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A review by jaybatson
Caspian's Fortune by Eric Warren
3.0
This was fun. I'm already onto the second book as I'm writing this review.
The cool bits are that we've got a wide-ranging space story. I'm hesitant to call it Space Opera™ because it fails to live up to the amazingness of [a:Iain Banks|7628|Iain Banks|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1374456581p2/7628.jpg]'s work, which is Opera indeed. (Of course, if I'm being true to Opera, sometimes Opera was cheap entertainment for the masses, so....)
What I liked:
- I could read it fast. It's a lightweight, fast-moving book. A good pool / beach read that doesn't require you to wrap your brain around complex sci-fi topics. Yea, we have super-fast space drives that apparently use something called "Undercurrents" to get thru space quickly, but we don't bother explaining that. He just states it, and goes on with the story.
- Classic unrequited love. This trope has been around a long time, but when it's working, it makes for good levity. It works here.
- The snarky robot. Box is fun as a character both because his name is SOOO unsuited to the cleverness of the character, and because the dialog for Box is funny. Reminds me a bit of Marvin the Paranoid Android in THHGTTG.
Why not 5-stars?
- Because it's a beach read. This should not be seen as a bad thing. I'm already reading the 2nd book, after all - and I'll read all he writes in this series. It's just not an "Oh, my - I need to read this again right now in order to internalize it" book, and I reserve my 5-star reviews for that type.
Just read it. It's fun.
The cool bits are that we've got a wide-ranging space story. I'm hesitant to call it Space Opera™ because it fails to live up to the amazingness of [a:Iain Banks|7628|Iain Banks|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1374456581p2/7628.jpg]'s work, which is Opera indeed. (Of course, if I'm being true to Opera, sometimes Opera was cheap entertainment for the masses, so....)
What I liked:
- I could read it fast. It's a lightweight, fast-moving book. A good pool / beach read that doesn't require you to wrap your brain around complex sci-fi topics. Yea, we have super-fast space drives that apparently use something called "Undercurrents" to get thru space quickly, but we don't bother explaining that. He just states it, and goes on with the story.
- Classic unrequited love. This trope has been around a long time, but when it's working, it makes for good levity. It works here.
- The snarky robot. Box is fun as a character both because his name is SOOO unsuited to the cleverness of the character, and because the dialog for Box is funny. Reminds me a bit of Marvin the Paranoid Android in THHGTTG.
Why not 5-stars?
- Because it's a beach read. This should not be seen as a bad thing. I'm already reading the 2nd book, after all - and I'll read all he writes in this series. It's just not an "Oh, my - I need to read this again right now in order to internalize it" book, and I reserve my 5-star reviews for that type.
Just read it. It's fun.