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.

I loved The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton!
It's actually the third book I've read by the author, and I enjoyed it just as much as I've enjoyed their other books. They are definitely becoming a favourite sci-fi author of mine!
The writing was just as great as always, and the story was just so much fun, I couldn't put the book down!

It was really funny at times, and the book had great pacing.
The characters were definitely the best part of the book, which was not a huge surprise as I always find myself loving the characters that Edward Ashton writes!
I'm so excited to see what they write next!
All in all, this is definitely a booki highly recommend, especially to anyone looking for a fun sci-fi read!

The Fourth Consort is another hit from Edward Ashton! I absolutely love the humour that Ashton injects into his books; it’s never enough that it overwhelms the story, but it gives everything a little flair that really works for me. As for the story, our main character, Dalton Greaves, is tasked with making first contact with an alien species. But no matter how hard Dalton tries, he keeps making the situation worse.

I thought the characters in this story really shone. Dalton is the exact kind of protagonist I expect from Ashton—he’s funny and self-deprecating, but also has a few skills up his sleeve. But it was Breaker, the AI translator, and Bob and Randall who really stole the show for me—they were all hilarious and interesting in their own ways. Along with loving the characters, I also really enjoyed the focus on alien cultures clashing and the miscommunication that can arise from that—even when everyone is trying their best.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the arc. This one simply didn’t work for me. I read almost halfway, with no notes because I simply didn’t care. Unfortunately, if I put this book down I wouldn’t have picked it back up, 3 stars

A fascinating read, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I've been a fan of this author's earlier sci-fi works, and was intrigued to see where this new story would take him.
There was a touch of the Mickey-7 in the character, which I was pleased to see, but maybe that was just the appeal to me of very slightly humorous and sarcastic self-deprecation. Maybe this author should be an honorary Englishman?
However, it was a quite different read, where the main protagonist, although also rather expendable, seems to get himself into further trouble, however much he tries not to.
Some nice twists, a few great characters, and very interesting take on the kind of aliens that could be encountered. Gives me the shivers.

I was very glad that I chose this book based on the author, and without having read the blurb on NetGalley. Having read it just before reviewing, I did rather feel it gives away one of the main thrusts of the novel, and hope it will not be repeated on the main publishing sites in due course!

Thank you to NetGalley and to Rebellion for the ARC of The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton.

This is my third Ashton novel, and, once again, his signature brand of humor shines through every interaction, both in actual text and in descriptive subtext.

In The Fourth Consort, Dalton Greaves is the muscle/first contact lead on a spaceship of 3 - Dalton, fellow human Neera, and the massive snail Boreau. They work for a company called Unity run by Boreau's species, and Dalton has been told their mission is peace to undiscovered worlds and universe wide collaboration. Dalton finds this mission to be untrue in his third year on the team after he attempts to make first contact with the minarchs, only to find the Assembly, a competitor organization that truly is working for the good of the universe, has gotten there first. Though it is never fully explained, Boreau opts to obliterate the Assembly ship while Dalton, the ship scientist Neera, and Breaker, the one Assembly representative, are planetside, leaving all of them stranded until further help can arrive. The Fourth Consort is the story of how Dalton survives until more help arrives, navigating two different species who believe humans to be duplicitous prey animals not worthy of survival, and trying to convince them both that humans, and Unity, are the side they should choose. This draws him into the center of the minarch leadership political machinations in hilarious and horrifying ways he never could have predicted.

I will say, to any on the fence readers, I think Ashton's works are great in print, but they EXCEL in audio. I listened to Mal Goes to War while shoveling after a massive snowstorm, and was laughing outloud even when the story seemed bleak because of the way the narrator was able to verbalize and emphasize his writing. I didn't get to listen to The Fourth Consort, but my guess is that Breaker and the Counselor and each of the other characters would have been hilariously funny in their interactions / cultural confusion with Dalton.

I took off one star because the amount of flashbacks were a lot - I see what Ashton was trying to do with them, but given how short the story already is and how about 1/4 of the plot is devoted to flashbacks, it ended up feeling like maybe they could have been brought to the forefront by Dalton in different ways that were more powerful.

I really enjoyed the hopeful ending - Ashton has a gift of letting situations be dire, but still allowing humor and hope to shine through in the hypocrisy, miscommunications, and general disaster of the worlds where his books take place. It makes his books feel like snarky, cozy friends.

I had enjoyed Mickey7 from Edward Ashton and was excited to read the next book in this series. The concept worked well in this universe and was everything that I wanted in the genre. It had that feel that I was looking for and enjoyed getting to read this. It had that element that I wanted from Edward Ashton’s writing and was glad I read this.

Edward Ashton’s The Fourth Consort is a remarkable addition to the first-contact science fiction genre, delving into the intricate realms of language, culture, and the inevitable miscommunications that arise when two vastly different civilizations collide. I absolutely loved this book! Ashton, known for his sharp wit and compelling storytelling in Mickey7, has once again crafted a world that feels immersive and thought-provoking.
In The Fourth Consort, humanity encounters an alien species so different from our own that even their ways of thinking are almost incomprehensible. Ashton masterfully illustrates how difficult (and often absurdly frustrating) true communication can be, especially when there is no shared cultural context. Ashton’s use of misunderstandings and mistranslations cleverly highlights how language is not just words but a vast cultural web that shapes how we see the world—and each other.
One of the most compelling aspects of the story is how Ashton tackles the common tropes in first-contact stories with a fresh perspective. Instead of relying on standard science fiction stereotypes, Ashton digs deeper into what happens when both sides genuinely strive to understand one another, even when faced with what seems like insurmountable differences. The story is as much about what it means to be human as it is about the aliens themselves, and that makes it resonate on a profound level.
Speaking of Mickey7, fans of that novel (like me!) will be thrilled to know that Ashton’s knack for blending action, humour, and philosophical musings continues here. After Mickey7 was picked up for a movie, I'm even more excited to see how his unique storytelling style will translate to the screen, as this book feels cinematic in scope and richly layered in themes.
Overall, The Fourth Consort is a must-read for science fiction lovers, especially those interested in stories of first contact that explore language, culture, and the inherent messiness of trying to understand the unfamiliar. Ashton’s thoughtful exploration of communication and culture clash is as entertaining as it is enlightening. Highly recommended!