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krakenzuela89's review
3.0
I'm a sucker for romance, and the way this particular story handled the primary romance was a little bit of a cop-out. Other than that, the technicality of the steampunk mechanisms and flying mabobs was really well handled. The plot was great! The characters were a little underdeveloped, but I enjoyed it. The end was also really quick and left some things unresolved. Not sure if there's a sequel with these characters or not. I hope so!
mackle13's review
3.0
2.75
I'm a bit torn on how to rate this one, to be honest.
On one hand, it was a decent story and concept, overall, filled with lots of action and, even better, a lot of fun, steampunky gadgets. The main characters were pretty cool - though they don't really have much in the way of depth to them... but since I've decided to read this as, predominantly, an action story, well, action characters aren't known to have much depth, so I'm being forgiving on that account.
(That said, there was one point where it seemed like some depth would be added to the characters and/or explored within the world, specifically when
On the other hand - the villains had zero depth and were rather annoyingly stereotypical in their cartoonish behavior. Maier, especially, was just kinda crap.
And the action - well, as I said, there was a lot of it. Some of it was handled well, other parts were hard to follow but, overall, while fun it seemed a bit too-much at times. One thing after another after another, and even Thomas and Cynthia were routinely commenting on how lucky they've been being as how they're scientists and never been in combat before and now they're surviving crashes and fights and all sorts of things left, right and center. Not to mention the numerous miraculously lucky saves. (I will say, though, that between the action and the visuals offered by the various flying machines, weaponry, and gadgetry in general, this is a story that would work well as a movie or even in manga or GN format. Also, I think the book would've been much better if it had more humor and didn't seem to take itself so seriously considering how OTT much of it was.)
And the climax seemed a bit, well, anti. Rushed, I suppose, and there were some ideas and things which were introduced and seemed promising and never fully came into fruition. (On the other side of that, I liked that not every gadget worked out the way it was planned.)
And the writing itself - well, it's not horrible, and it does carry you along easily enough (though, as I said, hard to follow in places), but it also needs some tighter editing - not to mention someone looking out for continuity.
There were several instances of just sloppy grammar, additional words (like "Thomas was hadn't been... "), and weird slips. For instance, it seems like this is an entirely fictional universe, but then someone is described as having a British accent. In one paragraph Cynthia is said to be putting on a pair of pants, and in the next it says "Thomas' pants were black, like her skirt". Things like that. Very shoddy and unprofessional with all the typos and things - so that's definitely something that needs to be kept a closer eye on in the future.
And there is suggestion of a future. The story is left open for further installments, and the write-up on Amazon does say "Thomas Riley (Echelon Press/Quake), is the first in a series of alternative history books..." so it's quite possible that the dangling threads will be picked up in those. I may very well come along for the ride - but only time will tell.
3.5 for overall story and concept
2.25 for execution
***
Additional thoughts (that I'm too lazy to try to work into my earlier review):
This is being marketed as a YA book*, but it doesn't really seem like one to me on the surface. Firstly there's the fact that Thomas Riley is 29 and Cynthia is 25, whereas most YA books are written with young protagonists.
Moreso, though, it just didn't have the overall tone I've come to associate with YA lit. I can't really put my finger on it - it's an undefined quality, one of those 'you know it when you see it' sort of things - but this seemed different.
Also, while I have seen a lot of action and violence and death in some YA stories, both the abundance of it, the description of it, and the sort of blase nature of it in this story would sort of make me not want to recommend this to younger readers - and since a lot of people seem to think 10 and 11 year olds fall under the YA category (even though they don't) - I want to add the caveat that I would not necessarily recommend this for younger YA readers. Of course, it depends on the individual in question, so this is just a general note of caution.
* I read on one blog that this was written as an adult book but then marketed for 13+. I could definitely see a PG-13 movie being adapted from it, minus a few descriptions, so I think that is probably a good marker for age level.
I'm a bit torn on how to rate this one, to be honest.
On one hand, it was a decent story and concept, overall, filled with lots of action and, even better, a lot of fun, steampunky gadgets. The main characters were pretty cool - though they don't really have much in the way of depth to them... but since I've decided to read this as, predominantly, an action story, well, action characters aren't known to have much depth, so I'm being forgiving on that account.
(That said, there was one point where it seemed like some depth would be added to the characters and/or explored within the world, specifically when
Spoiler
Thomas and Cynthia, who have created many weapons of war, are first confronted with the outcomes of their creations - specifically Thomas being horrified at the damage his acid bullets do to people. But this is quickly glossed over and never really mentioned again. Granted, they are fighting for their lives but, still, it would've been nice to explore that angle... and for our heroes to have more than a brief moment of horror at the many, many people who are killed in the process of the story.On the other hand - the villains had zero depth and were rather annoyingly stereotypical in their cartoonish behavior. Maier, especially, was just kinda crap.
And the action - well, as I said, there was a lot of it. Some of it was handled well, other parts were hard to follow but, overall, while fun it seemed a bit too-much at times. One thing after another after another, and even Thomas and Cynthia were routinely commenting on how lucky they've been being as how they're scientists and never been in combat before and now they're surviving crashes and fights and all sorts of things left, right and center. Not to mention the numerous miraculously lucky saves. (I will say, though, that between the action and the visuals offered by the various flying machines, weaponry, and gadgetry in general, this is a story that would work well as a movie or even in manga or GN format. Also, I think the book would've been much better if it had more humor and didn't seem to take itself so seriously considering how OTT much of it was.)
And the climax seemed a bit, well, anti. Rushed, I suppose, and there were some ideas and things which were introduced and seemed promising and never fully came into fruition. (On the other side of that, I liked that not every gadget worked out the way it was planned.)
And the writing itself - well, it's not horrible, and it does carry you along easily enough (though, as I said, hard to follow in places), but it also needs some tighter editing - not to mention someone looking out for continuity.
There were several instances of just sloppy grammar, additional words (like "Thomas was hadn't been... "), and weird slips. For instance, it seems like this is an entirely fictional universe, but then someone is described as having a British accent. In one paragraph Cynthia is said to be putting on a pair of pants, and in the next it says "Thomas' pants were black, like her skirt". Things like that. Very shoddy and unprofessional with all the typos and things - so that's definitely something that needs to be kept a closer eye on in the future.
And there is suggestion of a future. The story is left open for further installments, and the write-up on Amazon does say "Thomas Riley (Echelon Press/Quake), is the first in a series of alternative history books..." so it's quite possible that the dangling threads will be picked up in those. I may very well come along for the ride - but only time will tell.
3.5 for overall story and concept
2.25 for execution
***
Additional thoughts (that I'm too lazy to try to work into my earlier review):
This is being marketed as a YA book*, but it doesn't really seem like one to me on the surface. Firstly there's the fact that Thomas Riley is 29 and Cynthia is 25, whereas most YA books are written with young protagonists.
Moreso, though, it just didn't have the overall tone I've come to associate with YA lit. I can't really put my finger on it - it's an undefined quality, one of those 'you know it when you see it' sort of things - but this seemed different.
Also, while I have seen a lot of action and violence and death in some YA stories, both the abundance of it, the description of it, and the sort of blase nature of it in this story would sort of make me not want to recommend this to younger readers - and since a lot of people seem to think 10 and 11 year olds fall under the YA category (even though they don't) - I want to add the caveat that I would not necessarily recommend this for younger YA readers. Of course, it depends on the individual in question, so this is just a general note of caution.
* I read on one blog that this was written as an adult book but then marketed for 13+. I could definitely see a PG-13 movie being adapted from it, minus a few descriptions, so I think that is probably a good marker for age level.
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