Reviews

Game of Universe by Eric S. Nylund

jobinsonlis's review against another edition

3.0

I went back and forth on this one. Because on one hand, the soul-borrowing concept is fantastic and it's a space search for the Holy Grail story, which is exactly the spot I always want to be in. But Nylund kept interrupting my fun with upsetting shit. Germain as a conflicted, tortured assassin is fine, if played-out, and I was fully prepared for the scenes that would show us the horrible events that led him to his life in a murder company. But it's hard to prepare yourself for rape in a book that feels like a side story in the Star Wars universe and once Nylund introduces that aspect of Germain's childhood, he keeps coming back to it, especially right at the end. Personally I wish that he hadn't had that element in the book, especially as explored as it was, because I don't think that it added anything and for me, it really changed the entire tone. I still enjoyed large parts of the book and I was fascinated by the descriptions of how Germain's abilities worked but it gets heavy and that distracts away from all the fun space stuff.

kennesaw59's review against another edition

5.0

An early book from Eric Nylund, but I think it is one of his best.

Gives a hard sf slant on magic with excellent character development and plot.