Grațian
TL;DR
I did not enjoy this book as much as the others, I felt like nothing happened at all. We are so far ahead into the future and for some reason we are focused on this boring stale timeperiod of all that happened between Children of Dune and now. Many people say this is their favorite Dune book so I came pretty excited into it, unfortunately it was such a big dissapointment.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: Extremely boring, nothing happens it's just philosophy talk galore, every conversation is about a philosophical topic. It's just so boring.
X - Side Stories (if it applies): I don't even remember if there were side stories all I know is that this book is boring.
X - Characters: All my favorite characters are gone, literally the only ones left are my least favorite ones from previous books, Leto II and Duncan Idaho. This to me is not Dune, you can be on Arrakis and have spice and all that but this is not Dune. Also Fremen are a joke who wear fake stilsuits and fake weapons, pathetic. The new characters are garbage too, none of them hold a candle to any one of the characters from the previous entries.
X - Setting/Ambiance: Garbage planet, we went from one of the most interesting ones, a desert planet with sandworms to a paradise with trees and grass. Basically just like any other boring habitable planet out there, great...
X - Ending: Terrible ending, all I can say. Didn't like it.
Extensive Review
So we keep hearing stories about what happened before we time jumped, about fights and conquests and such. So I would assume we would get more information on this, sadly this was not the case.
How about seeing how Leto II created his Fish Speakers (female soldiers completely devoted to him) and started conquering all the worlds along these three thousand and five hundred years, soldiers must have fought back when they heard they were being relagated to farmers and wouldn't be able to fight anymore before eventually submitting to him?
No.
Oh okay.
How about the part where Leto II during all these years managed to turn the Fremen, pround desert warriors who always fought back against their oppressors go from that to husks who wear plastic replicas of their weapons, fake stillsuits and pretty much forgot their ways?
No.
Oh...
How about the Landsraad and all the other houses, the Spacing Guild, the Bene Gesserit fighting againsts Leto II once they saw he was becoming a tyrant? Sure he controlled the spice, but some of them must have faught back and tried before giving up hope and submitting to him, no?
No.
...
Instead we are at a point where he controls everything and everyone, sure a few skirmishes happen here and there, some rebels but this is nothing. I felt like as a reader I've arrived too late in the story, everyone is beat into submission and has no hope to even try to go against Leto II.
Okay so the story is a letdown. No worries we've got the characters to pick it up...right?
I don't think I've liked a single character is this book, except the Bene Gesserit sisters. No matter when they appear or what they're doing I always really liked them because they're always scheeming and probing, it's their nature. You have to really do a terrible job to put in a Bene Gesserit sister and for me to not like her as a character.
But I wasn't interested in the rest and I hate that because how many good characters we had from the previous books? oh, so many memorable ones but that's the problem with jumping three thousand and five hundred years in the future. I'm not kidding when I say that some of the least important characters in previous books like say Harah is a better character than any one present here except for Leto II and Hwi. And once you start to talk about big names like Jessica, Alia, Ghanima, The Baron, Stilgar... it's not even a fair competition. You might say that it's because those characters had time to develop over the course of three books but just pick a single book, say Dune Messiah. Duncan as a ghola mentat arguably a new character, Alia not a child anymore so a new character, Irulan. Who even comes close to these in this book?
Duncan in this book, this guy just won't die, just let the poor man die for the love of Shai-Hulud. Killed while taking down 17 sardaukar helping Jessica and Paul escape?, amazing! Then he gets revived and I was like "uhhh I don't know...", but he's a mentat now so that was a cool new addition. Then he dies again and now he's just Duncan, getting manipulated by everyone because he's just so loyal to the Atreides. As long as you talk in Paul's voice and say something he said to him he will do anything you want. "Duncan, hello?" Just because Leto II has all the memories of Paul and can recite them at will doesn't mean he's Paul. I don't get why that's such a hard concept to understand even though Leto II constantly tries to convince us by saying he's the entire Atreides family as one. No, if you let Paul take over you and become an abomination then yes, he's Paul. Using his voice and talking of past experiences is like me having some recording of my grandfather, playing it and saying I'm him because I posses that.
I don't get this admiration every one inside the story has with Duncan, he's a good soldier who's good with the ladies. Gourney has some problems but I liked him way more than Duncan, even Duncan himself said that Gourney would beat him six out of ten times. Leto II doesn't have that strong connection with Duncan as Paul did. Even if I buy the "Leto II is Paul" thing, by that logic he could literally have used any other character from the previous books to keep reviving. I'm sure he could procure the body of whoever he wanted and give it to the Tleilaxu. There is a scene where Duncan visits a village and he sees some one who looks exactly like some one who was very important to him in his past life, I don't think that was a coincidence, so my point is that we could have had anyone better than Duncan as a recuring character from previous books, let this man die, please.
Another thing I got disappointed by Duncan is in a scene where fifty face dancers attack Leto II and his Fish Speakers, as they fight the face dancers all change into Duncan. At this moment I was like "yeah!, here we go. They killed the original one and one of them switched with him, brilliant. Finally things will get interesting, how will he manage to evade Leto II and blend in correctly." Then I kept reading and reading and reading... "Okay he's waiting for the perfect moment, he only has one shot he's got to make it count. Or maybe he's secretly sending info to the Tleilaxu about Leto II?, oh the possibilities." Then I reached the ending of the book and no, all that skirmish was for nothing and Duncan was the real one all along, "great..."
Moneo is a yes man who fears Leto II because he knows when he gets in a bad mood he could kill you involuntarily. Just barks orders around and I guess he's strong because he evaded an attack from Duncan with ease but we never see him do anything else. His conversations with Leto II are, "Yes, Lord", "No, Lord", "I'm sorry, Lord"...
Siona is boring and doesn't bring anything to the table. Any female character from past books is more interesting than her.
The Fish Speakers were cool, an army of devoted fanatic females is a nice idea, I liked that. Unfortunately we don't get to see them very much. They're just there awaiting orders and obeying. We don't get to see them in their free time. Or the relationships they have between them or any of that.
Sad to say but I did not enjoy reading this book.
TL;DR
I did not enjoy this book as much as the others, I felt like nothing happened at all. We are so far ahead into the future and for some reason we are focused on this boring stale timeperiod of all that happened between Children of Dune and now. Many people say this is their favorite Dune book so I came pretty excited into it, unfortunately it was such a big dissapointment.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: Extremely boring, nothing happens it's just philosophy talk galore, every conversation is about a philosophical topic. It's just so boring.
X - Side Stories (if it applies): I don't even remember if there were side stories all I know is that this book is boring.
X - Characters: All my favorite characters are gone, literally the only ones left are my least favorite ones from previous books, Leto II and Duncan Idaho. This to me is not Dune, you can be on Arrakis and have spice and all that but this is not Dune. Also Fremen are a joke who wear fake stilsuits and fake weapons, pathetic. The new characters are garbage too, none of them hold a candle to any one of the characters from the previous entries.
X - Setting/Ambiance: Garbage planet, we went from one of the most interesting ones, a desert planet with sandworms to a paradise with trees and grass. Basically just like any other boring habitable planet out there, great...
X - Ending: Terrible ending, all I can say. Didn't like it.
Extensive Review
So we keep hearing stories about what happened before we time jumped, about fights and conquests and such. So I would assume we would get more information on this, sadly this was not the case.
How about seeing how Leto II created his Fish Speakers (female soldiers completely devoted to him) and started conquering all the worlds along these three thousand and five hundred years, soldiers must have fought back when they heard they were being relagated to farmers and wouldn't be able to fight anymore before eventually submitting to him?
No.
Oh okay.
How about the part where Leto II during all these years managed to turn the Fremen, pround desert warriors who always fought back against their oppressors go from that to husks who wear plastic replicas of their weapons, fake stillsuits and pretty much forgot their ways?
No.
Oh...
How about the Landsraad and all the other houses, the Spacing Guild, the Bene Gesserit fighting againsts Leto II once they saw he was becoming a tyrant? Sure he controlled the spice, but some of them must have faught back and tried before giving up hope and submitting to him, no?
No.
...
Instead we are at a point where he controls everything and everyone, sure a few skirmishes happen here and there, some rebels but this is nothing. I felt like as a reader I've arrived too late in the story, everyone is beat into submission and has no hope to even try to go against Leto II.
Okay so the story is a letdown. No worries we've got the characters to pick it up...right?
I don't think I've liked a single character is this book, except the Bene Gesserit sisters. No matter when they appear or what they're doing I always really liked them because they're always scheeming and probing, it's their nature. You have to really do a terrible job to put in a Bene Gesserit sister and for me to not like her as a character.
But I wasn't interested in the rest and I hate that because how many good characters we had from the previous books? oh, so many memorable ones but that's the problem with jumping three thousand and five hundred years in the future. I'm not kidding when I say that some of the least important characters in previous books like say Harah is a better character than any one present here except for Leto II and Hwi. And once you start to talk about big names like Jessica, Alia, Ghanima, The Baron, Stilgar... it's not even a fair competition. You might say that it's because those characters had time to develop over the course of three books but just pick a single book, say Dune Messiah. Duncan as a ghola mentat arguably a new character, Alia not a child anymore so a new character, Irulan. Who even comes close to these in this book?
Duncan in this book, this guy just won't die, just let the poor man die for the love of Shai-Hulud. Killed while taking down 17 sardaukar helping Jessica and Paul escape?, amazing! Then he gets revived and I was like "uhhh I don't know...", but he's a mentat now so that was a cool new addition. Then he dies again and now he's just Duncan, getting manipulated by everyone because he's just so loyal to the Atreides. As long as you talk in Paul's voice and say something he said to him he will do anything you want. "Duncan, hello?" Just because Leto II has all the memories of Paul and can recite them at will doesn't mean he's Paul. I don't get why that's such a hard concept to understand even though Leto II constantly tries to convince us by saying he's the entire Atreides family as one. No, if you let Paul take over you and become an abomination then yes, he's Paul. Using his voice and talking of past experiences is like me having some recording of my grandfather, playing it and saying I'm him because I posses that.
I don't get this admiration every one inside the story has with Duncan, he's a good soldier who's good with the ladies. Gourney has some problems but I liked him way more than Duncan, even Duncan himself said that Gourney would beat him six out of ten times. Leto II doesn't have that strong connection with Duncan as Paul did. Even if I buy the "Leto II is Paul" thing, by that logic he could literally have used any other character from the previous books to keep reviving. I'm sure he could procure the body of whoever he wanted and give it to the Tleilaxu. There is a scene where Duncan visits a village and he sees some one who looks exactly like some one who was very important to him in his past life, I don't think that was a coincidence, so my point is that we could have had anyone better than Duncan as a recuring character from previous books, let this man die, please.
Another thing I got disappointed by Duncan is in a scene where fifty face dancers attack Leto II and his Fish Speakers, as they fight the face dancers all change into Duncan. At this moment I was like "yeah!, here we go. They killed the original one and one of them switched with him, brilliant. Finally things will get interesting, how will he manage to evade Leto II and blend in correctly." Then I kept reading and reading and reading... "Okay he's waiting for the perfect moment, he only has one shot he's got to make it count. Or maybe he's secretly sending info to the Tleilaxu about Leto II?, oh the possibilities." Then I reached the ending of the book and no, all that skirmish was for nothing and Duncan was the real one all along, "great..."
Moneo is a yes man who fears Leto II because he knows when he gets in a bad mood he could kill you involuntarily. Just barks orders around and I guess he's strong because he evaded an attack from Duncan with ease but we never see him do anything else. His conversations with Leto II are, "Yes, Lord", "No, Lord", "I'm sorry, Lord"...
Siona is boring and doesn't bring anything to the table. Any female character from past books is more interesting than her.
The Fish Speakers were cool, an army of devoted fanatic females is a nice idea, I liked that. Unfortunately we don't get to see them very much. They're just there awaiting orders and obeying. We don't get to see them in their free time. Or the relationships they have between them or any of that.
Sad to say but I did not enjoy reading this book.
TL;DR
This book is better than Dune Messiah, still not as good as Dune but far more interesing that the last. It's more action packed. There's no point reading this one if you haven't read the last two and if you did you already know if you want to keep reading the series or not. If you finished Dune Messiah and are on the fence about continuing I'd say give this one a go because you will enjoy it more.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: A lot more happens here than in the previous entry so that's a nice change, more action with Alia and Paul's children. But it's not as interesting as the first book either.
✓ - Side Stories (if it applies): There are quite a lot of side stories, the main one with Leto II is probably the worse and most boring which is sad. The best one is Alia's by far. Every chapter with Alia was great.
✓ - Characters: Thankfully Jessica returns here, doesn't have a super important role but she is my favorite character so it's nice to see her again. The stars of the show are Paul's children, specially Ghanima. Sad she didn't get more time and her brother took up the majority of the book. The rest are great as always, Harrah, Stilgar...but of course the black sheep Duncan Idaho is still here...sigh.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: Arrakis is always a nice place to be in, the desert planet is just amazing.
✓ - Ending: Not a spectacular ending but I think this concludes Paul's story along with the rest of the characters in the Dune series quite nicely, for me this is where the story stops. I don't have any intention of going forward after reading God Emperor of Dune. To me Dune is about Paul, Jessica, Stilgar and the Fremen battling againsts the Harkonens to free Arrakis. What happens in the next books doesn't interest me.
Extensive Review
We're focused on the children of Paul and they're great, specially Ghanima. I don't like that Leto II gets so much of the story instead of her sister who is in my opinion more interesting than him. Jessica and Gourney make a return which was a great addition so just because of that this book is way more interesting than Dune Messiah.
Having read the fourth book is just so baffling to me how little importance every character and story up to this point will be going forth. This isn't a spoiler but the fourth book happens three-thousand and five hundred years in the future so everything up until now won't matter at all. In my opinion you should stop reading after this book because it gets a nice conclusion and it has a satisfying ending.
Tangent aside, I think this was a well written book and I enjoyed it. The story of Alia and her dark passenger let's call it was amazing, definitely the highlight of this book. I loved every chapter that had Alia in it. And as much as I love Jessica, the fact that she abandoned Alia during Dune Messiah is just horrible, stuff could have gotten so much better but I guess it wasn't meant to be.
TL;DR
This book is better than Dune Messiah, still not as good as Dune but far more interesing that the last. It's more action packed. There's no point reading this one if you haven't read the last two and if you did you already know if you want to keep reading the series or not. If you finished Dune Messiah and are on the fence about continuing I'd say give this one a go because you will enjoy it more.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: A lot more happens here than in the previous entry so that's a nice change, more action with Alia and Paul's children. But it's not as interesting as the first book either.
✓ - Side Stories (if it applies): There are quite a lot of side stories, the main one with Leto II is probably the worse and most boring which is sad. The best one is Alia's by far. Every chapter with Alia was great.
✓ - Characters: Thankfully Jessica returns here, doesn't have a super important role but she is my favorite character so it's nice to see her again. The stars of the show are Paul's children, specially Ghanima. Sad she didn't get more time and her brother took up the majority of the book. The rest are great as always, Harrah, Stilgar...but of course the black sheep Duncan Idaho is still here...sigh.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: Arrakis is always a nice place to be in, the desert planet is just amazing.
✓ - Ending: Not a spectacular ending but I think this concludes Paul's story along with the rest of the characters in the Dune series quite nicely, for me this is where the story stops. I don't have any intention of going forward after reading God Emperor of Dune. To me Dune is about Paul, Jessica, Stilgar and the Fremen battling againsts the Harkonens to free Arrakis. What happens in the next books doesn't interest me.
Extensive Review
We're focused on the children of Paul and they're great, specially Ghanima. I don't like that Leto II gets so much of the story instead of her sister who is in my opinion more interesting than him. Jessica and Gourney make a return which was a great addition so just because of that this book is way more interesting than Dune Messiah.
Having read the fourth book is just so baffling to me how little importance every character and story up to this point will be going forth. This isn't a spoiler but the fourth book happens three-thousand and five hundred years in the future so everything up until now won't matter at all. In my opinion you should stop reading after this book because it gets a nice conclusion and it has a satisfying ending.
Tangent aside, I think this was a well written book and I enjoyed it. The story of Alia and her dark passenger let's call it was amazing, definitely the highlight of this book. I loved every chapter that had Alia in it. And as much as I love Jessica, the fact that she abandoned Alia during Dune Messiah is just horrible, stuff could have gotten so much better but I guess it wasn't meant to be.
TL;DR
I really enjoyed this book, a great science fiction horror in my opinion. I was constantly saying to myself, just another chapter, just one more...until I had to force myself to put it down in order to get some rest for work. Great atmosphere, great story (for the most part) and good characters.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: Great story up until the end where things are revealed, it's not a bad reveal but after that it isn't scary anymore.
X - Side Stories (if it applies): The side stuff with our main protagonist and what's going through her mind isn't as interesting as the current mission. It's not too much filler and it's just sprinkled in every now and then but still, not that interesting.
✓ - Characters: I like all characters except one, Kate. The rest of the crew were really interesting and I liked their personalities.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: The best part of the book, the ambience of being in a old forgotten that housed five hundred passengers ship that supposedly exploded. It's scary and the book makes sure you feel it.
X - Ending: Weakest part of the book in my opinion, mainly because it's spoiled in the first few paragraphs of chapter one. You see that our main protagonist made it out alive. Did not like that approach.
EXTENSIVE REVIEW
I find the premise of this book amazing, a crew of five people are on the edge of the communication hub, as far and remote as you can be when the navigator suddenly sees that an S.O.S signal is being broadcasted from further out of their location, on a very old frequency. After debating on what action to take, they decide to check it out. They come across a very old luxury cruiser that supposedly dissapeared twenty years ago in an explosion...or so the news said.
That alone has potential and I'm happy to say it didn't let me down. The beginning of the book is strong, once they board the ship and try to find out what is going on and what happened to it and it's passengers is filled with tension and atmosphere, I really liked the first few days on the ship and seeing the characters go through that experience.
The characters were really good and enjoyable I like all of them except one. Kane is the most boring thing ever put to paper, he's just perfect, always doing the right thing, always caring for everyone. Keeping the peace and making sure everyone is okay...get him the hell out of my ship. Compare him to Voller who's the complete opposite and that's what makes him great, he's openly confrontational and disrespectful to the main protagonist who is his captain. Doesn't like her and he let's her know it but at the end of the day he will do what the captain says which is why I respect him. The other are also great, each with their own personality and complementing eachother. The whole crew just felt natural and I enjoyed their banter.
Things I did not like:
- Once you learn about what truly happened to the ship the mystery is gone. It's not a bad reveal and it makes sense it's just that it isn't scary anymore and at that point the book becomes a thriller.
- There is a romantic relationship going on between the main protagonist and a crew member, I didn't care for it at all, thankfully it's not very intrusive and I didn't bother me that much.
- Probably the biggest one, (Spoiler? but it's literally the first thing your eyes read on the first chapter) the book starts with an interview of the main character being acused of killing her crewmates and making it out alive of the mysterious ship. That just spoils the fact that she made it out okay and her crew didn't. I hate this trope of starting from the present, telling the story of the past.
TL;DR
I really enjoyed this book, a great science fiction horror in my opinion. I was constantly saying to myself, just another chapter, just one more...until I had to force myself to put it down in order to get some rest for work. Great atmosphere, great story (for the most part) and good characters.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: Great story up until the end where things are revealed, it's not a bad reveal but after that it isn't scary anymore.
X - Side Stories (if it applies): The side stuff with our main protagonist and what's going through her mind isn't as interesting as the current mission. It's not too much filler and it's just sprinkled in every now and then but still, not that interesting.
✓ - Characters: I like all characters except one, Kate. The rest of the crew were really interesting and I liked their personalities.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: The best part of the book, the ambience of being in a old forgotten that housed five hundred passengers ship that supposedly exploded. It's scary and the book makes sure you feel it.
X - Ending: Weakest part of the book in my opinion, mainly because it's spoiled in the first few paragraphs of chapter one. You see that our main protagonist made it out alive. Did not like that approach.
EXTENSIVE REVIEW
I find the premise of this book amazing, a crew of five people are on the edge of the communication hub, as far and remote as you can be when the navigator suddenly sees that an S.O.S signal is being broadcasted from further out of their location, on a very old frequency. After debating on what action to take, they decide to check it out. They come across a very old luxury cruiser that supposedly dissapeared twenty years ago in an explosion...or so the news said.
That alone has potential and I'm happy to say it didn't let me down. The beginning of the book is strong, once they board the ship and try to find out what is going on and what happened to it and it's passengers is filled with tension and atmosphere, I really liked the first few days on the ship and seeing the characters go through that experience.
The characters were really good and enjoyable I like all of them except one. Kane is the most boring thing ever put to paper, he's just perfect, always doing the right thing, always caring for everyone. Keeping the peace and making sure everyone is okay...get him the hell out of my ship. Compare him to Voller who's the complete opposite and that's what makes him great, he's openly confrontational and disrespectful to the main protagonist who is his captain. Doesn't like her and he let's her know it but at the end of the day he will do what the captain says which is why I respect him. The other are also great, each with their own personality and complementing eachother. The whole crew just felt natural and I enjoyed their banter.
Things I did not like:
- Once you learn about what truly happened to the ship the mystery is gone. It's not a bad reveal and it makes sense it's just that it isn't scary anymore and at that point the book becomes a thriller.
- There is a romantic relationship going on between the main protagonist and a crew member, I didn't care for it at all, thankfully it's not very intrusive and I didn't bother me that much.
- Probably the biggest one, (Spoiler? but it's literally the first thing your eyes read on the first chapter) the book starts with an interview of the main character being acused of killing her crewmates and making it out alive of the mysterious ship. That just spoils the fact that she made it out okay and her crew didn't. I hate this trope of starting from the present, telling the story of the past.
TL;DR
Creepy and digusting in a good way, I really liked this book for how short it was. Kept me at the edge of my seat reading through it, all the places we go though and the depictions are pretty amazing and scary. I really liked the final part of the book, definitely it's strong point and since it's short you don't have to wait long to get to it. If you want a short creepy and scary story I would recommend you give this one a try. Check the price and see if you can get a discount at some stores becuase it is a fifty page book, I've seen some stores selling it for a pretty high price and at that point I think it's not worth it when you can get other horror books that have way more story than this one.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: I liked it, interesting, intriguing and terrifying.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
X - Characters: Too many characters for such a short story, they're all pretty much a one line description but the banter between them was nice and enjoyable.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: I really liked the setting, the dark forests of central Europe are nice.
✓ - Ending: Great ending, this was probably the best part of the book.
Extensive Review
Okay the problem with this book in my opinion is that there are like twelve characters, for a book of fifty pages I think that is pretty overkill. Right at the beginning you get bombarded with names and quick summaries of their character left and right. I get that our protagonist is a mercenary leader and has followers but maybe let's not spend time on each and every one of them when our story is fifty pages long. I don't know the process of writting short stories and it must be hard but if I had to pick something that I didn't like about this book it has to be the number of characters.
We spend too much time getting to know them a bit before we get to the good part right at the end. If the book spent it's entire time on the last part and just expanded on it I think it would have been better, but then again not knowing anything about the characters in your story makes it hard to care about them. Short stories are hard to write, overall this one succeeded and I enjoyed it very much.
TL;DR
Creepy and digusting in a good way, I really liked this book for how short it was. Kept me at the edge of my seat reading through it, all the places we go though and the depictions are pretty amazing and scary. I really liked the final part of the book, definitely it's strong point and since it's short you don't have to wait long to get to it. If you want a short creepy and scary story I would recommend you give this one a try. Check the price and see if you can get a discount at some stores becuase it is a fifty page book, I've seen some stores selling it for a pretty high price and at that point I think it's not worth it when you can get other horror books that have way more story than this one.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: I liked it, interesting, intriguing and terrifying.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
X - Characters: Too many characters for such a short story, they're all pretty much a one line description but the banter between them was nice and enjoyable.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: I really liked the setting, the dark forests of central Europe are nice.
✓ - Ending: Great ending, this was probably the best part of the book.
Extensive Review
Okay the problem with this book in my opinion is that there are like twelve characters, for a book of fifty pages I think that is pretty overkill. Right at the beginning you get bombarded with names and quick summaries of their character left and right. I get that our protagonist is a mercenary leader and has followers but maybe let's not spend time on each and every one of them when our story is fifty pages long. I don't know the process of writting short stories and it must be hard but if I had to pick something that I didn't like about this book it has to be the number of characters.
We spend too much time getting to know them a bit before we get to the good part right at the end. If the book spent it's entire time on the last part and just expanded on it I think it would have been better, but then again not knowing anything about the characters in your story makes it hard to care about them. Short stories are hard to write, overall this one succeeded and I enjoyed it very much.
TL;DR
Average in my opinion, I didn't dislike it to stop reading but after I reached the end I didn't exactly like it either. I liked the banter between the characters, definitely the highlights of the book. Every time we got out into the ocean and the narator took over it was boring, the story also feels like nothing happened and as a stand alone it did not have a satisfying ending. We left with some big questions that will probably get resolved in later books.
Read the sinopsis and go for a preview of a chapter to see if you might like it, the idea of some mechanical enhanced people with traumas working together at the botttom of the ocean did sound interesting to me. But unfortunately if you don't plan on continuing to read the series I think this one will leave you unsatisfied.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: I thought I find it interesting but after finishing it it's not that great of a story. Probably because there are so many question that we don't get the answers for.
X - Side Stories (if it applies): I didn't care much for the backstories of the characters or the side plot going outside of the ocean, mainly because we're left with a lot of questions by the and that don't get answered.
✓ - Characters: Best part of the book, I liked the banter between then it's nice to see them go from complete strangers to working together like a team.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: The deep ocean is pretty scary so you don't have to do much to get that mood, this is where the book shines. Even with the vastness of the ocean the fact that you can't see anything makes it feel very claustrophobic.
X - Ending: Unsatisfying ending, questions left unanswered that I would assume get resolved in later book.
Extensive Review
Not much to add, the banter between characters was the best part. I really liked some of the characters like our main protagonist. The darkness of the ocean is pretty scary and it was well written. There are some tense moments in the story outside of their little protective shelter. In my opinion the ending of a story is very important, I can only forgive a cliffhanger or an open ending if I really like it and plan on reading the whole series but I believe that every story even if you plan it to be more than one book must have a satisfying ending.
TL;DR
Average in my opinion, I didn't dislike it to stop reading but after I reached the end I didn't exactly like it either. I liked the banter between the characters, definitely the highlights of the book. Every time we got out into the ocean and the narator took over it was boring, the story also feels like nothing happened and as a stand alone it did not have a satisfying ending. We left with some big questions that will probably get resolved in later books.
Read the sinopsis and go for a preview of a chapter to see if you might like it, the idea of some mechanical enhanced people with traumas working together at the botttom of the ocean did sound interesting to me. But unfortunately if you don't plan on continuing to read the series I think this one will leave you unsatisfied.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: I thought I find it interesting but after finishing it it's not that great of a story. Probably because there are so many question that we don't get the answers for.
X - Side Stories (if it applies): I didn't care much for the backstories of the characters or the side plot going outside of the ocean, mainly because we're left with a lot of questions by the and that don't get answered.
✓ - Characters: Best part of the book, I liked the banter between then it's nice to see them go from complete strangers to working together like a team.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: The deep ocean is pretty scary so you don't have to do much to get that mood, this is where the book shines. Even with the vastness of the ocean the fact that you can't see anything makes it feel very claustrophobic.
X - Ending: Unsatisfying ending, questions left unanswered that I would assume get resolved in later book.
Extensive Review
Not much to add, the banter between characters was the best part. I really liked some of the characters like our main protagonist. The darkness of the ocean is pretty scary and it was well written. There are some tense moments in the story outside of their little protective shelter. In my opinion the ending of a story is very important, I can only forgive a cliffhanger or an open ending if I really like it and plan on reading the whole series but I believe that every story even if you plan it to be more than one book must have a satisfying ending.
TL;DR
I really enjoyed this book, definitely recommend to read it if you want a horror/thriller scifi story. There wasn't anything that annoyed or bothered me about it. Story was great, characters were interesting, the alien object was amazing. I have nothing bad to say about this book, go read it!
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: I liked the idea of this mysterious space object that we encounter, almost the entire story is inside this thing so that's great because it's the best part of the book.
✓ - Side Stories (if it applies): A little bit of backstory with out main protagonist but nothing to bothersome. Not super interesing either.
✓ - Characters: Great characters all around, enjoyed all of them. There wasn't anyone who I found annoying or rolled my eyes when they were talking.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: The tension and feeling of being inside the object was amazing and terrifying. I really liked the ambiance and it's a very strong point of the book.
✓ - Ending: Good ending as well to round up the entire book, I'm glad it didn't flop it.
Extensive Review
Okay here is where I usually start to talk about things that annoyed me or didn't make sense. For this book this section is going to be very short because I haven't found anything to put here. Maybe that at some points of the book it was hard to understand who was talking because it jumps from one character to another abruptly and I had to go back a few lines and read it again a bit more slowly to understand who's inner mind are we listening to now.
I liked all the characters in this story, I'm surprised because there is always one that is just annoying or one that you hate for various reasons. In this story I thought they were great. Even when they do some extreme things, since you hear their thoughts you understand why they did it and it can be understandable.
The science to me seemed well researched, I was looking up things that I didn't understand and it was on point to what the characters were saying or explaining. Maybe some one who more of an expert can detect some mistakes but to what little knowledge I have it made sense.
I'm not talking about the alien object because I think it's better to know nothing about it and just experience it while reading, it was my favorite part of the book and I'd say is pretty much 80% of where the story happens which is good. The other 20% is the backstory of our main protagonist and the travel to get to the alien object.
This was my first "first contact" type of story and I will be reading more of them now. The score might go down as I will compare it to other works but as of right now I will give it five stars because I really enjoyed it and I will recommend it to anyone who wants to read a scifi story.
TL;DR
I really enjoyed this book, definitely recommend to read it if you want a horror/thriller scifi story. There wasn't anything that annoyed or bothered me about it. Story was great, characters were interesting, the alien object was amazing. I have nothing bad to say about this book, go read it!
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: I liked the idea of this mysterious space object that we encounter, almost the entire story is inside this thing so that's great because it's the best part of the book.
✓ - Side Stories (if it applies): A little bit of backstory with out main protagonist but nothing to bothersome. Not super interesing either.
✓ - Characters: Great characters all around, enjoyed all of them. There wasn't anyone who I found annoying or rolled my eyes when they were talking.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: The tension and feeling of being inside the object was amazing and terrifying. I really liked the ambiance and it's a very strong point of the book.
✓ - Ending: Good ending as well to round up the entire book, I'm glad it didn't flop it.
Extensive Review
Okay here is where I usually start to talk about things that annoyed me or didn't make sense. For this book this section is going to be very short because I haven't found anything to put here. Maybe that at some points of the book it was hard to understand who was talking because it jumps from one character to another abruptly and I had to go back a few lines and read it again a bit more slowly to understand who's inner mind are we listening to now.
I liked all the characters in this story, I'm surprised because there is always one that is just annoying or one that you hate for various reasons. In this story I thought they were great. Even when they do some extreme things, since you hear their thoughts you understand why they did it and it can be understandable.
The science to me seemed well researched, I was looking up things that I didn't understand and it was on point to what the characters were saying or explaining. Maybe some one who more of an expert can detect some mistakes but to what little knowledge I have it made sense.
I'm not talking about the alien object because I think it's better to know nothing about it and just experience it while reading, it was my favorite part of the book and I'd say is pretty much 80% of where the story happens which is good. The other 20% is the backstory of our main protagonist and the travel to get to the alien object.
This was my first "first contact" type of story and I will be reading more of them now. The score might go down as I will compare it to other works but as of right now I will give it five stars because I really enjoyed it and I will recommend it to anyone who wants to read a scifi story.
TL;DR
I didn't enjoy this book very much. The mini stories our main character experiences through these memory collars weren't interesting to me. The bigger plot also didn't seem interesting and then the book ends with an unsatisfactory ending.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: Boring and uninteresting.
X - Side Stories (if it applies): Since they're only a few paragraphs I didn't get invested into them, also knowing that they're memories and have already happened makes it even harder to care about them.
X - Characters: All really bland, no one stands out.
X - Setting/Ambiance: Interesting spaceship she has but the locations she visits aren't interesting in my opinion.
X - Ending: Didn't like it, it just ends and then there's nothing.
Extensive Review
Nothing to say here.
TL;DR
I didn't enjoy this book very much. The mini stories our main character experiences through these memory collars weren't interesting to me. The bigger plot also didn't seem interesting and then the book ends with an unsatisfactory ending.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: Boring and uninteresting.
X - Side Stories (if it applies): Since they're only a few paragraphs I didn't get invested into them, also knowing that they're memories and have already happened makes it even harder to care about them.
X - Characters: All really bland, no one stands out.
X - Setting/Ambiance: Interesting spaceship she has but the locations she visits aren't interesting in my opinion.
X - Ending: Didn't like it, it just ends and then there's nothing.
Extensive Review
Nothing to say here.
TL;DR
I think I was going into the book thinking it would be something else. This is a girl who has a very advanced suit that can do a lot of things climbing inside a cave talking to another person who gives her information and suggestions. Doesn't really feel like a science fiction book but it wasn't a bad read. If you like climbing then you will appreciate it more.
If what you want is the atmosphere of being trapped in darkness like the cave part of this book but with way more science fiction I would highly recommend The Last Astronaut. I thought this book would be similar but it wasn't.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: I like the idea but not much the execution, as I said I thought this was going to be a different book. Not a bad story just didn't have much to do with science fiction to be honest.
X - Side Stories (if it applies): Eeh, the side stuff with both our characters is pretty uninteresting, thankfully it's not the major part of the book.
✓ - Characters: There are only two and thankfully I liked both of them, their banter was the best part of the book.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: The idea of being trapped inside a cave is a nice idea, also not knowing if there is someone or something else down there is scary.
✓ - Ending: Regular ending, nothing too surprising happened but it wasn't terrible.
Extensive Review
The strong point and my favorite part was the interaction between our main protagonist (Gyre) and her handler (Emogene) I really liked that and thankfully it's the majority of the book. I enjoyed reading every time they talked.
The worst part for me is the climbing. I never did this sport but to me it was very boring just reading pages and pages on how she put her leg here, the arm there. Put a bolt in the rock here a rope there... I really disliked that. Even just traversing down from a slope, since this is a science fiction book I was expecting her suit to have some nano technology that let's her just adhere to the stone, or some advance suspensions on her legs to witstand high falls, or maybe some kind of device that leaves a pad that you can safely fall on. No, instead we get to read about how she went into her backpack and took out the rope and some bolts to hold it. Used the drill to place the bolt, run the rope inside, check the stability to see if it's secure, use the rope to slowly descend onto the rock. Leave it there and move on to the next obstacle. I'm sorry but in my opinion this is very boring.
The story and the idea of being trapped in the darkness of a cave was okay. Too bad that her suit has the ability to kind of simulate very clearly how the cave looks without needing light or anything so she's not in the darkness unless she turns that off, both our protagonist and her handler have different reasons for going into the cave and don't trust eachother. The ending was serviceable, nothing unexpected happened or some crazy twist, but it wasn't terrible.
TL;DR
I think I was going into the book thinking it would be something else. This is a girl who has a very advanced suit that can do a lot of things climbing inside a cave talking to another person who gives her information and suggestions. Doesn't really feel like a science fiction book but it wasn't a bad read. If you like climbing then you will appreciate it more.
If what you want is the atmosphere of being trapped in darkness like the cave part of this book but with way more science fiction I would highly recommend The Last Astronaut. I thought this book would be similar but it wasn't.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: I like the idea but not much the execution, as I said I thought this was going to be a different book. Not a bad story just didn't have much to do with science fiction to be honest.
X - Side Stories (if it applies): Eeh, the side stuff with both our characters is pretty uninteresting, thankfully it's not the major part of the book.
✓ - Characters: There are only two and thankfully I liked both of them, their banter was the best part of the book.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: The idea of being trapped inside a cave is a nice idea, also not knowing if there is someone or something else down there is scary.
✓ - Ending: Regular ending, nothing too surprising happened but it wasn't terrible.
Extensive Review
The strong point and my favorite part was the interaction between our main protagonist (Gyre) and her handler (Emogene) I really liked that and thankfully it's the majority of the book. I enjoyed reading every time they talked.
The worst part for me is the climbing. I never did this sport but to me it was very boring just reading pages and pages on how she put her leg here, the arm there. Put a bolt in the rock here a rope there... I really disliked that. Even just traversing down from a slope, since this is a science fiction book I was expecting her suit to have some nano technology that let's her just adhere to the stone, or some advance suspensions on her legs to witstand high falls, or maybe some kind of device that leaves a pad that you can safely fall on. No, instead we get to read about how she went into her backpack and took out the rope and some bolts to hold it. Used the drill to place the bolt, run the rope inside, check the stability to see if it's secure, use the rope to slowly descend onto the rock. Leave it there and move on to the next obstacle. I'm sorry but in my opinion this is very boring.
The story and the idea of being trapped in the darkness of a cave was okay. Too bad that her suit has the ability to kind of simulate very clearly how the cave looks without needing light or anything so she's not in the darkness unless she turns that off, both our protagonist and her handler have different reasons for going into the cave and don't trust eachother. The ending was serviceable, nothing unexpected happened or some crazy twist, but it wasn't terrible.
TL;DR
I didn't enjoy this book. Slow start, it started to get good and interesting towards the end but then it's ending is horrendous. Garbage main character, story with zero answers by the end and atrocious ending.
If you want a similar premise of a group of people boarding a mysterious ship to find out what's going on that are actually a good read The Last Astronaut or Dead Silence.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: Sounds interesting and it gets you hooked but if you knew from the beginning that none of your questions will be answered it would be a different experience.
X - Side Stories (if it applies): I don't remember if there were any side stories, I don't think so but even if they were if I can't remember them it means they weren't good to begin with.
X - Characters: Horrible main protagonist, there are a few minor characters that were enjoyable but the mayority are terrible.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: The main ship is interesting I liked the different parts of it and the mysterious ship they board is also interesting. The ambience was good.
X - Ending: Atrocious ending, zero questions answered and that decision by own main protagonist...wow.
Extensive Review
Our main character is a piece of shit, without spoiling stuff he's pretty much the reason why everything bad happens and at the end he's like "sorry, peace out homies!". I couldn't believe when he made that decision at the end, what a garbage human being with zero honor and principles.
There are a few good characters that I liked but it doesn't matter in the end, again I don't want to spoil stuff but trust me, they didn't deserve what got handed to them.
For a brief few pages the story got really interesting and I was getting excited because we were maybe starting to get some answers. But no, nothing gets answered. From the moment you learn there is a mysterious alien ship found to the end of the book you learn NOTHING at all. Origin, what is is, why it's there, is it alone?... you get nothing at all. So if you plan on reading this book I want you to know what you're getting yourself into:
- Very slow start with weird things shown to us that never gets talked about again...
- A dozen of characters given their full name and a few lines of what our main character thinks about them that we don't care at all because they just vote on stuff when there's a meeting. They literally don't do anything else. There are maybe six charaters that do stuff but we get introduced to at least twelve for no reason...
- Our main character has zero chemistry with anyone, there are characters that expresses their heart and feelings in a few paragraphs and then he chimes in with "Yeah...", "No I don't...". You can say that's just how he is but then I would say why is he the main character? There are three people I can think of in this story that would be better if they were the main character. No excuses, terrible protagonist.
- Nothing happens in the story, you only get questions and more questions nothing gets answered.
- The ending is really bad.
After all those points if I made you curious and you wanna check it out, don't. There are other "boarding mysterious ship" kind of stories out there that are good and worth the read, like the two I've mentioned in my TL;DR.
TL;DR
I didn't enjoy this book. Slow start, it started to get good and interesting towards the end but then it's ending is horrendous. Garbage main character, story with zero answers by the end and atrocious ending.
If you want a similar premise of a group of people boarding a mysterious ship to find out what's going on that are actually a good read The Last Astronaut or Dead Silence.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: Sounds interesting and it gets you hooked but if you knew from the beginning that none of your questions will be answered it would be a different experience.
X - Side Stories (if it applies): I don't remember if there were any side stories, I don't think so but even if they were if I can't remember them it means they weren't good to begin with.
X - Characters: Horrible main protagonist, there are a few minor characters that were enjoyable but the mayority are terrible.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: The main ship is interesting I liked the different parts of it and the mysterious ship they board is also interesting. The ambience was good.
X - Ending: Atrocious ending, zero questions answered and that decision by own main protagonist...wow.
Extensive Review
Our main character is a piece of shit, without spoiling stuff he's pretty much the reason why everything bad happens and at the end he's like "sorry, peace out homies!". I couldn't believe when he made that decision at the end, what a garbage human being with zero honor and principles.
There are a few good characters that I liked but it doesn't matter in the end, again I don't want to spoil stuff but trust me, they didn't deserve what got handed to them.
For a brief few pages the story got really interesting and I was getting excited because we were maybe starting to get some answers. But no, nothing gets answered. From the moment you learn there is a mysterious alien ship found to the end of the book you learn NOTHING at all. Origin, what is is, why it's there, is it alone?... you get nothing at all. So if you plan on reading this book I want you to know what you're getting yourself into:
- Very slow start with weird things shown to us that never gets talked about again...
- A dozen of characters given their full name and a few lines of what our main character thinks about them that we don't care at all because they just vote on stuff when there's a meeting. They literally don't do anything else. There are maybe six charaters that do stuff but we get introduced to at least twelve for no reason...
- Our main character has zero chemistry with anyone, there are characters that expresses their heart and feelings in a few paragraphs and then he chimes in with "Yeah...", "No I don't...". You can say that's just how he is but then I would say why is he the main character? There are three people I can think of in this story that would be better if they were the main character. No excuses, terrible protagonist.
- Nothing happens in the story, you only get questions and more questions nothing gets answered.
- The ending is really bad.
After all those points if I made you curious and you wanna check it out, don't. There are other "boarding mysterious ship" kind of stories out there that are good and worth the read, like the two I've mentioned in my TL;DR.
TL;DR
I hated this book until chapter thirteen, which is two-hundred pages deep. The way our main character talks is just beyond annoying, I know it's because he's in the yee ol' days but it was very rough to read and I didn't like it at all. After chapter thirteen it gets better, same with the story. Interesting stuff actually happens. Average book in my opinion, not bad but it wouldn't be my first recommendation if some one was asking me about a science fiction book.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: I was pretty confused at first but as we get deeper in the story we learn more, unfortunately by the end we still have questions left unasnwered.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: I like all the characters, there wasn't anyone who I thought was annoying.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: We don't get to spend much time on each of these old eras but they were interesting.
✓ - Ending: Question left unasnwered but I really liked the last interaction before the book ends.
Extensive Review
Not much to say here, even though there are quite a few characters we're mainly focused on four. Thankfully they're all interesting, likeable and are part of the entire story.
Pretty light on the science fiction, excluding the obvious that they're in a spaceship pretty much the whole book happens in these old eras of time with old technology.
The story is interesting but we don't learn much in the end. We're left with quite a few questions and I don't like that, it's not vague as in "it's left up to the reader to interpret it" (if it were it would instantly be a one star rating, I hate those endings) but I would have liked some answers. The last few chapters and the ending saved the book from being mediocre.
The ending interaction between two characters in the book in my opinion we're really good.
TL;DR
I hated this book until chapter thirteen, which is two-hundred pages deep. The way our main character talks is just beyond annoying, I know it's because he's in the yee ol' days but it was very rough to read and I didn't like it at all. After chapter thirteen it gets better, same with the story. Interesting stuff actually happens. Average book in my opinion, not bad but it wouldn't be my first recommendation if some one was asking me about a science fiction book.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: I was pretty confused at first but as we get deeper in the story we learn more, unfortunately by the end we still have questions left unasnwered.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: I like all the characters, there wasn't anyone who I thought was annoying.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: We don't get to spend much time on each of these old eras but they were interesting.
✓ - Ending: Question left unasnwered but I really liked the last interaction before the book ends.
Extensive Review
Not much to say here, even though there are quite a few characters we're mainly focused on four. Thankfully they're all interesting, likeable and are part of the entire story.
Pretty light on the science fiction, excluding the obvious that they're in a spaceship pretty much the whole book happens in these old eras of time with old technology.
The story is interesting but we don't learn much in the end. We're left with quite a few questions and I don't like that, it's not vague as in "it's left up to the reader to interpret it" (if it were it would instantly be a one star rating, I hate those endings) but I would have liked some answers. The last few chapters and the ending saved the book from being mediocre.
The ending interaction between two characters in the book in my opinion we're really good.
TL;DR
I liked this book, my only problem is that is too short. I would have liked a bit more to the story. Everything happens fairly quickly and by the time you keep turning the pages it's over (I guess that's a good thing?). I bought all the rest in the series because I want to know more.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: Pretty short but it was enjoyable, I liked the interaction between Murderbot and the humans.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: I like all the characters, there wasn't anyone who I thought was annoying.
X - Setting/Ambiance: The planet they're on is pretty standard, nothing over the top. Just a bland planet.
✓ - Ending: Normal ending, nothing spectacular but not terrible either.
Extensive Review
Didn't like the inner monologue of Murderbot in the beginning because I thought he was an AI. With that in mind when he talked like a human I was like "uhh why is he thinking that?", but he's like half AI half human so the way he thinks makes sense then. I really like the characters and the interactions between them. Even if we don't get to know them on a deeper level I still enjoyed the time we had with them. I'm going to read the entire series and see what's in store next.
TL;DR
I liked this book, my only problem is that is too short. I would have liked a bit more to the story. Everything happens fairly quickly and by the time you keep turning the pages it's over (I guess that's a good thing?). I bought all the rest in the series because I want to know more.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: Pretty short but it was enjoyable, I liked the interaction between Murderbot and the humans.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: I like all the characters, there wasn't anyone who I thought was annoying.
X - Setting/Ambiance: The planet they're on is pretty standard, nothing over the top. Just a bland planet.
✓ - Ending: Normal ending, nothing spectacular but not terrible either.
Extensive Review
Didn't like the inner monologue of Murderbot in the beginning because I thought he was an AI. With that in mind when he talked like a human I was like "uhh why is he thinking that?", but he's like half AI half human so the way he thinks makes sense then. I really like the characters and the interactions between them. Even if we don't get to know them on a deeper level I still enjoyed the time we had with them. I'm going to read the entire series and see what's in store next.
TL;DR
I really liked this book, in my opinion it's way better than the first one. I still miss the old characters but ART made up for it, him and Murderbot's interactions, working together solving problems was the best part of the book. The story is a bit more interesting as well. Highly enjoyable read.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: I like this one better than the previous one, more infiltration and action. Enjoyable story.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: I like all the characters, there wasn't anyone who I thought was annoying. ART was the best part of the book by far. The new humans are also interesting.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: The space station they spend the mayority of the time is pretty standard in my opinion. Much more interesting than a bland planet.
✓ - Ending: Normal ending, nothing spectacular but not terrible either.
Extensive Review
Murderbot's interactions with ART were the hightlights of the book. The other group of characters were nice but I really like the cooperation of Murderbot with ART, these two are an unstopable force. Don't have much to say, I really liked this book and I can't wait to read the next one in the series.
TL;DR
I really liked this book, in my opinion it's way better than the first one. I still miss the old characters but ART made up for it, him and Murderbot's interactions, working together solving problems was the best part of the book. The story is a bit more interesting as well. Highly enjoyable read.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: I like this one better than the previous one, more infiltration and action. Enjoyable story.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: I like all the characters, there wasn't anyone who I thought was annoying. ART was the best part of the book by far. The new humans are also interesting.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: The space station they spend the mayority of the time is pretty standard in my opinion. Much more interesting than a bland planet.
✓ - Ending: Normal ending, nothing spectacular but not terrible either.
Extensive Review
Murderbot's interactions with ART were the hightlights of the book. The other group of characters were nice but I really like the cooperation of Murderbot with ART, these two are an unstopable force. Don't have much to say, I really liked this book and I can't wait to read the next one in the series.
TL;DR
I can't give it a bad score because it's free, not much happens on this very short story. Just a little interaction showing how all the experiences are weighing in on Dr. Ayda Mensah.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: Very short but it's free.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: Mensah is my second favorite character behind ART so it's always nice to see her.
X - Setting/Ambiance: Preservation Station isn't as interesting as other locations visited in previous entries.
✓ - Ending: Not very satisfying but again, it's free.
Extensive Review
You can read the story here for free:
https://reactormag.com/home-habitat-range-niche-territory-martha-wells/
TL;DR
I can't give it a bad score because it's free, not much happens on this very short story. Just a little interaction showing how all the experiences are weighing in on Dr. Ayda Mensah.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: Very short but it's free.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: Mensah is my second favorite character behind ART so it's always nice to see her.
X - Setting/Ambiance: Preservation Station isn't as interesting as other locations visited in previous entries.
✓ - Ending: Not very satisfying but again, it's free.
Extensive Review
You can read the story here for free:
https://reactormag.com/home-habitat-range-niche-territory-martha-wells/
TL;DR
Doesn't beat the third book in my opinion but still interesting. Getting to see some old characters back was nice but now cool new ones, specially not another AI like in the previous entries. I do feel like we're getting to the point where it's almost the same story being repeated. I hope the next entries bring something new to the table.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: Not as good as the previous book but I really like this story as well. Murderbot interacting with Dr Mensah is one of my favorite parts of the book.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: Great to see the original characters back into play, I like them the most out of all the humans we've met. Dr. Mensah is my second favorite behind ART so it was nice to see her again.
X - Setting/Ambiance: We're back to the station again so it's not as interesting and the previous location.
✓ - Ending: Good ending, not as good and the previous books but was nice.
Extensive Review
By this point I hope you bought the entire series as bundle because buying them individually isn't worth the price. They are really short stories that are getting a bit stale. We will see how the rest of the series turns out but I hope it doesn't keep going like this.
TL;DR
Doesn't beat the third book in my opinion but still interesting. Getting to see some old characters back was nice but now cool new ones, specially not another AI like in the previous entries. I do feel like we're getting to the point where it's almost the same story being repeated. I hope the next entries bring something new to the table.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: Not as good as the previous book but I really like this story as well. Murderbot interacting with Dr Mensah is one of my favorite parts of the book.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: Great to see the original characters back into play, I like them the most out of all the humans we've met. Dr. Mensah is my second favorite behind ART so it was nice to see her again.
X - Setting/Ambiance: We're back to the station again so it's not as interesting and the previous location.
✓ - Ending: Good ending, not as good and the previous books but was nice.
Extensive Review
By this point I hope you bought the entire series as bundle because buying them individually isn't worth the price. They are really short stories that are getting a bit stale. We will see how the rest of the series turns out but I hope it doesn't keep going like this.
TL;DR
Another great addition, this is the one I like the most out of the three. I like the story and the claustrophobic ambiance in the dark space station where it takes place. Miki was okay, not on ARTs level but he was enjoyable to read every time he interacted with Murderbot. The new set of characters were also good. I had a great time reading this book.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: I really liked this story, mainly because it has a bit of horror in it. It's more scary than the rest which I like.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: I like all the characters, there wasn't anyone who I thought was annoying. ART is gone which is sad but the new humans are really nice and the new AI was interesting to see how he interacted with Murderbot.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: The new forgotten station was nice and scary. I like how murderbot had to use the shadows and dark places to sneak around.
✓ - Ending: Best ending of the series so far.
Extensive Review
The place where it takes place and the actions scenes were the highlights of this book, I enjoyed the actions scenes and Muerderbot's planning. His interactions with the rest of the crew were also great. Don't have much to say the series is getting better and better. Can't wait to read the next entry.
TL;DR
Another great addition, this is the one I like the most out of the three. I like the story and the claustrophobic ambiance in the dark space station where it takes place. Miki was okay, not on ARTs level but he was enjoyable to read every time he interacted with Murderbot. The new set of characters were also good. I had a great time reading this book.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: I really liked this story, mainly because it has a bit of horror in it. It's more scary than the rest which I like.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: I like all the characters, there wasn't anyone who I thought was annoying. ART is gone which is sad but the new humans are really nice and the new AI was interesting to see how he interacted with Murderbot.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: The new forgotten station was nice and scary. I like how murderbot had to use the shadows and dark places to sneak around.
✓ - Ending: Best ending of the series so far.
Extensive Review
The place where it takes place and the actions scenes were the highlights of this book, I enjoyed the actions scenes and Muerderbot's planning. His interactions with the rest of the crew were also great. Don't have much to say the series is getting better and better. Can't wait to read the next entry.
TL;DR
Finally we get a chunky story, with more depth, more action and more characters than in previous entries. Really liked this one, mainly because of one returning character. My favorite is still Rogue Protocol but that's because that one has a bit of horror in it. This one is more action oriented. Still a very enjoyable read.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: Biggest story so far in the series, I liked it, both the original characters, my favorite one and some cool new ones are present this time. Also lots of action in this one.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: Great to see the original characters back into play, my favorite one back in the picture was a big bonus as well. The new characters are also nice and likeable.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: A familiar ship and a new planet. This time the planet is a lot more interesting than the in the first book.
X - Ending: Good ending, not as good and the previous books but was nice.
Extensive Review
At this point you know if you want to keep reading more of Murderbot or not. This time we get a bigger story with a lot of returning characters as well as new ones and all of them are likeable so that's good. There are three things I'm kinda getting annoyed at:
- Murderbot's feelings: Every time someone is nice to him or gives him a compliment or just wants to touch him he just shuts off and dismisses it, letting us know how much he hates feelings and tries to immediately run away from the interaction, being incredibly awkward. I know that's his thing but I would have hoped that by this point having interacted so much with humans and people not treating him as a machine would make him think "huh, I guess it's not so bad to be around some people" but no. He constantly let us know how better he got at hacking and writting code from his previous experiences yet probably the most important thing which is how he perceives humans and interacts with them is still exactly like the first interaction in the first book we read. Very minor spoiler <spoiler>(We encounter another SecUnit that is free and we get to see his POV for a few chapters, well...seeing how he interacts with everyone and what is he thinking made me wish he was the protagonist).</spoiler> It's getting annoying every time time a trusted person says "Are you ok?" him thinking "fuck off, I hate feelings, I just want to watch my dumbass series and not bother with anything". And then saying "Yes, I'm fine." then he does everything in his power to exit the conversation.
- Action Scenes: Whenever an action happens it's quite hard to follow, because there are CentralSystem, SecSystem, CombatSystem, Target1, Target2, Drone1, Drone2 all of them doing something while Murderbot tries to attack and plan and it just gets so messy. Every action scene is quite hard to keep track of and in my opinion it didn't flow at all. I didn't mention it in previous books because it was mainly Murderbot with his drones and a target or two so it was managable but here it's starting to be a problem.
- Summary: Multiple times in this book and in the previous ones goes like this. Something happens and there is a meeting to talk about a plan to action, everyone gives their input and we hear it all, we also hear Murderbot's thinking so we know everything. Then Murderbot says:
So what happened was:
1) We were surverying the planet when something attacked us.
2) We manged to survive and escape.
3) We figured out a plan and everyone has their part to do.
4) Did I mention this plan was terrible?, if not then yea it's terrible. (Alywas has to have that dumbass quirky remark that's also stating to get quite annoying. Don't understand how people think this is endearing but sadly this is 90% of Murderbot's "personality")
I don't undertand this, most of the time the summary is literally what happened in this chapter. I guess it's so explain how AI likes to organize things and stuff?, well it's stupid and annoying to have to read something worded a bit differently of what you just read four pages ago.
Aside from those three problems this is another great entry in the series, again, mainly because of a returning character that I really like plus a few other ones (definitely not because of Murderbot, starting to get annoying with him as I said in my previous point). I want to see what happens next and hopefully see some changes in Murderbot's personality, though if it didn't happen by book #5, I don't have high hopes so I'll just deal with Murderbot and his annoying awkwardness of it's feelings and rolling my eyes every time a character I like tries to connect with him only for it to dissmiss them immediately.
TL;DR
Finally we get a chunky story, with more depth, more action and more characters than in previous entries. Really liked this one, mainly because of one returning character. My favorite is still Rogue Protocol but that's because that one has a bit of horror in it. This one is more action oriented. Still a very enjoyable read.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: Biggest story so far in the series, I liked it, both the original characters, my favorite one and some cool new ones are present this time. Also lots of action in this one.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: Great to see the original characters back into play, my favorite one back in the picture was a big bonus as well. The new characters are also nice and likeable.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: A familiar ship and a new planet. This time the planet is a lot more interesting than the in the first book.
X - Ending: Good ending, not as good and the previous books but was nice.
Extensive Review
At this point you know if you want to keep reading more of Murderbot or not. This time we get a bigger story with a lot of returning characters as well as new ones and all of them are likeable so that's good. There are three things I'm kinda getting annoyed at:
- Murderbot's feelings: Every time someone is nice to him or gives him a compliment or just wants to touch him he just shuts off and dismisses it, letting us know how much he hates feelings and tries to immediately run away from the interaction, being incredibly awkward. I know that's his thing but I would have hoped that by this point having interacted so much with humans and people not treating him as a machine would make him think "huh, I guess it's not so bad to be around some people" but no. He constantly let us know how better he got at hacking and writting code from his previous experiences yet probably the most important thing which is how he perceives humans and interacts with them is still exactly like the first interaction in the first book we read. Very minor spoiler <spoiler>(We encounter another SecUnit that is free and we get to see his POV for a few chapters, well...seeing how he interacts with everyone and what is he thinking made me wish he was the protagonist).</spoiler> It's getting annoying every time time a trusted person says "Are you ok?" him thinking "fuck off, I hate feelings, I just want to watch my dumbass series and not bother with anything". And then saying "Yes, I'm fine." then he does everything in his power to exit the conversation.
- Action Scenes: Whenever an action happens it's quite hard to follow, because there are CentralSystem, SecSystem, CombatSystem, Target1, Target2, Drone1, Drone2 all of them doing something while Murderbot tries to attack and plan and it just gets so messy. Every action scene is quite hard to keep track of and in my opinion it didn't flow at all. I didn't mention it in previous books because it was mainly Murderbot with his drones and a target or two so it was managable but here it's starting to be a problem.
- Summary: Multiple times in this book and in the previous ones goes like this. Something happens and there is a meeting to talk about a plan to action, everyone gives their input and we hear it all, we also hear Murderbot's thinking so we know everything. Then Murderbot says:
So what happened was:
1) We were surverying the planet when something attacked us.
2) We manged to survive and escape.
3) We figured out a plan and everyone has their part to do.
4) Did I mention this plan was terrible?, if not then yea it's terrible. (Alywas has to have that dumbass quirky remark that's also stating to get quite annoying. Don't understand how people think this is endearing but sadly this is 90% of Murderbot's "personality")
I don't undertand this, most of the time the summary is literally what happened in this chapter. I guess it's so explain how AI likes to organize things and stuff?, well it's stupid and annoying to have to read something worded a bit differently of what you just read four pages ago.
Aside from those three problems this is another great entry in the series, again, mainly because of a returning character that I really like plus a few other ones (definitely not because of Murderbot, starting to get annoying with him as I said in my previous point). I want to see what happens next and hopefully see some changes in Murderbot's personality, though if it didn't happen by book #5, I don't have high hopes so I'll just deal with Murderbot and his annoying awkwardness of it's feelings and rolling my eyes every time a character I like tries to connect with him only for it to dissmiss them immediately.
TL;DR
I haven't read Death's End but I've seen many reviews saying that this is the best book in the series. Now after reading it I can confidently say that all of those people are delusional and shouldn't be taken seriously. The only good part about this book is the ending, the last 40/50 pages is where everything important happens. I will explain more in the extensive review but I hope the last entry is better than this.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: The actual story in this book is good when I get to read about it that is.
X - Side Stories (if it applies): Absolute trash and a complete waste of time, none are interesing and don't lead anywhere, please take my suggestion and skip everything in this book that doesn't have to do with the main story.
X - Characters: The only good character is Da Shi, out of the 20 characters we meet and interact with this is not good.
X - Setting/Ambiance: Seeing the world change from normal day to the future wasn't as interesting as I thought. Didn't like where people live in the future either.
✓ - Ending: Easily best part of the book the only saving grace. The last 40/50 pages were really interesing, the idea and implications proposed are amazing.
Extensive Review
Okay I'm not going to be gently about it, The Three-Body Problem has it's problems as well but at least the 500 pages of that book is about 400 pages the main story and 100 pages of side stuff. Here I'm not joking out of the 500 pages I would say that the important stuff having to do with the Trisolarians, their coming and what is humanity doing to prepare for it is about 200 pages if I'm being generous. Almost everything in this book is about inconsequential stuff that doesn't lead anywhere or isn't important to the main story and it's very frustrating.
To put this into perspective there are literal aliens invaders on their way to earth right now at full speed. Meanwhile all I'm reading about is:
- Three old neighbors talking about current events going on in the world and one of them getting scammed..."what?"
- One of our "main" protagonists remembering a memory about him trying to write a book and falling in love with his fictional character..."what?". This one goes a bit further because he actually thinks that's real deep love and breaks up with his current girlfriend over it. Deranged behaviour and absolute degeneracy by our so called "scientist", goes to a psychiatrist and he tell him that's normal and nothing to worry about. "What is this world?".
- One of our "main" protagonists is given a huge ammount of power to solve this crisis and since he didn't want that power he just uses it for his own gain to live comfortably..."what?". On top of being one of the most annoying tropes out there it's not even interesing, he just lives in a house watching TVs and buying random stuff that he sees.
Then we have the biggest side story than has more written about it that the actual main story so I'm not even sure it's a side story anymore, enter Zhang Beihai. EASILY top three biggest dumbass in all the books I've read. When his story concluded I could not believe it, I'm not going to spoil anything but just know that when you're reading about him know that you're wasting your time because it will not pay off in the end.
My sugestion is every time you see any mention of the three old guys, the memories of the fictional girlfriend or Zhang Beihai is to just skim over the pages but don't waste any time on them, skim through them to see if it's finally back to the main problem and read that.
Impossible challenge to complete, every time you read the word "Defeatism" or "Escapism" take a shot. You will die before reaching the end. I can't tell you how boring it is to constantly be reading the exact same thing over and over and over without anything new added in. Every single character in this book talks about those two things and it's always the same.
The main problems from the first book are still here, when you read interactions between characters you know it's just two fictional characters saying words to eachother, it's not two people having a conversation. But I gave my opinion on my The Three-Body Problem review. The writting did not improve at all, and Cixin Lui's ability to streth basic descriptions for over four pages is quite outstanding. Important stuff like a space elevator gets a one paragraph explanation while the building for the UN gets like four pages, talking about how the contour of the statues on the front are and forms that the building has..."who cares? it's just a building where corrupt politicians gather stop wasting time on that."
As I said the only good thing about this book is Da Shi and the ending. When you're reading about the actual Trisolarians and what is being done to prepare for them the book is quite interesting. Too bad those are just sprinkled in between the massive garbage side stories that lead nowhere. Yes, the ending of this book and the idea of our "main" protagonist is very terrifying and amazing at the same time. Endings are important to me but it cannot save it this time.
If this book were 300 pages long, cut all the side stuff and just be about this lunatic scientist who's in love with his fictional girlfriend and Da Shi protecting him from ETO while they're trying to prepare for the Trisolarians then I would believe those people saying this is the best book in the series.
TL;DR
I haven't read Death's End but I've seen many reviews saying that this is the best book in the series. Now after reading it I can confidently say that all of those people are delusional and shouldn't be taken seriously. The only good part about this book is the ending, the last 40/50 pages is where everything important happens. I will explain more in the extensive review but I hope the last entry is better than this.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: The actual story in this book is good when I get to read about it that is.
X - Side Stories (if it applies): Absolute trash and a complete waste of time, none are interesing and don't lead anywhere, please take my suggestion and skip everything in this book that doesn't have to do with the main story.
X - Characters: The only good character is Da Shi, out of the 20 characters we meet and interact with this is not good.
X - Setting/Ambiance: Seeing the world change from normal day to the future wasn't as interesting as I thought. Didn't like where people live in the future either.
✓ - Ending: Easily best part of the book the only saving grace. The last 40/50 pages were really interesing, the idea and implications proposed are amazing.
Extensive Review
Okay I'm not going to be gently about it, The Three-Body Problem has it's problems as well but at least the 500 pages of that book is about 400 pages the main story and 100 pages of side stuff. Here I'm not joking out of the 500 pages I would say that the important stuff having to do with the Trisolarians, their coming and what is humanity doing to prepare for it is about 200 pages if I'm being generous. Almost everything in this book is about inconsequential stuff that doesn't lead anywhere or isn't important to the main story and it's very frustrating.
To put this into perspective there are literal aliens invaders on their way to earth right now at full speed. Meanwhile all I'm reading about is:
- Three old neighbors talking about current events going on in the world and one of them getting scammed..."what?"
- One of our "main" protagonists remembering a memory about him trying to write a book and falling in love with his fictional character..."what?". This one goes a bit further because he actually thinks that's real deep love and breaks up with his current girlfriend over it. Deranged behaviour and absolute degeneracy by our so called "scientist", goes to a psychiatrist and he tell him that's normal and nothing to worry about. "What is this world?".
- One of our "main" protagonists is given a huge ammount of power to solve this crisis and since he didn't want that power he just uses it for his own gain to live comfortably..."what?". On top of being one of the most annoying tropes out there it's not even interesing, he just lives in a house watching TVs and buying random stuff that he sees.
Then we have the biggest side story than has more written about it that the actual main story so I'm not even sure it's a side story anymore, enter Zhang Beihai. EASILY top three biggest dumbass in all the books I've read. When his story concluded I could not believe it, I'm not going to spoil anything but just know that when you're reading about him know that you're wasting your time because it will not pay off in the end.
My sugestion is every time you see any mention of the three old guys, the memories of the fictional girlfriend or Zhang Beihai is to just skim over the pages but don't waste any time on them, skim through them to see if it's finally back to the main problem and read that.
Impossible challenge to complete, every time you read the word "Defeatism" or "Escapism" take a shot. You will die before reaching the end. I can't tell you how boring it is to constantly be reading the exact same thing over and over and over without anything new added in. Every single character in this book talks about those two things and it's always the same.
The main problems from the first book are still here, when you read interactions between characters you know it's just two fictional characters saying words to eachother, it's not two people having a conversation. But I gave my opinion on my The Three-Body Problem review. The writting did not improve at all, and Cixin Lui's ability to streth basic descriptions for over four pages is quite outstanding. Important stuff like a space elevator gets a one paragraph explanation while the building for the UN gets like four pages, talking about how the contour of the statues on the front are and forms that the building has..."who cares? it's just a building where corrupt politicians gather stop wasting time on that."
As I said the only good thing about this book is Da Shi and the ending. When you're reading about the actual Trisolarians and what is being done to prepare for them the book is quite interesting. Too bad those are just sprinkled in between the massive garbage side stories that lead nowhere. Yes, the ending of this book and the idea of our "main" protagonist is very terrifying and amazing at the same time. Endings are important to me but it cannot save it this time.
If this book were 300 pages long, cut all the side stuff and just be about this lunatic scientist who's in love with his fictional girlfriend and Da Shi protecting him from ETO while they're trying to prepare for the Trisolarians then I would believe those people saying this is the best book in the series.
Cold Welcome
TL;DR
I really liked this book, it's a great science fiction survival adventure with a rich world, great characters and good writting. I definitely recommend this book I had a blast reading through it. The only thing I didn't like was the ending but everything else is great.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: I didn't think it would be a stranded survival story but I was not dissapointed with it, it was a great story even if the main question isn't answered by the end.
✓ - Side Stories (if it applies): I liked all the side stories, where we jump from Ky's cousin, to her aunt, to her lover. All great and interesting parallel stories that are all trying to save Ky.
✓ - Characters: Every character except Ky's second in command (Jen) was great. I loved all the different crew members, Ky's family and her lover were all a joy to read through. There are a lot of characters and only one to be annoying and not likeable is impresive. My favorite were Rafe, Grace and Teague.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: Interesting setting, a barren land that's supposedly not suitable for terraforming yet there is this mysterious base weirdly well equipped for everything. I liked it.
X - Ending: This is the worst part of the book, very anticlimactic. It just ends which was very weird to me. A bit dissapointed but the all the other aspects of the books are strong.
Extensive Review
I wasn't expecting this to be a stranded survival story but was pleasently surprised at how good it turned out to be. I really liked how there is already a world created and built up. You constantly hear about Ky's past and how she's a hero and saved a lot of people. I would have liked if there was more of that though.
It's great that our main protagonist is smart and makes good decisions I really liked her. The rest of the crew were also interesting and enjoyable to read when they interacted with one another. Another great part of the book are the side stories going on, Ky's lover, her aunt and cousin trying to find out if she's still alive and saving her. I don't have anything bad to say about them, great writting with interesting personalities. I didn't mind at all going from Ky's survival story to Rafe and Grace trying to figure out how to get to Ky and save her.
The ending was a let down at how abruptly it ends without answering much of that happened. The ending is very important to me which is why I can't give this book a perfect score. I will be reading the next book and see how that one goes but I have high hopes seeing how good this one was.
Edit: Okay so I said that this feels like a world already well established, I just realized there's a whole series called Vatta's War that I think pretty much goes into how she turned out to be a hero and got to this place. I will have to read those as well.
TL;DR
I really liked this book, it's a great science fiction survival adventure with a rich world, great characters and good writting. I definitely recommend this book I had a blast reading through it. The only thing I didn't like was the ending but everything else is great.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: I didn't think it would be a stranded survival story but I was not dissapointed with it, it was a great story even if the main question isn't answered by the end.
✓ - Side Stories (if it applies): I liked all the side stories, where we jump from Ky's cousin, to her aunt, to her lover. All great and interesting parallel stories that are all trying to save Ky.
✓ - Characters: Every character except Ky's second in command (Jen) was great. I loved all the different crew members, Ky's family and her lover were all a joy to read through. There are a lot of characters and only one to be annoying and not likeable is impresive. My favorite were Rafe, Grace and Teague.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: Interesting setting, a barren land that's supposedly not suitable for terraforming yet there is this mysterious base weirdly well equipped for everything. I liked it.
X - Ending: This is the worst part of the book, very anticlimactic. It just ends which was very weird to me. A bit dissapointed but the all the other aspects of the books are strong.
Extensive Review
I wasn't expecting this to be a stranded survival story but was pleasently surprised at how good it turned out to be. I really liked how there is already a world created and built up. You constantly hear about Ky's past and how she's a hero and saved a lot of people. I would have liked if there was more of that though.
It's great that our main protagonist is smart and makes good decisions I really liked her. The rest of the crew were also interesting and enjoyable to read when they interacted with one another. Another great part of the book are the side stories going on, Ky's lover, her aunt and cousin trying to find out if she's still alive and saving her. I don't have anything bad to say about them, great writting with interesting personalities. I didn't mind at all going from Ky's survival story to Rafe and Grace trying to figure out how to get to Ky and save her.
The ending was a let down at how abruptly it ends without answering much of that happened. The ending is very important to me which is why I can't give this book a perfect score. I will be reading the next book and see how that one goes but I have high hopes seeing how good this one was.
Edit: Okay so I said that this feels like a world already well established, I just realized there's a whole series called Vatta's War that I think pretty much goes into how she turned out to be a hero and got to this place. I will have to read those as well.
TL;DR
Average, I really liked the setting, a small city on the moon was very interesting. While reading it really gave me Bioshock vibes if you ever played that video game. Story was not as interesting, it's a simple plot that resolves around messing with the wrong people and when there's money involved it always leads to drastic measures. Thankfully the side characters were likeable, unfortunately our main protagonist is not.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: It was kind of bland if I'm honest, apart from the location there wasn't anything super interesting. Same goes with the main plot, all about money as always.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: Every character except our main protagonist is great, I really liked all of them.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: This small city on the moon really gave me Bioshock vibes if you ever played that video game. I liked it, I liked how every bubble had it's own people and main purpose and how different they are from eachother.
✓ - Ending: Best part of the book, the final action sequence was really thrilling and I really enjoyed it.
Extensive Review
Great setting, not so interesting main story, good side characters all of that is nice but let's talk about the biggest problem of this book in my opinion. The main protagonist.
My eyes really hurt at the amount of times I rolled them while reading this book. I've read the reviews and saw people say how much she talks about sex but my god this is something else. The amount of sexual inuendos from our main protagonist's inner monologue is very annoying. Every single thought she has always ends with a "get your mind out of the gutter/don't get excited/it's not what you think..." at the end. She constantly gets mentioned on how she could do anything she wanted and how smart she is, while having the maturity level of a sixteen year old horny teenager. I don't believe it. She's literally risking her life doing something very dangerous like having to blow up two machines at the same time and she says "Don't take that out of context" it's so jarring and and frustrating, all you can do is roll your eyes and hope it doesn't happen again, unfotutunately, it does, a lot...
This is a personal thing but I hate unnecessary cursing, I hate how much our main protagonist curses, it's not like I just broke my leg and I yell "Fuck", she's in the middle of a conversation where the person asks her "Why not?" and her response is "Because fuck you" it's that kind of cursing where is really stupid and if you try to defend it saying that's just her personality then her personality is garbage and should be written better. Also it's very ironic considering she's muslim. This made me really dislike her and it's very frustrating because when she's focused on doing something dangerous or planning she's really smart and focused but the second her life is not in danger anymore it's back to her horny teenager personality where everthing is sexual and she curses at everything and everyone.
She's constantly making stupid decisions followed up by "it probably wasn't a good idea but we've established that I make poor life decisions". Consciously knowing you're making bad decision but not changing just because that's who you are doesn't make you funny, endearing or quirky. It makes you very stupid. Again not believeble since she's really smart and comes up with good plans on the fly when she's in danger.
It's very sad that the main problem with the book is the main protagonist but that's how I felt. Decent story with great setting, good side characters and an awful main protagonist with some sprinkles of how good she can be in certain situations before she's back to her usual self.
TL;DR
Average, I really liked the setting, a small city on the moon was very interesting. While reading it really gave me Bioshock vibes if you ever played that video game. Story was not as interesting, it's a simple plot that resolves around messing with the wrong people and when there's money involved it always leads to drastic measures. Thankfully the side characters were likeable, unfortunately our main protagonist is not.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: It was kind of bland if I'm honest, apart from the location there wasn't anything super interesting. Same goes with the main plot, all about money as always.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: Every character except our main protagonist is great, I really liked all of them.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: This small city on the moon really gave me Bioshock vibes if you ever played that video game. I liked it, I liked how every bubble had it's own people and main purpose and how different they are from eachother.
✓ - Ending: Best part of the book, the final action sequence was really thrilling and I really enjoyed it.
Extensive Review
Great setting, not so interesting main story, good side characters all of that is nice but let's talk about the biggest problem of this book in my opinion. The main protagonist.
My eyes really hurt at the amount of times I rolled them while reading this book. I've read the reviews and saw people say how much she talks about sex but my god this is something else. The amount of sexual inuendos from our main protagonist's inner monologue is very annoying. Every single thought she has always ends with a "get your mind out of the gutter/don't get excited/it's not what you think..." at the end. She constantly gets mentioned on how she could do anything she wanted and how smart she is, while having the maturity level of a sixteen year old horny teenager. I don't believe it. She's literally risking her life doing something very dangerous like having to blow up two machines at the same time and she says "Don't take that out of context" it's so jarring and and frustrating, all you can do is roll your eyes and hope it doesn't happen again, unfotutunately, it does, a lot...
This is a personal thing but I hate unnecessary cursing, I hate how much our main protagonist curses, it's not like I just broke my leg and I yell "Fuck", she's in the middle of a conversation where the person asks her "Why not?" and her response is "Because fuck you" it's that kind of cursing where is really stupid and if you try to defend it saying that's just her personality then her personality is garbage and should be written better. Also it's very ironic considering she's muslim. This made me really dislike her and it's very frustrating because when she's focused on doing something dangerous or planning she's really smart and focused but the second her life is not in danger anymore it's back to her horny teenager personality where everthing is sexual and she curses at everything and everyone.
She's constantly making stupid decisions followed up by "it probably wasn't a good idea but we've established that I make poor life decisions". Consciously knowing you're making bad decision but not changing just because that's who you are doesn't make you funny, endearing or quirky. It makes you very stupid. Again not believeble since she's really smart and comes up with good plans on the fly when she's in danger.
It's very sad that the main problem with the book is the main protagonist but that's how I felt. Decent story with great setting, good side characters and an awful main protagonist with some sprinkles of how good she can be in certain situations before she's back to her usual self.
TL;DR
Very short story of Murderbot before meeting his crew. I liked it, it's also free so there's that.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: Murderbot helping out humans as he always does.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: Not much explanation about the characters, just a few names.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: Not much explanation about our suroundings, just that we're in a mine.
✓ - Ending: Just another day for Murderbot.
Extensive Review
You can read the story here for free:
https://www.wired.com/story/future-of-work-compulsory-martha-wells/
TL;DR
Very short story of Murderbot before meeting his crew. I liked it, it's also free so there's that.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: Murderbot helping out humans as he always does.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: Not much explanation about the characters, just a few names.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: Not much explanation about our suroundings, just that we're in a mine.
✓ - Ending: Just another day for Murderbot.
Extensive Review
You can read the story here for free:
https://www.wired.com/story/future-of-work-compulsory-martha-wells/
TL;DR
I did not like this book, main protagonist is an idiot and the story is boring. The only good things about this book are the ideas, Schrödinger's box and the little time we spend with Amanda. Everything else is not worth the read.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: I disliked it a lot, creating such a great idea of a machine capable to move between all the infinite realities currently going on and wasting it on just trying to find you wife is so boring it's not even funny. Thankfully the book is short.
✓ - Side Stories (if it applies): The other universes we visit was pretty cool, I liked some of them and they were interesting but mainly because of Amanda if we were just following the main protagonist I'm sure it would be much boring.
X - Characters: Main protagonist is an idiot and his focus on getting back to his wife is not interesting. The only good character is Amanda for the short time she was with us I like it and was sad to see her go away but she made the right decision to abandon our protagonist, which is why I liked her. She's definitely smart for doing that.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: Schrödinger's box is the highlight of the book, the rest is just Chicago so nothing interesting there, but the different worlds they travelled to were good and interesting. Which only makes me more sad that we weren't focusing on those intead of the boring one we got.
X - Ending: Terrible ending, but was glad it happen so I can put this book to rest.
Extensive Review
This story is about a guy who invented the posibility to move between all other realities just to be with his wife. It's just as boring as it sounds, with all the cool and interesting things we can do with this and we're just focusing on this insignificant thing when you think about the implications of what can be achieved with such a discovery. The only good part I like is when we meet Amanda and they're both trying to figure things out. I was expecting for him to just get over his wife and go on some cool adventures with Amanda but no he keeps trying to find his universe in a sea of billions of them. When Amanda left the story my interest went with her, hope she found herself a nice good universe to live in. Wish we could have followed her instead of the story we got.
The amount of dumb decision our super smart main protagonist makes is infuriating. When Amanda leaves him just proves my assumptions that she was smart and dodged a bullet by getting as far away from our protagonist as possible. Good for her and hope she went on to go on some nice adventure, she has after all, the ability to visit any world she can imagine out of the infinite possibilites there are. She probably didn't go back to boring ass Chicago to her mundane life trying to get back to her lover. Like out main guy did.
Great idea and the possibilities it could have been just makes me sad when we're just focusing on these mundane things of two peoples love life. You're telling me you have the possibility to switch between realities and go to any number of them from the infinite pool and you just want to get back to your mundane life being a teacher? Just because you love your family so much? Yes that makes sense but it does not make for an interesing story at all.
TL;DR
I did not like this book, main protagonist is an idiot and the story is boring. The only good things about this book are the ideas, Schrödinger's box and the little time we spend with Amanda. Everything else is not worth the read.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
X - Main Story: I disliked it a lot, creating such a great idea of a machine capable to move between all the infinite realities currently going on and wasting it on just trying to find you wife is so boring it's not even funny. Thankfully the book is short.
✓ - Side Stories (if it applies): The other universes we visit was pretty cool, I liked some of them and they were interesting but mainly because of Amanda if we were just following the main protagonist I'm sure it would be much boring.
X - Characters: Main protagonist is an idiot and his focus on getting back to his wife is not interesting. The only good character is Amanda for the short time she was with us I like it and was sad to see her go away but she made the right decision to abandon our protagonist, which is why I liked her. She's definitely smart for doing that.
✓ - Setting/Ambiance: Schrödinger's box is the highlight of the book, the rest is just Chicago so nothing interesting there, but the different worlds they travelled to were good and interesting. Which only makes me more sad that we weren't focusing on those intead of the boring one we got.
X - Ending: Terrible ending, but was glad it happen so I can put this book to rest.
Extensive Review
This story is about a guy who invented the posibility to move between all other realities just to be with his wife. It's just as boring as it sounds, with all the cool and interesting things we can do with this and we're just focusing on this insignificant thing when you think about the implications of what can be achieved with such a discovery. The only good part I like is when we meet Amanda and they're both trying to figure things out. I was expecting for him to just get over his wife and go on some cool adventures with Amanda but no he keeps trying to find his universe in a sea of billions of them. When Amanda left the story my interest went with her, hope she found herself a nice good universe to live in. Wish we could have followed her instead of the story we got.
The amount of dumb decision our super smart main protagonist makes is infuriating. When Amanda leaves him just proves my assumptions that she was smart and dodged a bullet by getting as far away from our protagonist as possible. Good for her and hope she went on to go on some nice adventure, she has after all, the ability to visit any world she can imagine out of the infinite possibilites there are. She probably didn't go back to boring ass Chicago to her mundane life trying to get back to her lover. Like out main guy did.
Great idea and the possibilities it could have been just makes me sad when we're just focusing on these mundane things of two peoples love life. You're telling me you have the possibility to switch between realities and go to any number of them from the infinite pool and you just want to get back to your mundane life being a teacher? Just because you love your family so much? Yes that makes sense but it does not make for an interesing story at all.
TL;DR
Good entry in the series, a murder mystery with some help from two new characters. I liked both of them, they are pretty cool and I liked their interactions with Murderbot.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: I liked the murder mystery story on this one, very engaging and interesting.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: I liked Indah and Aylen, even if Aylen is just gone suddenly towards the end, I thought she would more involved in the story and be there for the ending.
X - Setting/Ambiance: It's the preservation station again, nothing new there.
✓ - Ending: Not an amazing ending but it wasn't terrible. A normal ending, and that's not bad.
Extensive Review
Another good entry in the series but there are still a few things that I disliked:
- There's a character called Tural, he's okay as a character, the problem is that he's refer to as "They". Get this stupid garbage inclusive pronouns out of here.
- The cursing, Murderbot is at it again with the unnecessary cursing and it's still as annoying as the first time I noticed it. Again he's not in dangerous situations and something bad happened that would warrant that. He's in conversation and randomly curses because "he's annoyed".
There is also a good thing, there were almost no mentions of his stupid media series in this entire story, maybe twice he mentioned that he wanted to watch them. I was very pleased with this, being in the middle of some dangerous situation and having Murderbot saying "I would rather watch The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon episode 365" is very frustrating. Thankfully there was barely any mentions of his media series.
TL;DR
Good entry in the series, a murder mystery with some help from two new characters. I liked both of them, they are pretty cool and I liked their interactions with Murderbot.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: I liked the murder mystery story on this one, very engaging and interesting.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: I liked Indah and Aylen, even if Aylen is just gone suddenly towards the end, I thought she would more involved in the story and be there for the ending.
X - Setting/Ambiance: It's the preservation station again, nothing new there.
✓ - Ending: Not an amazing ending but it wasn't terrible. A normal ending, and that's not bad.
Extensive Review
Another good entry in the series but there are still a few things that I disliked:
- There's a character called Tural, he's okay as a character, the problem is that he's refer to as "They". Get this stupid garbage inclusive pronouns out of here.
- The cursing, Murderbot is at it again with the unnecessary cursing and it's still as annoying as the first time I noticed it. Again he's not in dangerous situations and something bad happened that would warrant that. He's in conversation and randomly curses because "he's annoyed".
There is also a good thing, there were almost no mentions of his stupid media series in this entire story, maybe twice he mentioned that he wanted to watch them. I was very pleased with this, being in the middle of some dangerous situation and having Murderbot saying "I would rather watch The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon episode 365" is very frustrating. Thankfully there was barely any mentions of his media series.
TL;DR
I started liking this book but by the end I had to force myself to finish it. I's so weird, it's starts out okay, gets interesting and then drops to be so boring it was hard to finish it. I did not like this book but the idea and how it tells us the effect it has on people and the world is why I would recommend this book.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: As with [book:Dark Matter|27833670] the idea is amazing and even though the execution is far better I still didn't like it. But the idea is so great it has to be given credit.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: Halena and Slade are the stars of the show, Barry is uninteresting. A guy who constantly cries at everything, had me rolling my eyes a lot when I was reading his point of view. He's probably the worst character in the book so it's unfortunate that he's one of the main protagonists.
X - Setting/Ambiance: It's just America, even if we are playing with alternate realities nothing impressive happens.
X - Ending: Not an amazing ending but it wasn't terrible. The lead up to it was horrible though.
Extensive Review
A bit better than Dark Matter, while on that book we had an incredible idea that wasn't used properly, here we get an incredible idea that shows us the consequences of using it. The beginning is pretty boring, then we get to the mid section and it's interesting and then towards the end it gets so boring that I couldn't believe I was reading the same book. Let's get off the easy stuff out of the way first.
- Slade and Halena were good characters, I really liked both of them. Always happy to read the chapters with them involved, sadly Slade only appears for about half the book.
- The idea of this book is amazing and how it tells us the effect of these alternate realities is perfect. Nothing bad to say about that just like Dark Matter, Blake Crouch's ideas are amazing. I don't want to spoil anything but if I had to rate this book based solely on the idea it presents it would be a 5/5 stars.
Now to the bad stuff:
- There's a running theme in this book, where people when they get these memories from alternate realities suddenly go crazy and commit suicide. I just can't believe it, I don't believe that you can be okay one day, you suddenly get these memories and a few days later you kill yourself because "you don't know what is real anymore". They all keep asking "is this real?" and I just have to roll my eyes, doesn't anyone in this book know what reality is? Reality is what our brain perceives so you're always in reality.
- Barry as a character is pretty boring, I hate how he constantly cries at everything. Yeah I get it he's been through some very grieving moments but seriously, every chapter with him I was reading he was crying about something.
- Minor thing but I hate when it happens in books. Towards the end of the story someone will tell someone that they can do something, they will have to work hard at it and it will be the hardest thing they will achieve in their life. Literally a few paragraphs later that someone does it first try without any problems or difficuly like it's just another Monday at work.
- At some point this book turns into Minory Report, while the book itself acknowledges it. And it's nowhere near as interesting as the movie.
- Before the ending of the book, the last fifty pages are so boring I couldn't believe I was reading the same book. It's boring because nothing new happens it's just the same thing over and over without any progress bring made. I guess the author's intention was to put us in the helplesness of the characters that they can't escape this loop? Well it was very boring and made it so hard to finish this book.
- Meghan is a piece of shit, she doesn't just commit suicide which is already a coward thing to do she sets a fire on her building killing three other innocent people, great job dumbass (it was an accident but she left her stove on when she knew she would kill herself so it's still her fault). I get that she wasn't a big character in the book but still a garbage character for what she did.
- MASSIVE ENDING SPOILER I don't get the implications of the ending. Slade killed Halena to avoid her finding out what she created. Barry kills Slade so Halena will eventually create the chair again. She has the same driven mindset as Slade so I have no doubt that eventually she will try to kill someone to get them to release DMT and figure out how the memory mapping works. Maybe if Barry tells her what happen in his previous timelines she will stop but I'm not sure...
I wish I could enjoy the book like the rest of people who rated it four/five stars but one of the main characters beeing so boring and a crying constantly, the Minority Report section and the lead up to the ending were so boring it destroyed my enjoyment.
TL;DR
I started liking this book but by the end I had to force myself to finish it. I's so weird, it's starts out okay, gets interesting and then drops to be so boring it was hard to finish it. I did not like this book but the idea and how it tells us the effect it has on people and the world is why I would recommend this book.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: As with [book:Dark Matter|27833670] the idea is amazing and even though the execution is far better I still didn't like it. But the idea is so great it has to be given credit.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: Halena and Slade are the stars of the show, Barry is uninteresting. A guy who constantly cries at everything, had me rolling my eyes a lot when I was reading his point of view. He's probably the worst character in the book so it's unfortunate that he's one of the main protagonists.
X - Setting/Ambiance: It's just America, even if we are playing with alternate realities nothing impressive happens.
X - Ending: Not an amazing ending but it wasn't terrible. The lead up to it was horrible though.
Extensive Review
A bit better than Dark Matter, while on that book we had an incredible idea that wasn't used properly, here we get an incredible idea that shows us the consequences of using it. The beginning is pretty boring, then we get to the mid section and it's interesting and then towards the end it gets so boring that I couldn't believe I was reading the same book. Let's get off the easy stuff out of the way first.
- Slade and Halena were good characters, I really liked both of them. Always happy to read the chapters with them involved, sadly Slade only appears for about half the book.
- The idea of this book is amazing and how it tells us the effect of these alternate realities is perfect. Nothing bad to say about that just like Dark Matter, Blake Crouch's ideas are amazing. I don't want to spoil anything but if I had to rate this book based solely on the idea it presents it would be a 5/5 stars.
Now to the bad stuff:
- There's a running theme in this book, where people when they get these memories from alternate realities suddenly go crazy and commit suicide. I just can't believe it, I don't believe that you can be okay one day, you suddenly get these memories and a few days later you kill yourself because "you don't know what is real anymore". They all keep asking "is this real?" and I just have to roll my eyes, doesn't anyone in this book know what reality is? Reality is what our brain perceives so you're always in reality.
- Barry as a character is pretty boring, I hate how he constantly cries at everything. Yeah I get it he's been through some very grieving moments but seriously, every chapter with him I was reading he was crying about something.
- Minor thing but I hate when it happens in books. Towards the end of the story someone will tell someone that they can do something, they will have to work hard at it and it will be the hardest thing they will achieve in their life. Literally a few paragraphs later that someone does it first try without any problems or difficuly like it's just another Monday at work.
- At some point this book turns into Minory Report, while the book itself acknowledges it. And it's nowhere near as interesting as the movie.
- Before the ending of the book, the last fifty pages are so boring I couldn't believe I was reading the same book. It's boring because nothing new happens it's just the same thing over and over without any progress bring made. I guess the author's intention was to put us in the helplesness of the characters that they can't escape this loop? Well it was very boring and made it so hard to finish this book.
- Meghan is a piece of shit, she doesn't just commit suicide which is already a coward thing to do she sets a fire on her building killing three other innocent people, great job dumbass (it was an accident but she left her stove on when she knew she would kill herself so it's still her fault). I get that she wasn't a big character in the book but still a garbage character for what she did.
- MASSIVE ENDING SPOILER I don't get the implications of the ending. Slade killed Halena to avoid her finding out what she created. Barry kills Slade so Halena will eventually create the chair again. She has the same driven mindset as Slade so I have no doubt that eventually she will try to kill someone to get them to release DMT and figure out how the memory mapping works. Maybe if Barry tells her what happen in his previous timelines she will stop but I'm not sure...
I wish I could enjoy the book like the rest of people who rated it four/five stars but one of the main characters beeing so boring and a crying constantly, the Minority Report section and the lead up to the ending were so boring it destroyed my enjoyment.
TL;DR
Another great entry in the series, this is a right after Network Effect and the story is not as interesting as that one but still okay. Love ART's crew, we get more development from them and they're great. Also this entry solved some of my gripes from every entry, the unnecessary cursing and the constant reference to Murderbot's stupid media series.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: ART's and Murderbot's crew team up to try and save the colonist of the planet, it's not as interesting as it sounds. I still prefer when Murderbot was alone in a cave mine roleplaying as a security consultant and trying to do something he wanted while helping out random humans along the way. I feel that's when Murderbot shines, him being on a full team doesn't work because he just doesn't open to them and it's always distant.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: I really liked ART's crew and the we still have some of the good ones from Murderbot's crew aswell. Still ART was by far the most interesting one.
X - Setting/Ambiance: Still on alien contaminated planet, a bit more interesting than the space stations but not that much since the alien contamination is not present at all.
X - Ending: Just like most entries the ending is not bad but also not super memorable. Just an okay ending.
Extensive Review
Not much to say, another great entry and I'm glad that the cursing and mentioning of the series is tone down where it didn't bother me at all. That's a step in the right direction in my opinion. The only negative I have is yet another mention of some stupid pronoun that makes no sense and serves no purpose but to just make the reading more confusing. There's this character named Corian and instead of using the only two ways to refer to a person (he/she) the pronoun is "vi" so then you get stupid sentences like this:
Vi dropped to the floor and curled vir legs up
Or
Vi patted vir chest
Aside from that atrocity there's nothing bad about this book, I had a good time reading it.
TL;DR
Another great entry in the series, this is a right after Network Effect and the story is not as interesting as that one but still okay. Love ART's crew, we get more development from them and they're great. Also this entry solved some of my gripes from every entry, the unnecessary cursing and the constant reference to Murderbot's stupid media series.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: ART's and Murderbot's crew team up to try and save the colonist of the planet, it's not as interesting as it sounds. I still prefer when Murderbot was alone in a cave mine roleplaying as a security consultant and trying to do something he wanted while helping out random humans along the way. I feel that's when Murderbot shines, him being on a full team doesn't work because he just doesn't open to them and it's always distant.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: I really liked ART's crew and the we still have some of the good ones from Murderbot's crew aswell. Still ART was by far the most interesting one.
X - Setting/Ambiance: Still on alien contaminated planet, a bit more interesting than the space stations but not that much since the alien contamination is not present at all.
X - Ending: Just like most entries the ending is not bad but also not super memorable. Just an okay ending.
Extensive Review
Not much to say, another great entry and I'm glad that the cursing and mentioning of the series is tone down where it didn't bother me at all. That's a step in the right direction in my opinion. The only negative I have is yet another mention of some stupid pronoun that makes no sense and serves no purpose but to just make the reading more confusing. There's this character named Corian and instead of using the only two ways to refer to a person (he/she) the pronoun is "vi" so then you get stupid sentences like this:
Vi dropped to the floor and curled vir legs up
Or
Vi patted vir chest
Aside from that atrocity there's nothing bad about this book, I had a good time reading it.
TL;DR
I really liked Cold Welcome so I bought this one because I liked Elizabeth Moon's writting and the characters. The first half of the book is really good where Ky tries to save the survivors. But just like the last book where the only bad thing I could find was how abrupt and anticlimactic the ending was it happens here as well when the survivors situation gets solved. It simply ends and then we get to a pretty boring last half of the book where Ky is back in the military.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: Great first half, boring second half.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: For the first half they're great, really liked Stella in this one. She's a badass. Second half of the book they're all gone.
X - Setting/Ambiance: Nothing interesting it's just the Vatta's house most of the time.
X - Ending: I didn't care about it that much since I lost interest in the second half of the book.
Extensive Review
Before Ky gets in a higher position of power the book is great, I loved everything about it. It has planning, a rescue mission, banter between all the favorite characters (Rafe, Teague, Stella, Grace...) also some new ones wich were really cool. After the main thing happens then it's just Ky and the military which frankly I don't care at all. Every page is a new colonel introduced that Ky interacts with and again I don't care about them, I want to see more of my favorite characters. You will see how good the book is during the survivors situation and when it ends you will see a steep decline after that. I think the entire book should have been saving the survivors, it would have been way better in my opinion.
TL;DR
I really liked Cold Welcome so I bought this one because I liked Elizabeth Moon's writting and the characters. The first half of the book is really good where Ky tries to save the survivors. But just like the last book where the only bad thing I could find was how abrupt and anticlimactic the ending was it happens here as well when the survivors situation gets solved. It simply ends and then we get to a pretty boring last half of the book where Ky is back in the military.
My Scoring System
I have five things I look for in a book, if the book checks all five it's a 5/5 stars book, if it checks none it's a 1/5 stars and everything else is a combination:
✓ - Main Story: Great first half, boring second half.
X - Side Stories (if it applies):
✓ - Characters: For the first half they're great, really liked Stella in this one. She's a badass. Second half of the book they're all gone.
X - Setting/Ambiance: Nothing interesting it's just the Vatta's house most of the time.
X - Ending: I didn't care about it that much since I lost interest in the second half of the book.
Extensive Review
Before Ky gets in a higher position of power the book is great, I loved everything about it. It has planning, a rescue mission, banter between all the favorite characters (Rafe, Teague, Stella, Grace...) also some new ones wich were really cool. After the main thing happens then it's just Ky and the military which frankly I don't care at all. Every page is a new colonel introduced that Ky interacts with and again I don't care about them, I want to see more of my favorite characters. You will see how good the book is during the survivors situation and when it ends you will see a steep decline after that. I think the entire book should have been saving the survivors, it would have been way better in my opinion.