Reviews

Eclipse the Moon by Jessie Mihalik

Only show reviews with written explanations

thebrashbookshelf's review

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adventurous emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

jquellin's review

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

mardorko's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

So... I didn't really like this one, giving it 2.5 stars, but rounding up for overall story.

The problem I had with it was the central couple - Kee and Varro had the emotional maturity of 14 year olds. So much constant drama and angst and bullshit, easily solved if either of them opened their damn mouths and communicated like the grown-ass adults they are supposed to be.

I can give them a little room for miscommunication due to cultural differences, but even with that, this was childish crap.

And that wasn't even my biggest problem with the book. My biggest problem is that Kee is TSTL.

She's a brilliant member of the team from a tech standpoint, but she is an absolute fucking moron in the field. To the point where Tavi and Torran look inept for even putting her in the field. She fails across the board in all field encounters, from shockingly stupid stuff like getting blindsided in an alley by 4 petty muggers (yes, seriously) to getting distracted by how hot Varro is and spacing out literally mid-op as they're breaking into the bad guy location (again, yes seriously). Sometimes she's written as if she has ADHD, but then a couple pages later she's deep into hacking and doesn't realize that 12 hours have gone by and she hasn't eaten since the previous day. It's super inconsistent.

At one point, I laughed because she's all mad that her team doesn't want her to lead the op on the moon base, and she's thinking that they should trust her after she did so awesome on Bastion. Bitch, you did NOT do awesome on Bastion. You blundered into the bad guy attack face-first. You had no idea what was going on until it was happening, and you went to this event despite being explicitly ordered not to because it wasn't safe. And even worse, you gave your real name when you signed up for the event ... despite the last book revolving around a plot to pin the disaster on you and your crew. And lo and behold, minutes after they attack on Bastion, they're pinning it all on you because they knew you were there, since you literally advertised your presence like a jackass. (She used her real name to work as a model for the super famous fashion designer. Yes, I'm counting that as advertising her presence.)

The only thing that salvaged the situation was plot armor.

And so it made zero sense that Tavi let her go on the moon base op. But she did, and it also became an epic shit show.

Thank goodness for plot armor.

I don't think I'm going to read the next one, because I just don't care about Lexi and Nilo. And they're not even on the ship with the team - the blurb makes it seem like the book happens with them on planet, trying to get to the team on the ship - so I won't even get to see lots of the other characters. And I ... just don't care about the plot. Both sides are evil - human military bosses and alien empress - so I don't care if the crew stops the war. Those assheads are welcome to kill each other - the universe will only be improved by it. Given how much all our characters have been fucked over by leadership on both sides, I don't understand why they're engaging at all. They should just take all the info they have - and they have a shitload - and make it public on both sides. Let the evil leaders get mobbed out of office, while you go live your best lives. Better than trying to stop the two bad guys you've gone up against and failed against two books in a row now.