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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
moopet's review against another edition
1.0
I'm almost certain that the word "grimaced" is used more frequently than the principle character's name. I'm not even joking. When they're not grimacing everywhere, they're scowling, glowering and snorting. Every conversation with a snort is defused when the more powerful participant chuckles. It's like a nursery book of simple emotions, left on the pile of magazines at a doctor's office and with most of the pages missing.
It's so full of this language, I'm tempted to download an epub if I can find one free, simply so I can run a few scripts against it. grep -c "(grimac(e|ed|ing)|scow(l|led|ling))", you know. Oh yes, and I find it disconcerting when two people are talking and one refers to the other as his erstwhile friend. Did I miss some falling-out? Does that word's meaning change over the next couple of hundred years? Who dares to dream?
The story (for all that happens, it's mostly maneuvering) is OK. It's not good. I don't care about any of the characters, even the ones who had more development in earlier books. The first couple of chapters gave me hope that this time there was a more interesting plot and that the book had maybe seen better attention from an editor.
It's not boring, exactly. If you skip over all the duplication, anyway. Because every time someone says something or some new information appears, another character will find a way to paraphrase it immediately, just so we're sure we understand.
I remember how in the first book the crew of this futuristic spaceship were getting used to using a touch interface, since this is clearly an alternate universe where iPods never happened. It's the same universe however, where people take mind-controlled space fighters for granted. That kind of disconnect is still here.
I've read the first one and listened to the next one on audiobook. I'm not sure why. I didn't finish this one and won't be getting any more sequels. I hope Currie keeps writing and other people get some enjoyment from it, because the world could do with more epic military SF and I don't want the genre to die out. But I mostly hope that we get some better authors.
Oh, and it's got a prologue. I have no idea why. It's chaptered and the prologue is just chapter 1 of the B-storyline. Now that's just weird.
It's so full of this language, I'm tempted to download an epub if I can find one free, simply so I can run a few scripts against it. grep -c "(grimac(e|ed|ing)|scow(l|led|ling))", you know. Oh yes, and I find it disconcerting when two people are talking and one refers to the other as his erstwhile friend. Did I miss some falling-out? Does that word's meaning change over the next couple of hundred years? Who dares to dream?
The story (for all that happens, it's mostly maneuvering) is OK. It's not good. I don't care about any of the characters, even the ones who had more development in earlier books. The first couple of chapters gave me hope that this time there was a more interesting plot and that the book had maybe seen better attention from an editor.
It's not boring, exactly. If you skip over all the duplication, anyway. Because every time someone says something or some new information appears, another character will find a way to paraphrase it immediately, just so we're sure we understand.
I remember how in the first book the crew of this futuristic spaceship were getting used to using a touch interface, since this is clearly an alternate universe where iPods never happened. It's the same universe however, where people take mind-controlled space fighters for granted. That kind of disconnect is still here.
I've read the first one and listened to the next one on audiobook. I'm not sure why. I didn't finish this one and won't be getting any more sequels. I hope Currie keeps writing and other people get some enjoyment from it, because the world could do with more epic military SF and I don't want the genre to die out. But I mostly hope that we get some better authors.
Oh, and it's got a prologue. I have no idea why. It's chaptered and the prologue is just chapter 1 of the B-storyline. Now that's just weird.
bfls's review against another edition
3.0
In my review of the first book in this series I noted that about 50% of the book was spent describing battles. The percentage has upped significantly in this installment - it is closer to 80% now. However, I found the descriptions thoroughly exciting and enjoyed it.
I particularly liked how the author has thought about the difficulties of such battles when distances are measured in significant amounts of the speed of light - seconds, minutes, hours, even days. How do you fight when your only measurements of your opponent are an hour old and you won't know what has happened as a result of your actions for several hours more? I can't claim the physics are correct (I dropped physics after high school) but it is one of the few SF books I've read that actually attempts to tackle this issue.
The results of parallel evolution is once again well handled, as is the difficulties (both political and technical) of adopting another race's technology.
In my review of the first book, I commented there was something of a cast of thousands and as a result the characterisation was a little flat. The cast list has been much reduced here and the novel is all the better for it.
I did notice a new stylistic quirk which rather set my teeth on edge. The author is very fond of the word "literally" in this book. Fortunately, he generally uses it correctly.
One final comment - write faster. I want to know how it ends.
I particularly liked how the author has thought about the difficulties of such battles when distances are measured in significant amounts of the speed of light - seconds, minutes, hours, even days. How do you fight when your only measurements of your opponent are an hour old and you won't know what has happened as a result of your actions for several hours more? I can't claim the physics are correct (I dropped physics after high school) but it is one of the few SF books I've read that actually attempts to tackle this issue.
The results of parallel evolution is once again well handled, as is the difficulties (both political and technical) of adopting another race's technology.
In my review of the first book, I commented there was something of a cast of thousands and as a result the characterisation was a little flat. The cast list has been much reduced here and the novel is all the better for it.
I did notice a new stylistic quirk which rather set my teeth on edge. The author is very fond of the word "literally" in this book. Fortunately, he generally uses it correctly.
One final comment - write faster. I want to know how it ends.
l0rddrag0n's review against another edition
5.0
This series has been great fun. Gave it five stars because I just couldn't put this one down. Can not wait for the next book in the series.
shonari's review against another edition
5.0
Why isnt this series more popular!? Holy shit, that was intense!
pieneman's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
gwadej's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
4.25
jmoses's review against another edition
4.0
Huh. Still great, super interesting tech developments. Writing continues to gain polish.
Spoiler
RIP Earth? I....dunno. I mean, yes it looks like, but that Epilogue.faileskye's review against another edition
4.0
Why did I go so long between finishing the second book and picking this one up? I can only admit that it was to my own detriment.
This book picks up a little after the last one ended. The Odyssey has gotten repaired and refitted, and it quickly becomes clear that the stakes are going to be much higher this time around. That means the suspense is all that much greater.
From a more technical perspective, this book really fixed up the less great things from the first two books. The character bloat has been brought way down, letting us focus on just a few, important characters. Then, on top of the tighter focus, there is much more of a plot this time around. The previous two books in the series didn't have much in the way of a plot, instead just focusing on some very well done military action. That thrilling action is still present, but this time it comes with reasons for it and just some overall direction of the galaxy, the war in it, and the overall plot.
If you are hesitant about picking this book up after the second one, don't be, it is worth it. If you haven't started this series and want some books that are like a good WWII movie but in space, you probably can't go wrong here.
This book picks up a little after the last one ended. The Odyssey has gotten repaired and refitted, and it quickly becomes clear that the stakes are going to be much higher this time around. That means the suspense is all that much greater.
From a more technical perspective, this book really fixed up the less great things from the first two books. The character bloat has been brought way down, letting us focus on just a few, important characters. Then, on top of the tighter focus, there is much more of a plot this time around. The previous two books in the series didn't have much in the way of a plot, instead just focusing on some very well done military action. That thrilling action is still present, but this time it comes with reasons for it and just some overall direction of the galaxy, the war in it, and the overall plot.
If you are hesitant about picking this book up after the second one, don't be, it is worth it. If you haven't started this series and want some books that are like a good WWII movie but in space, you probably can't go wrong here.