Lightless

Shallow characters, tedious plot. Gave up at about 50%

DNF. While the premise sounded very good (high-tech problems in space, with saboteurs and mysterious AIs), the execution I found to be not suitable for the genre. I realize many people have posted positive (even glowing) reviews but for me this book just did not work. Within the first several chapters we had:

(I guess a spoiler warning should be given, although it really doesn't spoil any of the plot details...much)

- a mysterious stranger that has such penetrating blue eyes (gag) and easily got “into the head” of the main POV character so that even his drumming of fingers on a bulkhead inside the brig disrupted her concentration
- a small band of intruders not only approached the ship without being spotted, but easily, almost casually, boarded it
- doors on a spacecraft that could be opened by lock picks
- a hot-shot investigator that still uses paper files and is convinced she is always right and thinks herself successful when she can establish her “supreme authority” position over others quickly
- a crew member of a space ship that (almost) routinely disobeys her commanding officer
- computers that had to be placed every 30 feet around the ship because “they were required to be there” during the ship's construction
- a computer terminal on a highly-classified ship that didn't have elaborate security protocols installed so a random person could gain entry and insert damaging code just by typing, within seconds. And the person watching all this happen (the “expert” on the ship) can't shut down the terminal and has to simply watch helplessly
- requiring a crew member to be physically present outside the brig, because apparently the brig physical security (despite cameras being everywhere) could not be trusted

It was just too much for me to take. Which is a shame because I really wanted to like this book, and was excited that there were enough good vibes apparently surrounding this book to have 2 sequels already printed. (Yes, printed, not just e-book published.) So, disappointingly, this entire series is now pushed way down on my list of “next candidates” for reading. I'm happy for the author but I will not be one of those fans eagerly awaiting the next book.

Like watching a Bond movie. Irrational characters doing crazy things for no reason but there's a lot of action.