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maniactoon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
ramtinaat1377's review against another edition
4.0
اول ۳ دادم و الآن ۴ش کردم
به نظرم خیلی کتاب اوکی‌ای بود و صرف اینکه من ازش بیشتر انتظار داشتم این حقو نمیده که بیخودی نمره‌ی کم بدم.
یه فانتزی کلاسیک در فضا با دنیای بسیار جالب و شخصیت‌هایی که یه ستاره از داستان کم کردن.
کلا اگه سبک sci-fantasy رو دوست دارین گزینه‌ی مطمئنیه
به نظرم خیلی کتاب اوکی‌ای بود و صرف اینکه من ازش بیشتر انتظار داشتم این حقو نمیده که بیخودی نمره‌ی کم بدم.
یه فانتزی کلاسیک در فضا با دنیای بسیار جالب و شخصیت‌هایی که یه ستاره از داستان کم کردن.
کلا اگه سبک sci-fantasy رو دوست دارین گزینه‌ی مطمئنیه
oepsje's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
mightyjor's review against another edition
2.0
2/5 stars
Man, this book.
Imagine being near the end of a space DND campaign. Everyone has already leveled up their character to near invincibility, all alliances and enemies have already been established and character foundations have been laid. Now imagine that you're on the 7th season of this DND space campaign. Now imagine there's a newcomer who wants to join for the final 10 hours and you have to explain everything that's happened over the last 150 hours, plus fight off this final boss until the end. Well, that's the task that the author has basically taken on here.
I have some HUGE problems with this book, so why don't I start with what I like: the author is genuinely pretty funny. All the characters have a fun superhero stereo type they basically fall into and their dialogue is clever and fun. The combination of outer space and fantasy wizards and magic is very fun. There are some really amazing moments and battles that would look great on a big screen.
Here's where we get into my big issues though. We constantly get info dumps of why something is important/dangerous/clever AS it becomes relevant. We have no genuine understanding as to how magic or politics work in this universe. People will be fighting a battle and all of a sudden they whip out some Mech suit that's possesed by a demon (not exactly this but you get the idea) and we're told why this is cool or scary literally as it's presented to us. We're told about our main characters histories with all of these people. We're told why the Iron King is such a threat and how much devastation he can cause and what it will take to destroy him. Magic is literally explained to us as it's being cast for the first time, never to be used again until some new spell is cast. New governments and secret organizations pop up out of nowhere to try and thrwart our heroes only to be discarded 2 seconds later.
Basically we're told a lot, and we never actually get a chance to live in the world. All of our heroes happily drop any allegiances/families/careers to help our hero "save the galaxy" or whatever, but calling them 2 dimensional would honestly be giving them twice as much credit as they deserve. They literally act like NPCs that pop out of nowhere to become allies to our hero without even the semblance of a backstory. While I did like the gung ho fighter who harnesses the power of friendship, he is still just a caricature of a person without a drop of wants or desires besides saving the universe.
The story isn't grounded in anything. I don't care if the heroes live or die. I don't even know why they're fighting. They don't have any loved ones. They don't have friends (except each other kind of, despite just having met each other). They don't have any wants or desires. The entire book is nothing but back to back space fighting and spell casting but without the emotion to back any of it up.
We're not even the underdogs here. Everyone on this ship is one of the most powerful people in the universe and we don't fear for them for even a second. In the moments they do get into some trouble, they pull some magic out of their butts that we've never seen before in order to fix it. It's that sort of thing that makes people dislike stories with magic in them in the first place. The magic needs to be grounded in some basis that we understand. I'm not saying it needs to be some hard magic system with defined rules, but when Everytime we use the magic we introduce a brand new rule, it feels entirely unsatisfying. Soft magic systems work best when they're not relied on as some kind of deus ex machina to get our heroes out of some problem at the last second with some spell we've never heard of.
The book borrows a lot from Star Wars and Mass Effect (both of which I love) but Star Wars begins with Luke's aunt and uncle being killed by the empire, giving him a reason to go out and fight. He also wants to be a pilot more than anything. With Mass Effect, we literally get a mission for every single character, exploring their backstories before we're asked to care at all about them for the final suicide mission and the end of Mass Effect 2.
Anyway, I'm done ranting. I hope we spend some time getting to know our characters more in book 2, otherwise Im calling it quits on the series.
Man, this book.
Imagine being near the end of a space DND campaign. Everyone has already leveled up their character to near invincibility, all alliances and enemies have already been established and character foundations have been laid. Now imagine that you're on the 7th season of this DND space campaign. Now imagine there's a newcomer who wants to join for the final 10 hours and you have to explain everything that's happened over the last 150 hours, plus fight off this final boss until the end. Well, that's the task that the author has basically taken on here.
I have some HUGE problems with this book, so why don't I start with what I like: the author is genuinely pretty funny. All the characters have a fun superhero stereo type they basically fall into and their dialogue is clever and fun. The combination of outer space and fantasy wizards and magic is very fun. There are some really amazing moments and battles that would look great on a big screen.
Here's where we get into my big issues though. We constantly get info dumps of why something is important/dangerous/clever AS it becomes relevant. We have no genuine understanding as to how magic or politics work in this universe. People will be fighting a battle and all of a sudden they whip out some Mech suit that's possesed by a demon (not exactly this but you get the idea) and we're told why this is cool or scary literally as it's presented to us. We're told about our main characters histories with all of these people. We're told why the Iron King is such a threat and how much devastation he can cause and what it will take to destroy him. Magic is literally explained to us as it's being cast for the first time, never to be used again until some new spell is cast. New governments and secret organizations pop up out of nowhere to try and thrwart our heroes only to be discarded 2 seconds later.
Basically we're told a lot, and we never actually get a chance to live in the world. All of our heroes happily drop any allegiances/families/careers to help our hero "save the galaxy" or whatever, but calling them 2 dimensional would honestly be giving them twice as much credit as they deserve. They literally act like NPCs that pop out of nowhere to become allies to our hero without even the semblance of a backstory. While I did like the gung ho fighter who harnesses the power of friendship, he is still just a caricature of a person without a drop of wants or desires besides saving the universe.
The story isn't grounded in anything. I don't care if the heroes live or die. I don't even know why they're fighting. They don't have any loved ones. They don't have friends (except each other kind of, despite just having met each other). They don't have any wants or desires. The entire book is nothing but back to back space fighting and spell casting but without the emotion to back any of it up.
We're not even the underdogs here. Everyone on this ship is one of the most powerful people in the universe and we don't fear for them for even a second. In the moments they do get into some trouble, they pull some magic out of their butts that we've never seen before in order to fix it. It's that sort of thing that makes people dislike stories with magic in them in the first place. The magic needs to be grounded in some basis that we understand. I'm not saying it needs to be some hard magic system with defined rules, but when Everytime we use the magic we introduce a brand new rule, it feels entirely unsatisfying. Soft magic systems work best when they're not relied on as some kind of deus ex machina to get our heroes out of some problem at the last second with some spell we've never heard of.
The book borrows a lot from Star Wars and Mass Effect (both of which I love) but Star Wars begins with Luke's aunt and uncle being killed by the empire, giving him a reason to go out and fight. He also wants to be a pilot more than anything. With Mass Effect, we literally get a mission for every single character, exploring their backstories before we're asked to care at all about them for the final suicide mission and the end of Mass Effect 2.
Anyway, I'm done ranting. I hope we spend some time getting to know our characters more in book 2, otherwise Im calling it quits on the series.
nyxesss's review against another edition
3.0
I want more depth to the characters but otherwise it was a good read. I recommend.
Characters 5
Writing 6
Plot 7
Entertainment 7
6.3★
Characters 5
Writing 6
Plot 7
Entertainment 7
6.3★
iono's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, and Kidnapping
Minor: War
eryndir's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
redeyesinferno's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
qjbrown96's review against another edition
4.0
This is my first foray into Will Wight’s work as well as my first time listening to a Travis Baldree narration and I’m impressed with both.
The Captain has fantastic world building as well as character development. I also loved the cheeky banter between the crew. It was just enough to be funny without taking away from the seriousness of the situation. I will absolutely continue with Will’s books.
The Captain has fantastic world building as well as character development. I also loved the cheeky banter between the crew. It was just enough to be funny without taking away from the seriousness of the situation. I will absolutely continue with Will’s books.