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zrando00's review
adventurous
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
errantdreams's review against another edition
3.0
The alien Pilot is a cross between a Predator and an Alien. It’s a danger to all of humanity, and our heroes will have a hard time surviving its attention. The pacing of this book is quite good–the tension slowly builds, and about two-thirds of the way through it becomes wonderfully tense. That’s also the point at which the narrative became a bit smoother, as though the author had really hit his stride. Prior to that some of the writing seemed a bit stilted and awkward.
The book could have used another round of editing. There were a number of misspellings of the sort a spell-checker won’t catch (one word substituted for something one letter off). I’m also pretty sure that the author intended to say that the eight-foot-tall alien had 12 INCH fangs, not fangs “twelve feet in length”. It’s still hard to imagine fangs a foot long being at all wieldy, mind you.
The characters are an odd mix of stereotypical and non-stereotypical. For instance, I’m just shocked that the sole Japanese mercenary was inscrutable, nigh-silent, and proficient with a sword. The Korean soldiers the good guys encounter are used just as soulless cannon fodder, and everything the characters do to them (including torture in one case) is depicted as perfectly reasonable. (Content note for blood, guts, explosions, and torture.)
I don't want to give away spoilers, so I'll just say that some of what the alien is capable of toward the end, and the assumptions the heroes make about that, don't add up right. If you’re looking for a tense military-vs-monsters book and don’t care whether the details add up, this would be an engaging read. If you’re looking for sense, however, try something else.
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2019/08/review-the-pilot-michael-cole/
The book could have used another round of editing. There were a number of misspellings of the sort a spell-checker won’t catch (one word substituted for something one letter off). I’m also pretty sure that the author intended to say that the eight-foot-tall alien had 12 INCH fangs, not fangs “twelve feet in length”. It’s still hard to imagine fangs a foot long being at all wieldy, mind you.
The characters are an odd mix of stereotypical and non-stereotypical. For instance, I’m just shocked that the sole Japanese mercenary was inscrutable, nigh-silent, and proficient with a sword. The Korean soldiers the good guys encounter are used just as soulless cannon fodder, and everything the characters do to them (including torture in one case) is depicted as perfectly reasonable. (Content note for blood, guts, explosions, and torture.)
I don't want to give away spoilers, so I'll just say that some of what the alien is capable of toward the end, and the assumptions the heroes make about that, don't add up right. If you’re looking for a tense military-vs-monsters book and don’t care whether the details add up, this would be an engaging read. If you’re looking for sense, however, try something else.
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2019/08/review-the-pilot-michael-cole/
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