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4.27 AVERAGE
4.27 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
WHOA. Totally unexpected favorite. This book was kick. ass.
Update: The audiobook is amazing. It's a freaking PRODUCTION, I loved it so much!
Update: The audiobook is amazing. It's a freaking PRODUCTION, I loved it so much!
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Second time reading this baby (cause Obsidio is coming !). I still loved it sooooo much. It's still a favourite, and a good 6/5 for me. I cannot wait to get to Gemina again, but perhaps I'll wait for a little while cause I've realised I am incapable of stopping once I start one of these books.
Oh my god this book was AMAZING ! It was insane and intense and so complex and just fantastic ! I listen to it via audiobook and it has to be the best audiobook I've ever listened to in my life. There's no way I'm reading Gemina... definitely will be listening to it. 6/5 stars for sure !
Oh my god this book was AMAZING ! It was insane and intense and so complex and just fantastic ! I listen to it via audiobook and it has to be the best audiobook I've ever listened to in my life. There's no way I'm reading Gemina... definitely will be listening to it. 6/5 stars for sure !
I have reached my limit at approximately 60%, the point where the book twists slightly and becomes more of a rogue AI interference tale than the hand-wringing military science fiction it had been before. I'm not giving up because of the new twist in the story. I'm giving up because I've been buried under too many cliches and bad characterization and I'm holding up the white flag of surrender from beneath this pile of dead bodies (and a few zombies, which are rather punchy instead of bitey for some reason because That Makes Them Not A Cliche, Maybe?).
I didn't have the book in front of me. I listened to the audiobook, strictly. I don't know if having the book in front of me would have made it better or worse--I've read reviews that said you need the audiobook to try and track all the different characters and who is talking and for making the whole thing generally better, but with just the audiobook I forget character names and I'm never sure of the date or time, which seems important. The audiobook also kind of emphasizes how gimmicky the book is by adding sound effects between its wildly fluctuating quality of voice actors. Some are genuinely good actors (Ezra, Torrence), but many are monotone (Kady), and some are just plain bad ("oh my god they're breaking in help help someone the aargh *sips tea* they're here I can't oh hang on I dropped my pencil").
I don't like shouty military fiction at the best of times, but even still, Torrence and his forced conscription of teens regardless of skill (except when the book says otherwise, to protect Kady and stop her having to do anything Really Important that would interfere with her Hacking) and his unprofessional attitude is one big grating pile of cliche. Sure, you can have unlikable characters in power, but when he's described as literally playing chess with the AI while listening to Mozart and drinking wine, we have a problem. That is, we have a cliche. The whole book is cliche. We have our chubby Asian hacker. We have our macho flyboys. We have the tragic Dead Mom story, we have the angsty misunderstood teen hacker girl. We have rogue AIs giving grand soliloquies about the nature of It, Itself, and why It, Itself is so important, and why humans call upon deities in times of stress and why that doesn't do anything for AIDEN.
The story is bloated with too many characters, many of whom die, and when they die we're meant to feel something. When is beaten to death by the zombs, we get a "Do you want me to tell your wife and children anything?" from the AI, because Emotional Heartstrings and Showing He's A Family Man Really, I guess. When Named Character #47 eats it, we're meant to be upset. Same with Named Character #16. But there are just too many of them, and long litanies from the mass population just feel tacky instead of meaningful (e.g., the names of the dead, or the black box holding their final thoughts).
The snarky nature of our two protagonists is distastefully repetitive. Sure, that's a believable romance. Teens or no, it's exhausting. Ezra carries his side of the dialogue well. Kady does not.
The book is confusing, mangled, cliche, and laced with bleeped out profanities (again, gimmicky) that just adds to the frustration as it proceeds. I don't care about any of these very flat and underdeveloped (due to the interview/IM/transcript format) people. I don't care if they make it or not.
In the words of Torrence: Telthor, OUT.
I didn't have the book in front of me. I listened to the audiobook, strictly. I don't know if having the book in front of me would have made it better or worse--I've read reviews that said you need the audiobook to try and track all the different characters and who is talking and for making the whole thing generally better, but with just the audiobook I forget character names and I'm never sure of the date or time, which seems important. The audiobook also kind of emphasizes how gimmicky the book is by adding sound effects between its wildly fluctuating quality of voice actors. Some are genuinely good actors (Ezra, Torrence), but many are monotone (Kady), and some are just plain bad ("oh my god they're breaking in help help someone the aargh *sips tea* they're here I can't oh hang on I dropped my pencil").
I don't like shouty military fiction at the best of times, but even still, Torrence and his forced conscription of teens regardless of skill (except when the book says otherwise, to protect Kady and stop her having to do anything Really Important that would interfere with her Hacking) and his unprofessional attitude is one big grating pile of cliche. Sure, you can have unlikable characters in power, but when he's described as literally playing chess with the AI while listening to Mozart and drinking wine, we have a problem. That is, we have a cliche. The whole book is cliche. We have our chubby Asian hacker. We have our macho flyboys. We have the tragic Dead Mom story, we have the angsty misunderstood teen hacker girl. We have rogue AIs giving grand soliloquies about the nature of It, Itself, and why It, Itself is so important, and why humans call upon deities in times of stress and why that doesn't do anything for AIDEN.
The story is bloated with too many characters, many of whom die, and when they die we're meant to feel something. When
Spoiler
TorrenceThe snarky nature of our two protagonists is distastefully repetitive. Sure, that's a believable romance. Teens or no, it's exhausting. Ezra carries his side of the dialogue well. Kady does not.
The book is confusing, mangled, cliche, and laced with bleeped out profanities (again, gimmicky) that just adds to the frustration as it proceeds. I don't care about any of these very flat and underdeveloped (due to the interview/IM/transcript format) people. I don't care if they make it or not.
In the words of Torrence: Telthor, OUT.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Excellent reading cast. Compelling story. Even a few surprises.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
