A solid conclusion to the Nexus trilogy. Some things go exactly as I expected them to, but there are still a fair few surprises thrown in for good measure. For the most part, a lot of loose ends are tied up, making it a good way to end a series.

The stakes go up with most of the world in turmoil, the US and China in particular. The Chinese part was interesting (particularly since I’ve spent some time studying how the Chinese censorship systems work in the modern day), but felt tonally rather different from the previous books. It vaguely fits, but it felt almost like half a sequel and half something entirely new.

Speaking of a different focus, this book does turn a bit of the focus away from Nexus towards the post-human thoughts. Shu in particular. That particular storyline had already come about in the second book, but it really comes to the fore here. Again, it feels like the general story was drifting a bit, even if the drifting was interesting.

Overall, I think this Apex is weaker than Nexus and about as strong as the middle book. Apex is crazy huge and drags at time, but by this point I’ve invested enough time that I really want to see it through. I’m glad I did.

Random side note: The blurb says " They call them the Apex - humanity’s replacement. “. Did they actually mention this term at all in this book? I don’t remember that overmuch.