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A review by bookdrag0n
Crossline by Russ Colchamiro
3.0
In this unpredictable Sci-Fi by Russ Colchamiro, star pilot Marcus Powell is about to make history. He is testing out Taurus Corporation’s new warp thrusters, hopefully allowing him to travel through space at warp speed…Or which may simply blow up, destroying both the multibillion-dollar technology as well as pulverizing his body. But Powell is a risk taker. Leaving his wife and 5-year-old daughter back on Earth, Powell takes the leap, literally. Leaping through space, disobeying direct orders from Tower Command, Powell finds himself among the rings of Saturn, where he finds another ship just like his. What does this mean? As Powell follows this mystery ship, nothing will ever be the same for him again. Caught up in an unfamiliar war, can Powell do what he must to survive in order to get back to his girls on Earth?
Beginning this novel, I was expecting it to go an entirely different way, with the classic Star-Wars-esque intergalactic fighting and aliens and the like. However, Crossline definitely took an unfamiliar turn! Rather than wearing out the already over-done classic space opera plot, this novel decided to dive into a much more philosophical and thought-provoking time-travel story. It seemed that with every chapter, a new mind-blowing idea popped up! There’s time-travel, a sort of telepathy between characters, alternate universes, magic muffins, an idealistic war, and newfangled technology. This novel was chock-full of craziness!
Regarding the writing style of the novel itself, it is extremely detailed and descriptive. In fact, it was almost a bit too descriptive for me, but I tend to like more plot movement rather than description in my books. There was a lot of onomatopoeia and somewhat overdone descriptions of various experiences that each of the characters went through, but this did definitely fully immerse me into the story itself. I felt as if I could not only see what was happening, but also feel and hear all the surroundings. Along this same note, there was a lot of character building, as we were able to glimpse into the pasts of various characters and see previous events that occurred to them, shaping their personality and mentality. One thing that bothered me with the writing style was that there was a LOT of very short, choppy sentence chunks at multiple points in the book. I don’t know if I’m just a picky reader or what, but each time I came across these, it would unceremoniously throw me out of the book. It especially occurred during long segments of dialogue. I also did not particularly enjoy the parts of the book in which Jesse spoke, because for one, it simply slowed down my reading, as I tried to figure out what exactly she was saying. But also, most 5-year-olds I know can speak much better than that, and so it was not very realistic, linguistically speaking.
The characters themselves were very quippy, with several one-liners that got a hearty chuckle out of me. I liked that there were multiple POVs throughout the book so that we could more deeply connect with each of the characters, rather than just Powell. I especially enjoyed Buddy’s POV (though I do think it went on a little too long, was a little too detailed) and getting to know this “unique” character. One thing that I did not quite understand about the characters, however, was each of their unnecessary identity crises. IT seems that every single one of the characters were fighting with themselves about who they should be and who they actually were. Additionally, I think this made them have weird interactions with the rest of the characters, and they all tended to get mad at each other for random reasons that I could not discern. To me it was a bit annoying and made the characters less likeable. But they definitely had their redeeming qualities as well!
One particular aspect of this novel that I found fascinating was the bit of Native American folklore interspersed. This becomes more obvious near the end of the book, but it was interesting to learn a bit more about that culture and see how it influenced the characters. It was also interesting with the kind of magic embedded in the story. I am not sure if I enjoyed that aspect or not yet, I am still processing. I think it may have been better just to have had the time travel and alternate universes rather than ALSO including magic muffins and telepathy and a small child being able to control people, but it definitely gave a unique spin to the book!
Overall, this was a good read to stretch my mind out a bit. It was unpredictable, original, and contained a fair bit of crazy within its pages. Definitely an entertaining read, less for those looking for a realistic, emotional read; best for someone who just wants a bit of sci-fi and mind-blowing while on vacation or just before bed!
Beginning this novel, I was expecting it to go an entirely different way, with the classic Star-Wars-esque intergalactic fighting and aliens and the like. However, Crossline definitely took an unfamiliar turn! Rather than wearing out the already over-done classic space opera plot, this novel decided to dive into a much more philosophical and thought-provoking time-travel story. It seemed that with every chapter, a new mind-blowing idea popped up! There’s time-travel, a sort of telepathy between characters, alternate universes, magic muffins, an idealistic war, and newfangled technology. This novel was chock-full of craziness!
Regarding the writing style of the novel itself, it is extremely detailed and descriptive. In fact, it was almost a bit too descriptive for me, but I tend to like more plot movement rather than description in my books. There was a lot of onomatopoeia and somewhat overdone descriptions of various experiences that each of the characters went through, but this did definitely fully immerse me into the story itself. I felt as if I could not only see what was happening, but also feel and hear all the surroundings. Along this same note, there was a lot of character building, as we were able to glimpse into the pasts of various characters and see previous events that occurred to them, shaping their personality and mentality. One thing that bothered me with the writing style was that there was a LOT of very short, choppy sentence chunks at multiple points in the book. I don’t know if I’m just a picky reader or what, but each time I came across these, it would unceremoniously throw me out of the book. It especially occurred during long segments of dialogue. I also did not particularly enjoy the parts of the book in which Jesse spoke, because for one, it simply slowed down my reading, as I tried to figure out what exactly she was saying. But also, most 5-year-olds I know can speak much better than that, and so it was not very realistic, linguistically speaking.
The characters themselves were very quippy, with several one-liners that got a hearty chuckle out of me. I liked that there were multiple POVs throughout the book so that we could more deeply connect with each of the characters, rather than just Powell. I especially enjoyed Buddy’s POV (though I do think it went on a little too long, was a little too detailed) and getting to know this “unique” character. One thing that I did not quite understand about the characters, however, was each of their unnecessary identity crises. IT seems that every single one of the characters were fighting with themselves about who they should be and who they actually were. Additionally, I think this made them have weird interactions with the rest of the characters, and they all tended to get mad at each other for random reasons that I could not discern. To me it was a bit annoying and made the characters less likeable. But they definitely had their redeeming qualities as well!
One particular aspect of this novel that I found fascinating was the bit of Native American folklore interspersed. This becomes more obvious near the end of the book, but it was interesting to learn a bit more about that culture and see how it influenced the characters. It was also interesting with the kind of magic embedded in the story. I am not sure if I enjoyed that aspect or not yet, I am still processing. I think it may have been better just to have had the time travel and alternate universes rather than ALSO including magic muffins and telepathy and a small child being able to control people, but it definitely gave a unique spin to the book!
Overall, this was a good read to stretch my mind out a bit. It was unpredictable, original, and contained a fair bit of crazy within its pages. Definitely an entertaining read, less for those looking for a realistic, emotional read; best for someone who just wants a bit of sci-fi and mind-blowing while on vacation or just before bed!