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A review by elenajohansen
No Plain Rebel by M.C. Frank
1.0
My review for the first volume was hopeful on the strength of the characters, but pessimistic about the strength of the plot.
My pessimism won, unfortunately.
A large proportion of this book was exposition dumps via videos left by the Clockmaster, which is both a structural problem with the narrative--especially when much of it comes in the last 15% of the book--and a plot issue, because now that I know what's going on, why the Clock matters and why Felix is who he is and what he's going to do about it, it all boils down to this:
The villain's plan is Dumb with a much-earned capital D. If the point of the Clock was supposed to be the complete elimination of the human race on earth, after an earlier and equally convoluted attempt also failed...well, with the technology described in the world-building, why wouldn't they just poison the Health Discs? Or "infect" them with a slow-developing virus like the one they wanted to use in the Clock or the Drones? Why would you rely on chancy methods of dispersal when you already make supplements the entire population depends on daily? Wouldn't that be far, far easier, and why did no one think of it?
I'm no longer invested in the stakes, I'm done, not going to read the third book.
My pessimism won, unfortunately.
A large proportion of this book was exposition dumps via videos left by the Clockmaster, which is both a structural problem with the narrative--especially when much of it comes in the last 15% of the book--and a plot issue, because now that I know what's going on, why the Clock matters and why Felix is who he is and what he's going to do about it, it all boils down to this:
The villain's plan is Dumb with a much-earned capital D. If the point of the Clock was supposed to be the complete elimination of the human race on earth, after an earlier and equally convoluted attempt also failed...well, with the technology described in the world-building, why wouldn't they just poison the Health Discs? Or "infect" them with a slow-developing virus like the one they wanted to use in the Clock or the Drones? Why would you rely on chancy methods of dispersal when you already make supplements the entire population depends on daily? Wouldn't that be far, far easier, and why did no one think of it?
I'm no longer invested in the stakes, I'm done, not going to read the third book.