting character to enjoy it with. Thank you so much to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me an ARC of this book!

I loved this book, the humour, the characters the language, especially the AI translator, such imagination, and the unexpectedness of the plot.
Dalton is a spaceman from Earth sent by the explorer group Unity. After his spaceship is destroyed in a firefight with the rival Assembly ship, he and his crew mate Neera are stranded on the planet of the Minarchs, along with Breaker, the only remaining Assembly free member until help comes.
Dalton and Breaker both try to win the favour of the leader of the Minarchs for their respective agencies, but Dalton gets caught up in all sorts of political schemes and constantly offends the Minarchs and their codes of honour.
Brilliant, highly recommended.

I previously enjoyed Mickey7 from Edward Ashton which released a few years ago, so I was excited to read The Fourth Consort.

Dalton works for Unity, an organisation run by giant space snails who are trying to unite sentient life. Whilst in a meeting on the insect-like Minarch’s home planet, Dalton and coworker Neera lose contact with their ship and find themselves stranded. Who can they trust and how will they survive?

As with Mickey7, I enjoyed the writing style of Fourth Consort - it’s easy to read and flows well. I particularly enjoyed the sarcastic asides from the AI translator, and the guessing at certain words which led to some misunderstandings was a fun addition to the narrative. I admire any author for writing standalone sci-fi as it requires so much world-building in addition to creating believable and empathetic characters and an interesting plot.

I think Fourth Consort perhaps falls a bit on the characters – I didn’t feel much for Dalton, despite the flashback insights into his life that we are given throughout. I also thought the Minarchs, although interesting and different, were all written a little too similarly to each other and without their nicknames, I wouldn’t have guessed who we were reacting to. I also wish we’d learnt more about Neera as she seemed quite a wasted character on the ship by herself for nearly all of the story. My favourite character was Breaker though – I enjoyed the scenes with him in and I did genuinely feel for him by the end.

Although I really enjoyed the plot arc as a whole, it did feel like it became a little repetitive and dragged at times. I think maybe a sharper, more ruthless edit to tighten up the middle section could have been an improvement, and this may have helped to give us more information on other characters, or even provided reveals on Unity and the Assembly (perhaps through Neera’s eyes) to give us more context.

Overall, The Fourth Consort is engaging sci-fi, I just think it needed a little more editing in the middle to tighten it up and expand on some key points. Thank you to NetGalley & Rebellion Publishing – Solaris for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.