Five years have passed since [Maelstrom]. The corporate elite hiding out in "Atlantis" and their Rifter guards are at a tense standoff, while up on the surface, βememoth lays waste to North America despite the efforts of Achilles Desjardins, now completely sociopathic after Alice has stripped him of "Guilt Trip" along with whatever conscience kept him in rein.

Why I picked it up: I've enjoyed the series; eager to plunge in and see it to the end. Like the previous series entry, I read this via the Open Library on the SimplyE app.

Why I finished it: I didn't like this as well as earlier novels, but the ending is still satisfying. There are too many characters for me to keep track of during the first half of the story in Atlantis: I lose track of the alliances and motivations, so the twists in plot and character don't bring the full impact. The action sequences get a bit muddied for me as well. Still, it wasn't hard to stick with it until the end.

I'd give it to: Unlike [Maelstrom] this doesn't stand on its own. Recommended only for readers of the first book or two. ( )

The final book in the Rifters Trilogy does not disappoint. It is an adventure. It is also a dichotomy: Dark, relentless and disturbing.

The story continues a few years after the events of the previous book. We are endeared by the main protagonist, Lenie. Her character has a slight change of heart, as much as she allows, given her disturbing history of abuse. She is forced to endure the mainland and the drybacks once again, not out of revenge like before, but out of contrition. This is a story about fighting against all odds, overcoming the demons within us, and stopping the monsters bent on destroying the world.

The story progresses at a steady pace, and many of the characters have detailed inner monologues. This may cause some readers to feel like the story drags on, but it delivers a good perspective of each personality. Most of the chapters end on a cliff-hanger - You just have to know what happens next. The story has a generous helping of science surrounding the genetic mutations, which are fouling life above and below the ocean. Similar to the other books, some chapters anthropomorphize these mutations, giving them a voice and intelligence of their own.

The majority of characters have questionable personalities, if not devious agendas. The few that are amicable don't live very long - A common theme in the Rifters books. There was one particularly haunting torture scene that made me pause. The imagery was succinct, yet brutal.

The conclusion left me wanting. The story was building up to the impending big fight, which did happen, but it was over before I realised it was happening. I felt there could have been more action at the end, mostly to give the reader a better sense of closure. I remind myself that, as with most things, it is about the journey. Viewed as a whole, the story is remarkable. It is the natural evolution of a well crafted plot, wrapped around dysfunctional yet endearing characters. ( )

Well, he blinked. I was confident that this third volumne of Peter Watts's Rifters trilogy would end in the extinction of humanity and the biosphere, via the good graces of the ßehemoth microorganism. Instead, he writes an ending with justified hope for the future.

The signs were all there. This is the book that was originally divided by its publisher into two volumes, titled ßehemoth:ß-Max and ßehemoth:Seppuku, each cheerful title referencing a variant of ßehemoth that upped the stakes for Earthly life even further. The story begins on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, deep underwater, where most of Earth's remaining corporate rulers are hiding out from the disasterous consequences of the pandemic that they unleashed. They exist in uneasy detente with the surviving rifters, whose ability to roam freely, under the immense surrounding water pressure, provides an upper hand in conflicts between the two groups. But the settlement is being scouted by unknown forces, and the new ß-Max variant of the bug can overcome the engineered resistance both groups have. Lenie Clarke and Ken Lubin, familiar to us from the earlier books, head back to a surface world they haven't seen for five years, in search of the threat.

They find a North America where scattered cities huddle behind electrostatic screens that keep ßehemoth out, dotted around a countryside where people are dying of violence, want, and disease. The world is held together - for now - by Achilles Desjardins and his fellow "lawbreakers", empowered to kill thousands in order to save millions. A newer strain, Seppuku, promises even worse outcomes. The destructive, software "Lenies" still cause havoc in the internet. As in the second volume, Watts skillfully extends what we thought we knew with new angles, and a few new characters. As always with Watts, there's a references section where he outlines the actual science behind his speculations.

A content warning: The book contains repeated scenes of severe sexual sadism carried out by a serial killer. This aspect of the story is relevant to Watts's treatment of power and responsibility, but could have been toned down.

Over the course of this, his first trilogy, Watts grew to become the superb writer I knew from his later books and stories, including the two novels of the Firefall trilogy that's he's written so far, novels in which human consciousness is shown to be mainly a handicap for our species in a universe where survival is paramount. Here's hoping he won't wimp out on the necessarily grim ending of that one. ( )

After the last book gave us a world above the ocean and the one before gave us the world below, I wondered just where this (duo/single?) third novel would take us.

Indeed, it gave us a synthesis. We had a treat of biology, more gene-modding, collapsing ecospheres, and even a bit of cooperation as the virus that had once been biological had become computational and had destroyed our modern world AND infected us biologically.

This is a true dystopian, no matter how you look at it, but it is also a wonderful combination of cyberpunk, biopunk, and military SF.

Military SF? Oh yeah, it went there this time. :)

Big time war. All those victim/victimizers out there finally found common ground and decided to team up or team-WITH the ancient big-bad. Totally cool.

I think it redeems a bit of the issue I had with the middle book by way of theme and analysis. It was also a bit more fast-paced and focused, less wandering. It had less discovery. I like discovery, of course, but with everything else that was going on, I really wanted to see some kind of cool resolution.

And we got it, here.

I totally recommend this SF series. Some people might prefer to have stopped at the first, but this entire cycle was well worth the effort.

Peter Watts is an absolute Must-Read for me. I won't quibble anymore. He's on my favorites list. :) ( )

So many things were about to happen. The end of Life As We Knew It. The beginning of Life As We Don't. It had already started. Her biggest regret was that she wouldn't be around to see it.

I thought that Behemoth dragged a bit so it's not a five star book like the first two, but it was still a satisfying end to the trilogy. ( )