I come to the conclusion that I don't like how this author writes her protagonists. I had that problem with her previous book, andStars: 2.5 out of 5.
I come to the conclusion that I don't like how this author writes her protagonists. I had that problem with her previous book, and it's even worse in this one. Ophelia is a horrible person, at least in my opinion, and instead of punishing her for her shortcomings and making her grow up and become a better human being, the author rewards her for them.
I mean who you have a protagonist that LIED about her past to get the job she has now. Mind you, this job is to help people suffering from a psychological condition that can make them violent and delusional. Moreover, this is a condition Ophelia is very familiar with because her father had it... yes, that's the part she lied about. Oh, and she also has PTSD from her experience with things her father did, and a plethora of other psychological issues herself, yet she thinks she can be objective enough to help others with this? I mean how self-absorbed do you have to be to think that this is okay?
Also, no professional board in their right mind would ever authorize something like that, so no wonder she had to lie about her identity. Oh, and use the influence and money of the family she despises so much just to get what she wants. So it's okay to disparage your relatives and pretend that you are better than them, but still use their name when it suits you... okay then.
Not only that, but Ophelia also accepts a posting that will put her in the precise situation that will trigger her PTSD. She know is, in fact, she mentions is a few times... yet she fights tooth and nail to still get that position. I mean is that supposed to endear her to me? If this protagonist spent even a moment thinking about anyone other than herself, she would realize that she is the LAST person that needs to go on this mission. That by going she is putting everyone else in danger. She is supposed to provide psychological counseling and stability to the crew put under difficult conditions. How is she supposed to do that when she has several psychological breakdowns just being in an abandoned space station? But no, that thought doesn't even cross her mind.
And, as I mentioned before, the author thinks this is perfectly normal and in fact brave of Ophelia to do that. She is rewarded for being this reckless and selfish at every turn. She is saved from though situations by plot armor and deus ex machina solutions.
That's the other issue I have with this book - the ending is extremely underwhelming, just like the previous book by her, Dead Silence, has been. We get this huge buildup with so many mysteries and horrors... and it all circles back to the evil corporation will be evil trope.. that we already saw in the previous book as well. This is getting old, and it cheapens the plot, in my opinion.
As for the supporting characters, there is really nothing much to say about them. They are more a collection of stereotypes than realized individuals. We have the gruff team leader with a hidden heart of gold who will become the protagonist's possible love interest. Then we have the rude macho dude that hates her from the get go (for good reasons, mind you). And another male character that might as well be a non-entity. As for females, we have the b76chy female that will turn out to be evil, and a sweet young innocent girl that everybody wants to protect. Actually, if you look at the cast of characters in this book and compare it to the characters in Dead Silence, they are identical. Only the names changed.
I think I'm done with this author. Their stories sound so great when you read the blurb, and the covers are top notch, but the execution is sorely lacking, at least in my opinion.
PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I was a bit distracted by the abrupt change of tone halfway through this story. It started like a heart-pounding high stakes race thStars: 3 out of 5.
I was a bit distracted by the abrupt change of tone halfway through this story. It started like a heart-pounding high stakes race that was all on board for... and ended up as a statement about the evil of losing one's humanity to machines. Maybe? Not quite sure what the author actually wanted to say with that.
Both topics would have worked great as a story, but mashed together they fell flat, at least for me....more
Disclaimer before I get into the meat of this review. In order to understand what's happening in this book, you must have read NetwoStars: 4 out of 5.
Disclaimer before I get into the meat of this review. In order to understand what's happening in this book, you must have read Network Effect. This story picks up almost immediately after the ending of that book, and the events in NE have a direct impact on what's happening in this story. Of course, I'm assuming that not many people would start a series on its seventh book without reading the previous six, but you never know.
As I said, the events of this book are a direct continuation of Network Effect. They are still on the planet with the alien infestation. The corporation is still there as well. And Murderbot... Murderbot is not okay. Oh, he is fine physically speaking, but his mental state is in shambles to say the least.
And you know what? I'm really glad that the author chose to portray it this way. She could have easily just swept the events of Network Effect under the rug, and left Murderbot continue like nothing happened. To be his sarcastic and highly efficient paranoid self. But that would have diminished the impact of what had happened in those ruins.
Murderbot had been through a horrific and traumatic experience. He was almost assimilated by a malignant alien entity, not to mention the mental violation that took place. If he had just shrugged this off, it would only have reinforced the point that SecUnits are just machines, because only a machine could walk away unscathed from something like that.
But Bot is more than a machine, and he has a severe case of PTSD, even if he doesn't understand what's happening to him. He thinks he is broken, that something in either his organic parts or his programs is malfunctioning. So we get this very hesitant Bot, who second guesses all of his hunches and reactions, who doesn't trust his own risk assessments, and who spends so much time checking and double-checking his conclusions that he seems slow on the uptake.
This shows us an oddly vulnerable side of Murderbot. He isn't used to being this hesitant. He isn't used to not being in control of the situation or of his own reactions to those situations, and he isn't used to not being able to have several plans of attack/retreat going at once in his head.
I also loved that Bot's attitude towards the humans he is with (the ones who came with him and ART's crew) has drastically changed in this book as well. Yes, he can still be sarcastic about them, but he truly considers them as friends, not just charges he has to keep alive often despite their best efforts. Bot even starts to trust them to accomplish things without his input or help. He relies on them more and he thinks of them a lot more fondly then before. This is huge character growth for Bot, and I am very happy about that.
My only complaint is that due to the limiting factors of the setting, we don't get nearly enough interaction with ART prime or Three, which I was really looking forward to. But seeing how this book ends, I have hope that we will get a lot more ART in the future. I would also like to know what will happen to the SecUnits Bot freed in this book. It would really be interesting to see how each of them evolves.
PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This novella left me in a state of confusion once I finished reading it. It was well-written and quick, at only 124 pages, but I felStars: 3 out of 5.
This novella left me in a state of confusion once I finished reading it. It was well-written and quick, at only 124 pages, but I felt like I didn't really understand what it was about. What was the point of this whole story? I still don't know.
Sure, it raises some interesting topics, especially relevant today with the emergence of ChatGPT and other AI projects. What constitutes an intelligence? What constitutes a person, for that matter? At one point a human being ceases to represent just him/herself and becomes more of a function? What is the difference between Maritza as a detective, and her as China Lake Police Precinct? To us, those distinctions are bewildering and can even seem crazy, but for an artificial intelligence, those are perfectly normal questions to ask, to establish an equality of terms, so to say.
That's enough to make your brain hurt just thinking about it, but imagine what can happen when an AI reclassifies you from human to something else? Then all the usual failsafes and barriers are gone, and who knows what that AI can do with or to you... chilling thought, actually.
Another interesting question raised is the one of free will - to which extent do we, as humans, have it? And how does that relate to AIs? Does Selene have free will? I would say no, because she is tied to this house and to the legacy of a man she grew to despise and ran away from all those years ago. Now, no matter what she does, she will always be seen as Basit Deniau’s archivist, instead of a talented architect in her own right.
Same can be said of Rose/House. It will never be free of the name Basit Deniau’s AI. It is tied to that house, which is it's body and its prison. But even then, it still wants to be unique, hense it's murderous reaction to the idea that its code could be replicated somewhere else.
As I said, all those are really interesting questions, and I appreciated exploring them, but I think the story itself is rather incomplete. What was the point of doing the murder investigation when you can't take the body out of the house, the officer that went there didn't even bring a basic forensic kit and lacks the knowledge to perform a proper examination of the corpse?
The events in that house are described in such a convoluted and confusing manner, that I am still not sure what really happened there. Why did Maritza run away as far as New Orleans afterwards? She experiences such dread in that house, but reading about it, I couldn't understand why, to be honest. Yes, the conversations she'd had with the AI were strange, but they didn't warrant such abject fear.
And the double memory of what happened to the corpse was very confusing as well. Was the AI hacked? Was there another person there? Did they mange to copy the source code? And if they did, was that what was on the memory stick? And if so, how did Selene get ahold of it? Also, what happened to Selene after Maritza fled the house, abandoning a civilian behind, I should mention?
There are too many questions with no answers. So as a philosophical exploration of humanity and personhood, this is a good book. As a mystery, this fails on all accounts.
PS: I received an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
I was fully onboard with this book for the first 50% or so of the story. Granted, one of the main characters was too stupid to exiStars: 2.5 out of 5.
I was fully onboard with this book for the first 50% or so of the story. Granted, one of the main characters was too stupid to exist, and some of her choices were that of a braindead child. But the story moved along at a good pace, things were happening, there was a big mystery about, so was happy to overlook an annoying character or two. But then the book kept going... and going... and going with no end in sight. Episodes started repeating themselves without bringing anything new to the story, and I was quickly losing interest.
As I had mentioned, the characterizations in this book are... rather lacking. And forget about character growth. I think the only character that has any is Rapscallion, and he is a sentient robot. Which tells you everything you need to know about the other characters. So if you are looking for a character driven story, move along. This ain't for you.
But the mystery of what the heck is happening around Paradise-1 and why all ships sent there stop responding was compelling enough to have me turning the pages for about half of the book. And I admit that the idea of an alien contract that can invade our minds by planting a destructive idea is rather horrifying, because our bodies have no defense against a virus that isn't biological in nature. I also really wanted to discover what was on Paradise-1 that needed to be guarded so fiercely, and why was it worth so many human lives and so many ships to try and get it.
Unfortunately, this book is at least 300 pages too long, so the story started repeating itself. We get to yet another ship that's infected with different version of the Basilisk. We encounter yet another crazy AI and see the horrors that happened to the human crew. We don't learn anything that we didn't know by reading the first half of the book. The characters flee the ship, or are saved, or take the ship over... then the action switches to yet another encounter with another infected ship.
Honestly, I think the story should have ended after their attempt to run the blockade to land on the planet. The 200 pages after that were just filler, with a few exception, like actually encountering the Basilisk, and even that could have been incorporated into the story differently.
Oh, did I mention that the book ends on a cliffhanger? No? Well, it does. 700 + pages end with no emotional payoff whatsoever. We still don't know what happened on Paradise-1 and why it was so important to get there. The story ends mid-action. I guess the reader would have to pick up the next book in the series to find out what happened to the colony on Paradise-1, but guess what?
I won't be along for the ride. I am not willing to sit through another overlong book and follow annoying characters just to find out that the story isn't finished and there is another cliffhanger. No thanks, I'm out.
PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I love the cover of this book. It's what drew me to it in the first place. The content, however, was rather disappointing. Part of it is dueDNF at 60%
I love the cover of this book. It's what drew me to it in the first place. The content, however, was rather disappointing. Part of it is due to the rather non-existent worldbuilding.
There is the city of Shantiport that might or might not be sinking, and it's implied that it's part of a bigger inter-galactic civilization, but we don't get much more details than that. What planet is this on? How is this civilization organized? Why are people fleeing it? Is it really sinking? There are hints here and there, but they never form a coherent picture.
Problem is, since I can't see the overall picture, I don't understand the stakes. And since I don't understand the stakes, I can't really get invested in the characters' fights. Will a revolution be good for Shantiport? How is that better or worse than what they have now?
Another reason for my gradual lack of interest with this book is that the author chose to tell this story through the eyes of dispassionate (at least at first) observer. Yes, Moku ends up getting involved in the action and even taking sides, but it was a little too late for me.
Since Moku can't read Lina or Bador's minds (after Bador blocks him), he can only observe their actions and speculate to their motives. Problem is, they show very little, especially Lina, who had to live with constant surveillance all her life and learned to show a blank mask to the world in most occasions. It's an interesting concept in theory, but a boring read in execution. I can't empathize with a character if I have no clue what their motives are. Both Lina and Bador appear shallow and self-centered at times because of their actions, since the reader isn't privy to their motivations. Which also means that some of their actions come a bit out of the left field as well.
The pacing of the book is also very slow. The action sequences are fun, especially Bador's intervention during the fight between two giant robots, but they are few and far between. What we have most of the time are pages upon pages of dialog (and sometimes monolog) that go absolutely nowhere. And since the characters are under surveillance, they speak in riddles, which makes those passages even more convoluted and, honestly, boring to read.
I am very disappointed in this book. The cover drew me in and promised something fun and original, but the content let me down.
PS: I received an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
I actually liked this collection better than Vox Astra: The Black Box. The stories resonated more with me, I guess. I was surprised Stars: 4 out of 5.
I actually liked this collection better than Vox Astra: The Black Box. The stories resonated more with me, I guess. I was surprised to see that some stories happened in the same universe than a couple stories in the other collection. Like the story about the tanks with human brains inside that happens in the same universe as the story about the warrior dogs in the first book.
My favorite by far would be When Clouds Die, because the planet described is fascinating and a bit like Pandora from the Avatar movies... with an ancient alien civilization twist. Is it me, or was that rising island a bit Lovecraftian in nature? It gave me some very uneasy vibes.
Anyway, I enjoyed this collections and it is a quick read if you have an afternoon to kill.
PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
This is the third book I read by this author, and I'm beginning to see a trend: the worldbuilding is excellent. The ideas are fascStars: 2.5 out of 5.
This is the third book I read by this author, and I'm beginning to see a trend: the worldbuilding is excellent. The ideas are fascinating and thought-provoking. The faraway future of human space exploration and settlement the author paints is definitely worth exploring further. But the characters, oh the characters... the author can't write engaging characters to save his life.
It was a slight issue for me in the first book of the series, Revelation Space, but the new world was interesting enough to dive into that I overlooked the lack of engaging characters to follow. It was also visible in the prequel Chasm City, but at least that book gave me some answers about other things raised in book 1, so I let is slide.
But this problem came to the forefront in this book, because the main storyline is most definitely character driven. Unfortunately, I didn't have any good characters to latch on to. And by good I mean interesting and realistic, or even engaging. I couldn't care less for Clavain and his identity crisis, mostly because he came off condescending and thinking himself smarter and better than anyone else in the universe... while making some rather stupid assumptions and decisions. I also didn't like Skade and couldn't really understand her motivations for being as she is. You would think that it would be better explained, since she is the main villain. But even her story was put aside halfway through, when Clavain and his crew got busy with the big confrontation with the Triumvir.
Speaking of which, what was that even about? We spent pages upon pages talking about the importance of the weapons, and everyone is fighting for control and possession of said weapons... only to just leave them and run at the end? What was the point of this book exactly then? If they were essential for the fight against the Inhibitors, then why didn't anyone bother to scoop them up before they turned tail and burned it out of the dying system?
As it stands, the book dragged for me. In fact, it took me the better half of last year and then a couple months in 2024 to finish it, simply because I would start losing interest after 10 pages or so and put the book away. I had to force myself to come back to it every time and finish it. I will still give book 3 a try to see where this story is going, but I hope it will be a much tighter book with at least a couple characters I can latch into....more
This was such a cute little story about little bots that are sometimes too smart for their own good. I loved all the inter-bot interactions. The authoThis was such a cute little story about little bots that are sometimes too smart for their own good. I loved all the inter-bot interactions. The author managed to give all of them some individuality. And in the end, an unorthodox approach saves the day!
Merged review:
This was such a cute little story about little bots that are sometimes too smart for their own good. I loved all the inter-bot interactions. The author managed to give all of them some individuality. And in the end, an unorthodox approach saves the day!...more
I hate giving up on new authors, but this book simply can't keep my interest any longer. It was slow to start, but I hung on in there, hopiDNF at 30%.
I hate giving up on new authors, but this book simply can't keep my interest any longer. It was slow to start, but I hung on in there, hoping that the action will pick up with the story. Well, we are 30% in, and neither the story nor the action ever picked up.
This book could have used a trim. So many useless words! That whole opening chapter could have been slashed in half if not more, and that would have made the story only better.
My other complaint is that the characters are uninteresting, and the Jens is downright unpleasant to follow. I get that the author was going for the socially awkward genius that is somewhere on the spectrum, so has issues understanding human emotions. Well, that didn't work for me, because this depiction is inconsistent. In one chapter he struggles with understanding why some of his colleagues want to be touchy-feely after he comes back, and in the next he can read the emotions of the people he interrogates like an open book.
It's also a big fail on the genius investigator part... yeah, he Jens would be a genius if all the other cops were kindergarten kids who never learned police procedures or interrogation techniques. Seriously, the way he investigates crimes scenes or talks to witnesses and suspects would have him fired from any police precinct IRL, no matter how understaffed they were. It was painful to read through.
Also, 30% in, I still have no clue where this book is going. Yes, there is a suspicious fire in a warehouse and seven bodies. Yes, it is probably murder, and there is another possible murder that may or may not be related to that case... and that's it. We are over a quarter of the book in, shouldn't we have learned a bit more at this point? In any case, I am not sticking around to find out.
PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
It's badly written, with long rambling passages of character inner thoughts that do nothing to bring the plot forward. MDNF at 20%.
This is bad y'all.
It's badly written, with long rambling passages of character inner thoughts that do nothing to bring the plot forward. Most important details are omitted while the author chooses to concentrate on the inane. And there are weird jumps in time between chapters. Important things happen in those gaps, but we only learn of them via long and boring exposition. Seriously, the author doesn't know how to show, not tell to save their life.
The male characters in this book are despicable selfish assholes. The women... well, there weren't any to speak of in the portion I managed to read.
Ugh, this is a hard bounce. Sorry book, it's totally you, not me.
PS: I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review....more
I rarely read fairy tale retellings, because I think that retellings are rather pointless. I'd rather read the original and decide fStars: 5 out of 5.
I rarely read fairy tale retellings, because I think that retellings are rather pointless. I'd rather read the original and decide for myself what the morale of the story was, instead of reading about what the reteller thinks the story was about. So I'm really glad that I didn't know that this was a retelling of Pinocchio when I picked up the book, or I would never have given it a try. And I would have lost out on a wonderful story.
And honestly, you don't have to know anything about the original Pinocchio book to enjoy this story. Yes, there are parallels, but In the Life of Puppets stands on its own two feet pretty well and doesn't rely on knowledge of the original.
It's a story of Victor Lawson, the only human in a world of robots. And of his quest to save his father. And him and his friends have some adventures along the way. For a fairy tale this book has surprisingly a lot of heart.
Because the characters, human and robot alike, are fully realized individuals with their own quirks and dreams. And their interactions are hilarious at times, and at times very touching and heartfelt. Nurse Ratched is my favorite character. Yay for sociopathic nurse robots with a heart of gold.
The world our group of misfits travels through is wonderous and terrible at the same time, like it should be in good fairy tales. And all of the characters grow and progress along the way, especially Victor, who has to come to terms with a lot of hard truths. Like the fact that his father was the engineer of the extinction of his whole race. Or that you can still love someone even if you can't forgive them for what they did, even if you aren't sure you have the right to forgive them. Or that you can love someone even if they don't remember you from time to time. This last one hit particularly close to home, since I am dealing with a relative slowly loosing his battle with Alzheimer's. That is a truly horrible disease that transforms a loved one into a completely different person. A bit like what happened to Gio once he was taken back into the City of Electric Dreams.
And even though the situations our characters find themselves in are horrible at times, the overall message of this book is one of love and hope, which makes it a very heartwarming story. I would definitely recommend this to adults and young adults alike. It's rare that I read a book in one sitting and come out of it with a content and warm feeling.
PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I liked this novella - it's perfect for a lazy afternoon when you don't particularly want to commit to a longer book. It's fast-paceStars: 4 out of 5.
I liked this novella - it's perfect for a lazy afternoon when you don't particularly want to commit to a longer book. It's fast-paced and engaging, and still manages to deliver a decent portion of worldbuilding.
And what a fascinating world it is. Imagine a world where murder doesn't exist anymore. And by that I mean that a murder victim will reappear in a place they consider safe and will be unharmed, though will retain the memory of the murder. Oh, that doesn't eliminate death in its entirety. Accidents still happen, and illness, but murder? in 99.99% of the cases, the victim will be alive again.
It's interesting to see the changes that this brings to society. And to see the good and bad that this brings in humanity.
On one hand we have government sanctioned dispatchers whose sole job is to murder people who would otherwise die a permanent death so that they have a second chance. For example, someone is in a bad car accident and is moments from dying. The doctors can't save them fast enough. If the dispatcher murders that person, they have a 99.99% chance to reappear at their home safe and healthy, like the accident never happened. Sure, there is that little 0.01% chance that they will fail to reappear, but that's better than certain death, don't you think?
On the other hand, we have people who use their power and influence to make others compete to the death to gain their favors, be it a lucrative construction contract, a job position or a refence that the other person needs. It is immoral and frankly horrifying. So what if the murder victim will technically survive? Both the murderer and the victim will still keep the memories and the trauma of the event.
This is my second foray into this series, since I read the first book, and I must admit that I'm loving it. The concept is original and I enjoy watching where the author will take it. I will definitely also check out the second book that I somehow missed.
My only complaint about this particular book is that the main characters is a bit bland. We really don't get to see what makes him tick. I still don't know what his motivation is in doing what he is doing. But since I love the concept so much, I am willing to forgive a blah protagonist.
PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
This is another example of a book where the idea sounds great when you read the blurb on the back, but the execution is sorely disStars: 2.5 out of 5.
This is another example of a book where the idea sounds great when you read the blurb on the back, but the execution is sorely disappointing. Honestly, the most I can say about this book is meh.
The idea of a technology that allows humans to travel the multiverse is amazing, and there are so many ways a story like that could go! One of the best examples so far was The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson . Now that story had a heart. Unfortunately, this one doesn't.
Oh, it has plenty of interesting ideas. The worlds of Pandominion are fascinating, and the idea that in some version of our Earth, primates might not have evolved to dominate the land is intriguing. The fact that most of those diverse races manage to coexist peacefully is also wonderful to see.
However, a long story like that can't win on worldbuilding and concept alone. It needs engaging characters to carry the narrative and keep the readers engaged. And the characters in this book are extremely unlikeable. They are selfish to the extreme, unable to take responsibility of their own actions. They make often horrible decisions and commit atrocities and manage to justify it. I couldn't stand most of them. The only character I could more or less relate to was Paz, because she was mostly an innocent bystander at the beginning, and any actions she took afterwards were fueled by her sense of right and wrong. But we meet Paz a lot later in the book, and for the first 35% I really had nobody to root for, so this story was almost a DNF for me.
Also, we have an empire that spans countless parallel universes and includes a diverse variety of "selves", who manage to coexist even though some of them evolved from primates, others from wolves/cats, and even others from herbivores. But that empire itself is a repressive regime, where the only political actions seem to be strike first and annihilate the (possible) treat and ask questions never. Are you telling me that with all the bright minds available in all the multiverse, the Pandominion couldn't come up with a better form of government?
Why is it that this mighty and very technologically advanced empire didn't even try to communicate with the machines when they stumbled upon the mechanical civilization? Seriously, not a single attempt at communication was even considered. Or, you know, just leaving them alone. There are infinite Earths in this multiverse, so why not just blacklist this particular one and go explore somewhere else? No, the solution is to invade and annihilate. Without provocation, mind you. And they wonder why they get pushback? Or that they are being destroyed in response?
Finally, even though this book is about 500 pages long, it doesn't even resolve part of the story that is hinted at in the first chapters. It just sets up the stage and brings all the main characters together. Yes, I understand that this is the first book in a series, and that there is an overarching story. But you need to give the reader some kind of payoff for investing hours of their time into this book. At least one story arc should have been satisfyingly concluded by the end of this book. Unfortunately, it wasn't. And honestly? I won't stick around for book 2 to find out what happens to the Pandominion.
PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I liked this one slightly less than the first book. While the story was still engaging, and I was still invested in the charactersStars: 3.5 out of 5.
I liked this one slightly less than the first book. While the story was still engaging, and I was still invested in the characters, I think I grew tired with this author's writing style. Yes, it is nice to be privy to the characters' inner monolog and understand their fears, hopes, and self-doubts. But this book is the case of when too much is too much. This constant inner monolog interferes with the story.
Let's take the scene in the ruins, for example. There are horrible things happening there. Our characters are literally fighting for their lives against an enemy they had never encountered before, but that particular situation takes up 25% of the book. Why? Because the action is constantly interrupted by Iari's doubting her choices and actions, worrying about Gaer and Corso, swearing, freezing up, working through making a decision in her head before she does it... And then we switch POVs and get the same stuff with Gear or Corso. This kills the momentum of the story. This encounter must have taken less than an hour story time, yet we spent a quarter of the book reading about it.
Because of this constant interruptions, the impact of this battle is lessened, in my opinion. I should be horrified by the One-Eyes and the massacre our team discovers in the ruins. I should be scared for their safety. I should mourn the death of one of the characters. Instead, I experienced a mild irritation that the scenes were dragging with no resolution in sight.
Unfortunately, this flaw persisted throughout the rest of the book, so it felt like the story was dragging its feet and took forever, even though everything happened in a matter of days.
I think the book would have benefited from a good editor who would have advised the author to cut some of the inner monolog out and tighten up the action... and ditch about 200 pages. We would still have gotten the interaction with the characters we grew to love in book 1, but a tighter pace would have created a bigger impact from all the bad and good things that happen in this book.
That being said, I am still invested in this world and characters. Some of the things revealed at the end of this book raise a lot more questions and make me eager to explore this world further. I will definitely pick up the next book in the series, but I hope the author tightens up their writing a little.
PS: I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ...more
This is a very short story ( barely 2 pages) but it captures Murderbot's voice to perfection. Nothing better than a Murderbot story Last read of 2022!
This is a very short story ( barely 2 pages) but it captures Murderbot's voice to perfection. Nothing better than a Murderbot story to close out a year....more
I am not sure why this was published as a book. As far as story goes, it's only Part 1 of a bigger book. The part that sets up the Stars: 2.5 out of 5
I am not sure why this was published as a book. As far as story goes, it's only Part 1 of a bigger book. The part that sets up the characters and the premise and doesn't nothing else. By the end of Steel in the Blood, the main conflict of the story was set up, alright, but no questions were answered, there was no emotional payoff for sticking with the story so far. It just ended. So if you want to learn what this story is actually about, you have to buy the next book.
Unfortunately, there is nothing I hate more in a book than a cliffhanger designed solely to make you buy the next book, so I'm afraid that this series and I will be parting ways. Which is a shame, because from the little I have seen of the world and history in this small installment, it might be an interesting story.
The human empire has existed for thousands of years, ruled by an immortal Empress. It's big, safe and prosperous (or so we're told), but it has stopped growing. Innovation is discouraged, exploration is non-existent. It's a well-oiled machine designed for one purpose only - to keep trade flowing to the capital worlds. No part of the Empire is self-sufficient. They all depend on each other for food, raw materials, trade, or goods. Each section of the empire is governed by members of different genelines, who have been cloned and enhanced to rule their sections for millennia as well. There has been no war in a thousand years, after the last Medicant Wars have ended. But now one is brewing...
Wonderful premise for an exciting book, right? That's what I thought as well. I already mentioned the first problem with this story - this book is only a set-up. A transit point from one geneline is seemingly attacked by agents of another geneline, even though the Executor of that geneline never ordered the attack he is accused of. He has to find those who are responsible and clear his name or a civil war will break out. He leaves to do just that and puts his daughter in charge of their whole sector... And that's it. That's where the story ends.
If you are expecting answers to all the questions asked in this book, you will have to purchase the next book in the series.
My second problem is that while the world setting is intriguing, the characters are a lot less so. Erick seems very naïve and indecisive for a leader who supposedly ruled his corner of the Empire for 400 years. Bryn seems a little more interesting, but we haven't really been in her head enough to get attached. In fact, the character I found the most interesting and whom I could empathize the most with is the Medicant. Yes, an android is has more personality than the humans in this story.
The ending also feels a bit flat - we are introduced to a whole assault team of characters we've never seen before who have a brief battle to capture a saboteur at a fold array. Said saboteur explodes, literally, damaging the array. The end. Again, if you were looking for answers and emotional payoff for sticking with this story for a few hours, buy the next book.
Maybe the story will get better, maybe not. I am out either way.
PS: I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
The Dragon Project by Naomi Kritzer Stars: 5 out of 5. This was such a heartwarming little story! Like a cozy sweater on a snowy morning and a cup of hThe Dragon Project by Naomi Kritzer Stars: 5 out of 5. This was such a heartwarming little story! Like a cozy sweater on a snowy morning and a cup of hot chocolate. Now I want my own dragon, even though I already have 4 cats and a dog....more
Do you have those rare occasions when a book just "click" with you? That you get so immersed in it that you love every single momentStars: 5 out of 5.
Do you have those rare occasions when a book just "click" with you? That you get so immersed in it that you love every single moment. And even if you can see some flaws, they don't distract you from the pure joy of reading it? Well, that's what happened to me with Nightwatch on the Hinterlands. I loved it from the very first sentence I read until the last one.
I think a big part of my enjoyment comes from the wonderful characters the author created. Iari and Gaer couldn't be more different, but they feel so "alive" and interesting that it was a delight to read both of their points of view. You could see how their reluctant partnership slowly progressed and mutated from ambassador and escort to colleagues to friends. They are different and bring different skills and beliefs to the table, but both are very interesting individuals.
I also think that the world seen through our characters' eyes is also rather unique and fascinating. Technically, it's a scifi book, because we have space-faring races and spaceships and space stations and high technology weapons like the mecha Iari is wearing. But most of their technology is based on arithmancy and alchemy, so, dare I say, magic. Heck, Iari is part of a religious order of battle monks whose life is dedicated to preventing incursions from the Weep, which is a tear in the reality of the multiverse leading to a not so welcoming layer of it. So is this scifi or is this fantasy or a little bit of both? I'm not sure, but I loved every moment of it.
I need to mention that the blurb mentions that this new series takes place in the same world as the author's previous books, but since this is the first book I have read by this author, I can't attest to that. I can however say that this reads perfectly well as a standalone. I was never confused by the worldbuilding, and if I missed some references to the author's prior works, it wasn't critical to this story.
The plot of the book is also interesting. What at first looks like a Riev malfunction turns out to have some much bigger, dare I say, earthshattering implications. And I loved how Iari pursued this investigation with a bullheaded determination, no matter how hurt she got in the process. That tenacity is part of what makes her so endearing. That and the fact that she would do anything to protect those she considers friends, even if one of them is the ambassador of a not-so-friendly race that caused the Weep in the first place, and the other is a Riev - who, until recently, was considered machinery, not an actual person.
The whole idea about Riev is fascinating as well, though rather horrifying. Especially considering what we learn as the story progresses - that they retain some sort of consciousness and sense of self. I believe that Oversight was created precisely to suppress that, and once it had been disabled, the Riev started thinking for themselves again. Some better than others. I would be interested in exploring the implications of this further in the next book.
And while the main intrigue of this book has been resolved by the end, there are a lot of thread still left untied. Plus we have a whole new set of questions to answer. So I would say that that this book sets up the series quite nicely.
All in all, this was an excellent first book in a series and a good introduction to a fascinating world for those who aren't familiar with the author's other books. I will definitely pick up the next book in the series....more
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