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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
This book was exactly what I wanted it to be!
In Stolen Earth, lack of resources causes war between the inhabitants of earth, and they create the Six: Artficial Intelligences whose only goal is to win the war. This causes disaster as the AI's do not care about the human population, and the human race has to flee to their space stations on Luna and other parts of the solar system. Here, they created the Solar Commonwealth (SolCom), a government based on communistic believes that has strong Orwell vibes. The book follows the crew of the spaceship Arcus. These five crew-members have all, for their own reasons, left SolCom and are living an illegal life. Their adventure starts when they are hired to acquire artifacts from Earth, a trip that is all but impossible...
The book was really fun to read. It was a well-written fast paced adventure with really cool characters, that the author brought to live wonderfully. Their characters were thought out very well and they had strong character developments. The dystopian story that Nicholas wrote was realistic and portrays a fear that, I think, many have about AI's. Moreover, the image that Nicholas creates of earth without humans is very realistic and beautiful.
What I didn't like about the book was the ridiculous amount of luck involved in the storyline. For many reasons, the crew of the Arcus should be dead, if not for plain luck. I understand that this is a story about an amazing crew with good skills, but still, their trips were a little unrealistic. The other thing that I didn't like was how SolCom, a government that they were all so afraid of, did not really influence their story at all... This felt a little off for a communistic Orwell like government.
Nonetheless, I had a lot of fun with this book! I look forward to reading more of Nicholas.
In Stolen Earth, lack of resources causes war between the inhabitants of earth, and they create the Six: Artficial Intelligences whose only goal is to win the war. This causes disaster as the AI's do not care about the human population, and the human race has to flee to their space stations on Luna and other parts of the solar system. Here, they created the Solar Commonwealth (SolCom), a government based on communistic believes that has strong Orwell vibes. The book follows the crew of the spaceship Arcus. These five crew-members have all, for their own reasons, left SolCom and are living an illegal life. Their adventure starts when they are hired to acquire artifacts from Earth, a trip that is all but impossible...
The book was really fun to read. It was a well-written fast paced adventure with really cool characters, that the author brought to live wonderfully. Their characters were thought out very well and they had strong character developments. The dystopian story that Nicholas wrote was realistic and portrays a fear that, I think, many have about AI's. Moreover, the image that Nicholas creates of earth without humans is very realistic and beautiful.
What I didn't like about the book was the ridiculous amount of luck involved in the storyline. For many reasons, the crew of the Arcus should be dead, if not for plain luck. I understand that this is a story about an amazing crew with good skills, but still, their trips were a little unrealistic. The other thing that I didn't like was how SolCom, a government that they were all so afraid of, did not really influence their story at all... This felt a little off for a communistic Orwell like government.
Nonetheless, I had a lot of fun with this book! I look forward to reading more of Nicholas.
adventurous
challenging
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Stolen Earth was a pretty good sci-fi! I hadn't read one in a while, and this one managed to grab my attention enough that I didn't have to push through to finish it.
We discover a world where Earth has been put on a lockdown after a world war involving AIs, which are still active on Earth after killing everyone who did not manage to escape Earth before their attacks.
A team of thieves, including Captain Lynch, a former member of the government army, are comissioned to go on Earth, and cross the Interdiction Zone to recover an artifact from the planet.
On arrival, the crew discovers that not all is as the government would want everyone to believe, and their quest for an artifact soon turns into much more.
One thing I really liked about this book is the crew. While I usually enjoy space crews with the chosen family trope, here, we kind of have the opposite. It's just a bunch of random people who ended up being outlaws and now need to make money. They're not here to be friends, and it can be felt in the way they interact. I thought it was pretty interesting, and probably more accurate in that aspect than some other books.
It also felt realistic in the science and techy stuff. The whole book revolves around a plot featuring AIs, so I enjoyed reading about them, how they came to be built, the way they work, the way the Interdiction Zone works, etc. The writing explains many things that are often overlooked in stories, and I appreciated that a lot, even if sometimes I struggled understanding everything. It's a huge plus for people who are science buffs.
The plot not too original, but the way to tell it was very well done. If you enjoy good sci-fi books that are neither too cliché, neither too difficult to read, I hope you would be willing to give Stolen Earth a shot!
We discover a world where Earth has been put on a lockdown after a world war involving AIs, which are still active on Earth after killing everyone who did not manage to escape Earth before their attacks.
A team of thieves, including Captain Lynch, a former member of the government army, are comissioned to go on Earth, and cross the Interdiction Zone to recover an artifact from the planet.
On arrival, the crew discovers that not all is as the government would want everyone to believe, and their quest for an artifact soon turns into much more.
One thing I really liked about this book is the crew. While I usually enjoy space crews with the chosen family trope, here, we kind of have the opposite. It's just a bunch of random people who ended up being outlaws and now need to make money. They're not here to be friends, and it can be felt in the way they interact. I thought it was pretty interesting, and probably more accurate in that aspect than some other books.
It also felt realistic in the science and techy stuff. The whole book revolves around a plot featuring AIs, so I enjoyed reading about them, how they came to be built, the way they work, the way the Interdiction Zone works, etc. The writing explains many things that are often overlooked in stories, and I appreciated that a lot, even if sometimes I struggled understanding everything. It's a huge plus for people who are science buffs.
The plot not too original, but the way to tell it was very well done. If you enjoy good sci-fi books that are neither too cliché, neither too difficult to read, I hope you would be willing to give Stolen Earth a shot!
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Paradise lost and paradise reclaimed can be powerful tropes in science fiction. In Stolen Earth, J.T. Nicholas attempts to harness these ideas. Wish that I could say he succeeds admirably. For the most part, all I can do is acknowledge the attempt.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the free eARC in exchange for a review.
Grayson Lynch, previously of the Sol Commonwealth Navy, now captains the Arcus out in the Fringe. Lynch, like the rest of his crew, are disillusioned by the combination of control and corruption in SolComm—but as the sole government left to humanity after its disastrous flight from Earth generations ago, it’s either SolComm or a life on the Fringe. Everything changes when Lynch and his crew are offered a job that will take them to Earth. They will dare to penetrate the impenetrable Interdiction Zone that protects SolComm from the artificial intelligences left behind after Earth was inefficiently evacuated. Yet the crew of the Arcus isn’t prepared for what it finds, and it will set off repercussions for all of humanity.
Look, I’ll cut to the chase: this book bored me. Worse, I knew it would, because post-apocalyptic books like this often do. The first red flag happened early: we have a prologue of Lynch as a youth, being assigned to the Navy, and then the story jumps forward several decades to when Lynch is a disillusioned ex-Navy officer who did bad things and regrets them. Instead of showing us all this, though, Nicholas tells it to us. Nicholas tells us everything. Stolen Earth is full of exposition, and it doesn’t work for me.
The other issue is that very few of the characters receive anything resembling development. Lynch is nominally our protagonist, but he actually has no character arc. He starts the book (after the prologue) as a disillusioned and well-meaning captain who cares for his crew and wants to do what’s best. He ends the book the same way. There’s no journey. The same goes for Bishop and Federov. There are two viewpoint characters in addition to Lynch, and they fare better in this regard—Hayer definitely changes a little, and one could argue that Morales has at least a smattering of development. Nevertheless, that isn’t enough to sustain my interest or dramatic tension.
Which brings me to my final complaint: the plot is on rails. The stakes get pretty high, but at no point did I really feel like the crew was in danger. Elements of conflict get resolved without much issue—I’m being vague to avoid spoilers, but let’s just say that our intrepid heroes seldom have to make hard choices. Everything just kind of comes together for them. This is, in part, because having a super-powerful AI can be a kind of deus ex machina. To his credit, Nicholas does try to work around this issue—I just don’t think he entirely succeeds.
In the end, this is not a bad book. Points for subtle gender diversity (a non-binary character, or at least one who uses the Mx honorific, shows up in the prologue). It’s sensibly paced and works fine as a standalone, although it also has potential for a sequel. I can see other people who are more tolerant of staid exposition enjoying this book a lot more than me. Unfortunately, as much as I love the idea of strong AI and reclaiming a planet, Stolen Earth never gets me caring.
Originally posted at Kara.Reviews.
Originally posted at Kara.Reviews.
Exciting story and engaging characters are this a must read for those who like science fiction. The science seems sound. It was so good I couldn’t put it down and read it in two sittings. Highly recommend
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Hollywood - come shopping. This could be a decent movie.
The publisher's positioning - Firefly meets The Expanse - is pretty spot-on. The somewhat cobbled-together crew - each with flaws & a history - and the somewhat "underground" nature of their exploits, is the Firefly analogue, and the setting is in our existing (Sol) solar system vs. far-off space, which is the Expanse analogue.
Of course, unlike each, this weaves together a story and set of characters all its own, and it's a good one. It's rogue-team vs. the unfeeling, uneven hand of governance by the bureaucracy of space. And yes, our heroes gallivant around serving their own needs, but - of course - get dragged into events bigger than themselves, which they need to take on in order to save the universe. Or, well, at least the bedraggled downtrodden that are being trod on by an unfeeling - nay, corrupt? - government.
Yeah, maybe the story line sounds a bit trite when you write it down in a review. But, it's a tried-and-true trope, and well-leveraged in this outing.
At the end, I almost felt like the analogues needed to pull in a bit of Star Trek (movie) , too. It probably isn't really a spoiler to say that the motley crew saves the day, and it felt a little like a huge Star Trek movie wrapping up with the crew pulling out a movie-climax save.
Which brings me back to the title: Hollywood, come shopping. This could be a decent movie; though the screenplay will obviously condense / strip a lot of the story, it's do-able.
Four stars according to my rules:
The publisher's positioning - Firefly meets The Expanse - is pretty spot-on. The somewhat cobbled-together crew - each with flaws & a history - and the somewhat "underground" nature of their exploits, is the Firefly analogue, and the setting is in our existing (Sol) solar system vs. far-off space, which is the Expanse analogue.
Of course, unlike each, this weaves together a story and set of characters all its own, and it's a good one. It's rogue-team vs. the unfeeling, uneven hand of governance by the bureaucracy of space. And yes, our heroes gallivant around serving their own needs, but - of course - get dragged into events bigger than themselves, which they need to take on in order to save the universe. Or, well, at least the bedraggled downtrodden that are being trod on by an unfeeling - nay, corrupt? - government.
Yeah, maybe the story line sounds a bit trite when you write it down in a review. But, it's a tried-and-true trope, and well-leveraged in this outing.
At the end, I almost felt like the analogues needed to pull in a bit of Star Trek (movie) , too. It probably isn't really a spoiler to say that the motley crew saves the day, and it felt a little like a huge Star Trek movie wrapping up with the crew pulling out a movie-climax save.
Which brings me back to the title: Hollywood, come shopping. This could be a decent movie; though the screenplay will obviously condense / strip a lot of the story, it's do-able.
Four stars according to my rules:
- Five stars is when you read a book to the end, put it down, take a deep breath, pick it up and start reading it all over again - or you would if you weren't so anxious to read the next book in a multi-book series. Or, it's simply one of the best books you’ve ever read, period.
- Four stars is when you tell yourself : ”This is good, this is well-written, this is full of interesting ideas, characters and plot points”, but you know you will never read it again.
- Three stars is when you read it to the end, put it down and proceed to forget all about it in the next instant.
- Two stars when it's so bad that it makes you laugh, or sigh, and want to write a review, but you can't remember the name of the book or dislike it so much that you don't write it.
- One star when you can't read past chapter 3, even as penance for your sins, and write tye review to help others avoid wasting their time.