Joe Barrett

Honestly, this is one of the few books that I didn't finish reading. I know that Brandon Sanderson was writing to the YA market on this one and didn't think it would bother me, but I just couldn't get into the characters or the plot. Gave up halfway through.

I thought it was an interesting book and I liked the concept, but there were quite a few jarring references.

At one point, a character goes to the NSA headquarters in Alexandria, VA - not just the wrong city but the wrong state.

The firearms references are pretty cringeworthy as well. State troopers pulling out an M60 at a road block? I doubt there's a single state trooper anywhere in the United States who's been issued an M60.

That said, I'm going to keep reading the series and hope the story continues more than outweighing any nits like that.

Wanted to like it, but between the lackluster narration in the audio book combined with the very repetitive language (I can't count the number of times “He said” “She said” etc.) in the beginning, it wasn't enjoyable. It also felt like one hugely long-running in-joke of Star Trek, which obviously it was meant to be, but it stopped being exciting before long. Would not read / listen to again.

Enjoyed it, but the constant inconsistent terminology had me twitching (pistols with “clips” etc), from someone who would know the right words.

Good, but parts really dragged.