Dan
This was the most frustrating read this year, not because its bad, which it is but because there is an awesome book hidden between the endless pages of repetitive monolog somewhere.
This should be a 2 book series, not 3. More than half of the book is just pointless recap of what happened before and the same inner monologues again and again and again and again. No one can make a decision whatsoever, it's mindnumpingly boring.
The awesome parts are awesome though and kept me from DNF-ing it.
The world is great, the magic system is new and fresh, the moral dilemma the book throws at us are nice to think about but ultimately the execution is just not there.
:(
This book has a lot to say about AI, slavery, consciousness, gender and much more.
Unfortunately it does it in the most boring, most unlogical way possible. The plot can only happen in the way it does because everyone involved acts in a way no one would ever act. There are parts of the book where you know exactly what is going to happen, because you have read this all before, done in better ways from others authors yet you slog through the pages only to be surprised how unoriginal that all is.
Instead of exploring the vast multiverse with its many wonders and species we get treated to pages and pages of the boring and sad lives of the unlikeable protagonists.
Skip this one. Read ‘The Long Earth' instead or watch Sliders.
¯_(ツ)_/¯
4/5 stars
This is a nice mix of Star Trek, Star Wars, Indianer Jones and a tad of Fantasy.
I really enjoyed it for 2/3 of the book, the later third was a bit of a drag but still on the good side. It could have used some trimming, I would guess it's 200 pages too long, for example there is a super pointless romance arc out of nowhere and a super super cringy sex scene and drawn out action/fight scenes, which are not the strength of the book.
Anyhow, good story, great world, looking forward to reading more from the Fractalverse
2/5
If you are looking for answers, look somewhere else because this book does not give you any. Most threads stay unresolved, the book has no ending, it just stops mid story.
There are a few great ideas in the book and the series but are just not explored while it focuses on mundane tasks and human bs.
Read book 1, skip 2 and 3.
I hope inhibitor phase is not such a slog.
2.5/5 stars
Puh, what a let down after the awesome story from the first book.
The story here is small, inconsequential and meaningless. Yes we do learn a bit more about the inhibitors (in a few info dumps), yes the writing is vastly superior to book 1, yes the conjoiners are interesting but ultimately that all does not matter if the books fails to tell an engaging story.
1.5/5 stars
As much as I liked the first book, as much did I dislike the second.
The once smart, strong female MC was relegated to literal kitchen and children duty, spending the rest of the time in bed, fainting or waiting for her guy to rescue everyone. Seriously? Why even have her as a PoV at this point.
The story revolves around shallow minded human vs human conflicts. While this is probably how it would be it's utterly boring to read about. There is so much more interesting stuff to explore than Prof. Chandler's personal vendetta against James.
Skip this one, read the summary and move on to book 3. It's not worth your time.
2.5/5 stars
Even though the novel was rather short it had sever pacing issues. Way too long lead up, way too short ‘mystery', it was solved as soon as it was introduced and the last third of the book was just pointless.
I liked the idea of the story but not the execution. Would not recommend.
Mr. Riddle's newer books are far superior.
