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A review by kazzified29
The Disasters by M.K. England
2.0
2.75 ⭐️
I was very excited to read this book when I bought it. I had just recently added it to my 'Want to Read' list and it gave me intense Battlestar Galactica vibes. Minus the Battlestar.
The book seemed to hit the ground running from the first and second chapters. I was engrossed and I wanted to find out how these characters were going to fix the situation. Then we started to get to know the characters and the universe and that's where the weaknesses of this book started to come through for me. The main character, Nax, is wholly inappropriate throughout the book. He and this small group of Space School rejects are thrown together after a deadly event and he sees it appropriate to flirt with these strangers, noticing touches and noticing things that are not necessary to the plot of the book. I could care less of his sexuality but I found it quite unbelievable that this is what someone in this kind of situation would do, especially for the self-appointed leader. Personally, the characters of the book seemed somewhat weak. Yes, they're a bunch of teenagers/young adults, but they didn't seem very fleshed out or worthy of any attention. I found myself rolling my eyes at their actions more often than not. The author seemed to spend more time trying to match Nax up with someone that actually doing anything to develop them. I found myself hating Nax instead of rooting for him.
The other thing where this book failed for me was in the year. It's set in 2149 and the technology and the things that the characters talk about sound like things that I should be talking about in 2019 (and have talked about since 2008). The characters discuss Harry Potter and use lines straight out of Firefly. The technology includes bullets and tablets. The only thing that makes this book remotely futuristic is the inter-stellar travel and the colonies in nearby star systems. Other than that, it could've easily been set in 2030 instead of 2149. It definitely seems to draw inspiration from Firefly because of the blending of cultures. In Firefly, Chinese is a dominant culture and in The Disasters, there seems to be a dominant Bengali/Indian culture that has meshed with prevailing English speaking cultures.
I did like this book. I enjoy quite a few things about it. However, it is a debut novel from an author steeped in science-fiction fandoms and I can see where she has drawn her inspiration for this book. I loved seeing those little nods to my favourites (i.e. Firefly and Harry Potter) but I didn't need it. If I were to write a book one day, I know that I would want to put all of my favourite shows in there somehow which is why I'll never pen a book. It was a good debut novel, I've read worse debuts. I feel like this book could have been a lot better had a few things been tweaked. All in all, enjoyable but not great, hence why it is 2.75 and not a full 3 stars.
I was very excited to read this book when I bought it. I had just recently added it to my 'Want to Read' list and it gave me intense Battlestar Galactica vibes. Minus the Battlestar.
The book seemed to hit the ground running from the first and second chapters. I was engrossed and I wanted to find out how these characters were going to fix the situation. Then we started to get to know the characters and the universe and that's where the weaknesses of this book started to come through for me. The main character, Nax, is wholly inappropriate throughout the book. He and this small group of Space School rejects are thrown together after a deadly event and he sees it appropriate to flirt with these strangers, noticing touches and noticing things that are not necessary to the plot of the book. I could care less of his sexuality but I found it quite unbelievable that this is what someone in this kind of situation would do, especially for the self-appointed leader. Personally, the characters of the book seemed somewhat weak. Yes, they're a bunch of teenagers/young adults, but they didn't seem very fleshed out or worthy of any attention. I found myself rolling my eyes at their actions more often than not. The author seemed to spend more time trying to match Nax up with someone that actually doing anything to develop them. I found myself hating Nax instead of rooting for him.
The other thing where this book failed for me was in the year. It's set in 2149 and the technology and the things that the characters talk about sound like things that I should be talking about in 2019 (and have talked about since 2008). The characters discuss Harry Potter and use lines straight out of Firefly. The technology includes bullets and tablets. The only thing that makes this book remotely futuristic is the inter-stellar travel and the colonies in nearby star systems. Other than that, it could've easily been set in 2030 instead of 2149. It definitely seems to draw inspiration from Firefly because of the blending of cultures. In Firefly, Chinese is a dominant culture and in The Disasters, there seems to be a dominant Bengali/Indian culture that has meshed with prevailing English speaking cultures.
I did like this book. I enjoy quite a few things about it. However, it is a debut novel from an author steeped in science-fiction fandoms and I can see where she has drawn her inspiration for this book. I loved seeing those little nods to my favourites (i.e. Firefly and Harry Potter) but I didn't need it. If I were to write a book one day, I know that I would want to put all of my favourite shows in there somehow which is why I'll never pen a book. It was a good debut novel, I've read worse debuts. I feel like this book could have been a lot better had a few things been tweaked. All in all, enjoyable but not great, hence why it is 2.75 and not a full 3 stars.