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qalminator's review against another edition
2.0
See below for some in-progress thoughts. Overall? Good ideas, good plotting, but lousy writing, and every character behaves like a teenager. Basically, this is ready for beta-readers and a serious round of editing, not publication. And I would really, really hope that one of the beta-readers has armed forces experience, because career soldiers, particularly ones in positions of command, do NOT behave the way Blackwood and the Luft-colonel do (guessing at spelling, as I listened on audio). So, yeah. As much as I'd like to know what happens next, I'm not being paid as a beta-reader to go through minimally edited prose to pick out the good bits.
If I see that his has a re-edited version at some point, I may give it another look. Until then, I'm out. Yikes. On the plus side, the audibook narrator is quite good.
___________________________________________________________
I'm about three hours in, still planning to finish, but I had to blow off some steam about this one.
(1) Said Bookisms (tv tropes warning), repeatedly, to the point that I'm laughing at them.
(2) Cartoon caricature of an antagonist (possibly the eventual villain? Unclear at this point) who slaps one of his spies for daring to look at his wife (who, it must be said, was in a military briefing room despite not being military, so, yeah, anyone would look at her in surprise under the circumstances), and has a reputation for murdering his wives, and who nearly throttles said spy for no good reason. See You Have Failed Me (tv tropes warning).
(3) For a military outfit, Blackwood's submarine crew sure acts like a bunch of hotheaded high-schoolers. Possibly believable for the rawest recruits, but not for someone in service for 2 years. No wonder they're losing the war... See Mildly Military (tv tropes warning)
I'm mostly continuing to read because the shrouding idea is fascinating and has Lovecraftian overtones, but, yeah.
With 3 hours left, a few more things to kvetch about:
(4) Blackwood's utter refusal to actually listen to her brother. Fine, there are religious issues, but she's not even pretending to humor him in order to get information.
(5) The "there was a flashing light like a signal mirror in the hills in [location]! It must be the people we're looking for! One of them has a metal tin that could make such a signal!" bit. Um. Really? This leap of illogic isn't even necessary. What would have made sense is: "We investigated a possible signal light in [location], and found the people you were looking for."
(6) Constantly telling, not showing. Character X "felt pain" "felt fear"; "fear increased"; "pain increased". A little bit of that is fine, but indicating bodily cues would be better for most of it.
Still planning to finish, but the ending is going to have to wow me to convince me to buy a sequel, if one exists.
And, finished. Thank the gods. There were parts of the ending with enough promise that I'm interested in the sequel, but then it went all smarmy nonsensical revelation and ruined it.
If I see that his has a re-edited version at some point, I may give it another look. Until then, I'm out. Yikes. On the plus side, the audibook narrator is quite good.
___________________________________________________________
I'm about three hours in, still planning to finish, but I had to blow off some steam about this one.
(1) Said Bookisms (tv tropes warning), repeatedly, to the point that I'm laughing at them.
(2) Cartoon caricature of an antagonist (possibly the eventual villain? Unclear at this point) who slaps one of his spies for daring to look at his wife (who, it must be said, was in a military briefing room despite not being military, so, yeah, anyone would look at her in surprise under the circumstances), and has a reputation for murdering his wives, and who nearly throttles said spy for no good reason. See You Have Failed Me (tv tropes warning).
(3) For a military outfit, Blackwood's submarine crew sure acts like a bunch of hotheaded high-schoolers. Possibly believable for the rawest recruits, but not for someone in service for 2 years. No wonder they're losing the war... See Mildly Military (tv tropes warning)
I'm mostly continuing to read because the shrouding idea is fascinating and has Lovecraftian overtones, but, yeah.
With 3 hours left, a few more things to kvetch about:
(4) Blackwood's utter refusal to actually listen to her brother. Fine, there are religious issues, but she's not even pretending to humor him in order to get information.
(5) The "there was a flashing light like a signal mirror in the hills in [location]! It must be the people we're looking for! One of them has a metal tin that could make such a signal!" bit. Um. Really? This leap of illogic isn't even necessary. What would have made sense is: "We investigated a possible signal light in [location], and found the people you were looking for."
(6) Constantly telling, not showing. Character X "felt pain" "felt fear"; "fear increased"; "pain increased". A little bit of that is fine, but indicating bodily cues would be better for most of it.
Still planning to finish, but the ending is going to have to wow me to convince me to buy a sequel, if one exists.
And, finished. Thank the gods. There were parts of the ending with enough promise that I'm interested in the sequel, but then it went all smarmy nonsensical revelation and ruined it.
bookishwendy's review against another edition
5.0
My favorite Lovecraft story is called "From Beyond", and features a scientist who invents a mechanism that detects an alternate dimension full of strange, monstrous beings that is overlaid with our own. The problem is, once you can see the monsters, they can see you...
Shrouded Loyalties features just such a fantastical Lovecraftian realm, which has been tapped for human convenience in true sci-fi style. By "shrouding" into another dimension, military submarines can traverse the planet in seconds, but with a few unfortunate side effects of the elder god variety.
Mira Blackwood is a kickass lady officer on just such a "shrouding" submarine, who gains a mysterious skill after a terrifying encounter within the other dimension. But the story has a very human component too, with claustrophobic human drama, double (triple?) agents who aren't what they seem, and a fabulous sibling dynamic that feels unnervingly true. The environment has a fittingly dieselpunk overlay, with familiar 1930's trappings evoking an off-kilter and uncanny alternate retro-future. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who's ever wished Das Boot had encountered Cthulu.
*note* I received an advance reader copy of this book.
Shrouded Loyalties features just such a fantastical Lovecraftian realm, which has been tapped for human convenience in true sci-fi style. By "shrouding" into another dimension, military submarines can traverse the planet in seconds, but with a few unfortunate side effects of the elder god variety.
Mira Blackwood is a kickass lady officer on just such a "shrouding" submarine, who gains a mysterious skill after a terrifying encounter within the other dimension. But the story has a very human component too, with claustrophobic human drama, double (triple?) agents who aren't what they seem, and a fabulous sibling dynamic that feels unnervingly true. The environment has a fittingly dieselpunk overlay, with familiar 1930's trappings evoking an off-kilter and uncanny alternate retro-future. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who's ever wished Das Boot had encountered Cthulu.
*note* I received an advance reader copy of this book.
alawrence's review against another edition
adventurous
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? Yes
2.25
sinisterinfant's review against another edition
5.0
Full disclosure: I am acquainted with the author. I won this advance reader's copy of the book from a contest on the author’s Twitter.
War novels are a tough sell for me. Nation-level conflict often loses a lot of the heart that a novel needs in order to hold my attention. Authors often spend too much time describing political motivations and the movements of armies, forgetting to ground their stories in characters you can wrap your arms around. Reese Hogan doesn't. Shrouded Loyalties is a character-first exploration of war. In the fine company of works like City of Thieves and Slaughterhouse Five, Shrouded Loyalties gives you the full complexity of the conflict happening around the characters while still focusing on the people caught up in it, whose personal struggles never scratch their way to the national concern. Who are you, and what's important to you when someone puts a gun in your hands and points you at the enemy?
Mila Blackwood lives in a world of secrets. She’s determined to keep safe her country’s most valuable secret – shrouding, the ability to travel across the planet in seconds. But enemies are everywhere, and spies lurk even in the seeming safety of her posting on a submarine testing out this new technology. When shrouding leads to an encounter with otherworldly monstrosities, it throws Mila’s life deeper into madness when she and a shipmate gain supernatural abilities that could end the war – but for which side? As Blackwood tries to return home, she discovers that there are few she can trust, her brother has been seduced by an enemy soldier, and the armies of Dhavnak are encircling her beleaguered country.
Mila's struggle with anger is maybe the least likeable part of this journey. Her parents' death and the need to provide for her younger brother left her with a grating personality and a tendency to lash out. The author sets this against her brother’s search for identity, fending for himself while Mila goes off to fight the people she blames for their parents' death. These two people, so different and yet bound by family ties, have a beautiful, painful relationship that spans the novel. Each one so clearly can’t understand the other, and their personal misunderstandings parallel the spiraling violence of the war around them.
The star of the novel is Mila’s shipmate and subordinate. With even more secrets to keep then Mila, Holland is the beating heart of the story. Her search for herself in her role on the battlefield and in her home country kept me turning page after page late at night as I devoured this novel. I would be more specific, but I feel that Holland’s journey is so key to enjoying the story that I hesitate to share details.
And there are many details. Cosmic horror, as shrouding is revealed to be not as safe as believed. A tense spy thriller. A twisted love story. Every layer fits together to form one of those rare novels that checks a lot of boxes and balances them all through a tight personal story that focuses on character first but maintains a bright, complex setting.
This is a novel that grabbed me by the heart, from a genre I usually do not prefer, a remarkable feat for a debut author. I’m excited to see the future of this series and all future books from Reese Hogan. Shrouded Loyalties gets a full five out of five .
War novels are a tough sell for me. Nation-level conflict often loses a lot of the heart that a novel needs in order to hold my attention. Authors often spend too much time describing political motivations and the movements of armies, forgetting to ground their stories in characters you can wrap your arms around. Reese Hogan doesn't. Shrouded Loyalties is a character-first exploration of war. In the fine company of works like City of Thieves and Slaughterhouse Five, Shrouded Loyalties gives you the full complexity of the conflict happening around the characters while still focusing on the people caught up in it, whose personal struggles never scratch their way to the national concern. Who are you, and what's important to you when someone puts a gun in your hands and points you at the enemy?
Mila Blackwood lives in a world of secrets. She’s determined to keep safe her country’s most valuable secret – shrouding, the ability to travel across the planet in seconds. But enemies are everywhere, and spies lurk even in the seeming safety of her posting on a submarine testing out this new technology. When shrouding leads to an encounter with otherworldly monstrosities, it throws Mila’s life deeper into madness when she and a shipmate gain supernatural abilities that could end the war – but for which side? As Blackwood tries to return home, she discovers that there are few she can trust, her brother has been seduced by an enemy soldier, and the armies of Dhavnak are encircling her beleaguered country.
Mila's struggle with anger is maybe the least likeable part of this journey. Her parents' death and the need to provide for her younger brother left her with a grating personality and a tendency to lash out. The author sets this against her brother’s search for identity, fending for himself while Mila goes off to fight the people she blames for their parents' death. These two people, so different and yet bound by family ties, have a beautiful, painful relationship that spans the novel. Each one so clearly can’t understand the other, and their personal misunderstandings parallel the spiraling violence of the war around them.
The star of the novel is Mila’s shipmate and subordinate. With even more secrets to keep then Mila, Holland is the beating heart of the story. Her search for herself in her role on the battlefield and in her home country kept me turning page after page late at night as I devoured this novel. I would be more specific, but I feel that Holland’s journey is so key to enjoying the story that I hesitate to share details.
And there are many details. Cosmic horror, as shrouding is revealed to be not as safe as believed. A tense spy thriller. A twisted love story. Every layer fits together to form one of those rare novels that checks a lot of boxes and balances them all through a tight personal story that focuses on character first but maintains a bright, complex setting.
This is a novel that grabbed me by the heart, from a genre I usually do not prefer, a remarkable feat for a debut author. I’m excited to see the future of this series and all future books from Reese Hogan. Shrouded Loyalties gets a full five out of five .
bract4813mypacksnet's review
4.0
This was an interesting combination of old gods blended with new-age technology in a fantasy world. Great shifting of people's motives and loyalties. Stayed up late to finish reading it.
danstout's review
5.0
Prose fiction can explore the inner life and mental contradictions of characters in a way that other formats can’t touch. Reese Hogan’s SHROUDED LOYALTIES is a perfect example of this kind of deep dive into character and inner turmoil.
On its surface, this is a novel about a military conflict and the secretive process of “shrouding” or passing between worlds. But beneath that, it’s a thoughtful study of the layers of deceit and delusion that each of the main characters have wrapped around their loyalties to nation, family, and even themselves. And that level of examination lets the characters shine.
These are characters who struggle with rage and fear and self-loathing, who justify the crimes of their own nations and loved ones while vilifying those of outsiders. These characters hide their true feelings so deep that they can become obscured even to themselves. These are characters, in other words, who are just as complex and contradictory as ourselves.
Hogan dives deep into her character’s motivations, fears, and blind spots. She forces the reader to ask hard questions about each character, and as a result their triumphs and failures are all the more powerful.
This is an excellent novel, delivered by a talented writer. Don't miss out on this amazing world and its cast of characters!
On its surface, this is a novel about a military conflict and the secretive process of “shrouding” or passing between worlds. But beneath that, it’s a thoughtful study of the layers of deceit and delusion that each of the main characters have wrapped around their loyalties to nation, family, and even themselves. And that level of examination lets the characters shine.
These are characters who struggle with rage and fear and self-loathing, who justify the crimes of their own nations and loved ones while vilifying those of outsiders. These characters hide their true feelings so deep that they can become obscured even to themselves. These are characters, in other words, who are just as complex and contradictory as ourselves.
Hogan dives deep into her character’s motivations, fears, and blind spots. She forces the reader to ask hard questions about each character, and as a result their triumphs and failures are all the more powerful.
This is an excellent novel, delivered by a talented writer. Don't miss out on this amazing world and its cast of characters!
arnicas's review
2.0
I bailed at 70% because I had so many stress reactions to the fighting siblings - she's got anger issues, he's alternately catatonic and hysterical and unhelpful. Not worth it despite otherwise being interesting.
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