INTRODUCTION
With backstories for Driller, Telsa, Tim-22, Bandit, and Andy/Effie out of the way, DESCENDER VOLUME 4: ORBITAL MECHANICS delivers on some much needed plot development for the larger story of the machine vs. organic conflict. After two whole volumes of this being somewhat stalled, it is finally brought forward in ways that feel important and sometimes surprising.
5/5 This felt like the entry into the series that I have been waiting for. The story is back on track, the art is back on par, and the characters are as good as they have ever been.
CHARACTERS


There's a much greater emphasis on the universe this time around. Conversations are had regarding the Harvester threat, characters are trying to reach specific destinations, and the writing has done a great job of making things that happen in one place feel important to another. There's this great inter-connectivity between everything that makes the world(s) feel so much more alive than before. Even back in the first volume it wasn't entirely clear how one thing connected to another, but now, there's a distinct sense of unity across all people, places, and things. This is a good thing because location-wise there's not a ton going on. Most of the action takes place in different starships, UGC bases, and The Machine Moon. These are all rendered with a bit more detail and care than they were in the previous installment, at least. There are also two more exotic planets that the story does go to. One is all water which sounds boring, but story-wise it's pretty cool. The second is a swamp planet which is something a little different from what's been shown so far as well. All in all, the setting definitely takes a higher precedence than before, there is a tiny bit of variation in the backdrops, and there is a little more effort into depicting where all the characters are.
PLOT/TONE
While it could definitely be argued, that this volume is just setting up future installments, I felt as though it was as satisfying as it should be with weaving a compelling space opera while still building hype for what comes next. With the threat of the Harvesters taking the forefront, the overall tone of the story is far more pressing. There's this excellent sense that the characters are racing against an invisible clock and that the shoe could drop at any moment. Although the Harvesters do not actually make a sudden and devastating appearance, there are a number of smaller hammers that do come down which result in there being twists around every turn. There are also some fun side stories that keep things interesting without distracting too much from the main thread - the troubled relationship between Andy and Effie being chief among them.
ARTWORK
It took a while, but I feel like the all the buildup that has been taking place is finally paying off. The characters that were explored in VOLUME 3 all have important parts to play which made learning their backstories feel all the more worthwhile. The dots are connecting and the different locations have converged to one larger stage. The pace has picked up, the twists have increased in number, and there are plenty of new open threads to look forward to.
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