Apostles of Mercy is the third book in the Noumena series by Lindsay Ellis. When it begins, Cora and Ampersand are in Japan, hosted by a wealthy benefactor who plays no other role in the story. They have decided to leave Earth in the near future as Ampersand has decided Earth cannot be saved from climate chaos and its militaristic nihilism. Cora has been modified with implants that allow her to commute to school in New York City.

Meanwhile, Ampersand’s familial nemesis Nikola is locked up, deemed mentally ill and prevented from committing suicide. His killing of several soldiers at the end of Truth of the Divine is understood as self-defense, but it also instills increased fear of these aliens. Paris, a journalist, made a connection with Nikola and wants to interview him about his relationship with an activist/writer who died in the second book. Their growing understanding of each other is an important development in the series.

Meanwhile, the U.S. President is trying to increase the military budget in order to be able to fight the aliens he suspects are coming, the ones Ampersand and Nikola fled. And of course, it doesn’t help when there are rumors of aliens killing several people in the Philippines. Ampersand and Cora investigate and we learn that alien teenagers are just as troublesome and rebellious as human teens.

I liked Apostles of Mercy, but in some ways, I am more ambivalent about it than the first two books in the series. Personally, I think any science fiction book taking place on Earth is ethically obligated to address climate change and Lindsay Ellis keeps that dystopic future omnipresent in her series. I am glad of that, but hypocritically, I thought the discussion of our climate’s future to be too catastrophist and dogmatic. It took me out of the story.

Apostles of Mercy felt like a transitional book, not like the end of a series. I found myself distracted by the taxonomy of the alien species. There is as a lot more telling than showing and made the story feel less urgent. Even in moments of great peril, it feels a bit alien ex machina.

Nonetheless, I was engrossed in the developing and changing relationships and the puzzle of those rambunctious, impulsive, and typical, despite their extra-terrestrial origins, teenagers.

I received an e-galley of Apostles of Mercy from the publisher through NetGalley