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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
Forgot how much I love sci-fi, from alien bugs to intergalactic politics and a hint of noir fiction this space murder mystery was a ride & I'm intrigued for what the next book will bring
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
medium-paced
Wow! Such an amazing story. Not once was I bored with the story or the characters. I enjoyed the perspective hoping of each character from chapter to chapter. It was done really well. Sometimes when authors try and do this there are minor disconnects between characters and timelines, but James seamlessly flowed conversations from one chapter to another while swapping character perspectives. I also liked that the book had an actual ending and didn't leave any real cliffhangers, so if you wanted to read just the one book you would be satisfied.
This was freaking awesome… that probably won’t surprise many since this series obviously comes highly lauded, (blurb by George R.R. Martin on the cover, successful TV series, yada yada yada) but I am new to the space opera genre and am glad I picked such an awesome place to start. I came in (mostly) blind as I have only seen a couple episodes of the TV series quite a few years ago – this background helped only by giving me a few actors’ faces to fill in the visual gaps, but I didn’t recall much else.
I thought the authors did a fantastic job of pairing readers with a limited cast that we could learn to love, alternating POV’s only with two MC’s to minimize whiplash. This was compulsively readable, and honestly didn’t feel like a book of almost 600 pages. I found I would sneak in chapters between work emails if I thought I had the time! Can’t wait to start up the next installment.
What I Liked:
- I loved how very human much of this book was – our main characters fight, make poor decisions, are faced with terrible options, and generally struggle through. People are still holding prejudice against others based on race or class (Belters v. Earth v. Mars in this case) Major Spoiler:
- I was worried this would be so loaded down with space jargon to the point I was just too confused to read it, but I found the authors made this story very accessible, even to a newbie.
- I said I was new to space opera, but I’m not necessarily new to sci-fi horror, and was so pleasantly surprised that this had quite a bit of that, as well. The body horror is really strong here and Minor Spoiler:.
What I Didn’t:
- Honestly, this was great. The only negative is a personal failing in that I had some trouble visualizing some of the space elements, ship parts/environments, etc. I think I don’t have this problem with fantasy because generally the authors are building upon places and objects we tend to be more familiar with, but I was challenged on this book to place the characters in the respective ships and environments because it’s difficult to mentally create futuristic items.
I thought the authors did a fantastic job of pairing readers with a limited cast that we could learn to love, alternating POV’s only with two MC’s to minimize whiplash. This was compulsively readable, and honestly didn’t feel like a book of almost 600 pages. I found I would sneak in chapters between work emails if I thought I had the time! Can’t wait to start up the next installment.
What I Liked:
- I loved how very human much of this book was – our main characters fight, make poor decisions, are faced with terrible options, and generally struggle through. People are still holding prejudice against others based on race or class (Belters v. Earth v. Mars in this case) Major Spoiler:
Spoiler
I think I loved Miller best of all, with all his anger and imperfections, and was very moved by his final moments with Julie- I was worried this would be so loaded down with space jargon to the point I was just too confused to read it, but I found the authors made this story very accessible, even to a newbie.
- I said I was new to space opera, but I’m not necessarily new to sci-fi horror, and was so pleasantly surprised that this had quite a bit of that, as well. The body horror is really strong here and Minor Spoiler:
Spoiler
when the Eros station started speaking it gave me such chillsWhat I Didn’t:
- Honestly, this was great. The only negative is a personal failing in that I had some trouble visualizing some of the space elements, ship parts/environments, etc. I think I don’t have this problem with fantasy because generally the authors are building upon places and objects we tend to be more familiar with, but I was challenged on this book to place the characters in the respective ships and environments because it’s difficult to mentally create futuristic items.
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced