Scan barcode
A review by dr_ju
Architects of Destiny by A.K. DuBoff
3.0
It was a fun read not only because of the story itself but especially because of the author. She was like an angler using all baits at her disposal to lure the SciFi readers into her hook.
The way the writer approached the story and her character at the beginning gave me the impression of the book trying to be some Young Adult SciFi-fantasy salad, but once I picked up some clues I'd started putting thing together.
Her character, Cris, isn't trying to be the classic spoiled rebelling teenager you find in YA books, but a replica of Paul, from Herbert's Dune. They are both highly educated children of influential people, they both contain high expectation and are both trained into martial arts by personal instructors that are their only friend. While Paul is rebellious, he is restraining his temper through meditation and mannerism his mother taught him. On the other hand Cris lacked that psychological support he could have got from his mother and his emotions are explosively expressed in his mind (he often exclaim to himself "shite" "stars!" and such things expressing fear, doubt or anger).
Other connections with Dune I could find is the network of commercial corporations that also control the economic and political aspects of respective civilization, the religion trying to get the reins of that specific network, special inherited abilities and
There is also an interesting point of view about Earth.
The second part of the book adopted an Ender Game-like approach. There is a secluded location within which a group of people are training, studying, divided in well-structured groups, interacting with each other and bonding together just to become trained military professionals.
The third part of the book is, from my point of view, a romantic YA set whose purpose is to bond the last of the readers who weren't hooked yet and give a higher motivation to the main character. Of course the secondary purpose was to represent the cliffhanging of the story I'm not going to spoil. Even if this part seemed a bit too cheesy to fit into the plot, the ending managed to make this right.
What I really appreciate at debut writers is them having good models and trying to reproduce their style. Despite the fact that it might be a mash-up of different elements from different writers and some things felt awkward, it was a really great start that promises the author to find her own style. More than the plot itself, I'm rather interested in her development as a writer and I will continue to read this series as long as I see some new sort of improvement; it's like discovering another story (already got the second book).
While I do not know how good it will be, I do see some potential here and I do recommend reading this first part, especially considering is free on amazon right now. (and the second is 90%off or so).
The way the writer approached the story and her character at the beginning gave me the impression of the book trying to be some Young Adult SciFi-fantasy salad, but once I picked up some clues I'd started putting thing together.
Her character, Cris, isn't trying to be the classic spoiled rebelling teenager you find in YA books, but a replica of Paul, from Herbert's Dune. They are both highly educated children of influential people, they both contain high expectation and are both trained into martial arts by personal instructors that are their only friend. While Paul is rebellious, he is restraining his temper through meditation and mannerism his mother taught him. On the other hand Cris lacked that psychological support he could have got from his mother and his emotions are explosively expressed in his mind (he often exclaim to himself "shite" "stars!" and such things expressing fear, doubt or anger).
Other connections with Dune I could find is the network of commercial corporations that also control the economic and political aspects of respective civilization, the religion trying to get the reins of that specific network, special inherited abilities and
Spoiler
an organization similar to Bene Gesserit juggling with eugenics of high born peopleThere is also an interesting point of view about Earth.
The second part of the book adopted an Ender Game-like approach. There is a secluded location within which a group of people are training, studying, divided in well-structured groups, interacting with each other and bonding together just to become trained military professionals.
The third part of the book is, from my point of view, a romantic YA set whose purpose is to bond the last of the readers who weren't hooked yet and give a higher motivation to the main character. Of course the secondary purpose was to represent the cliffhanging of the story I'm not going to spoil. Even if this part seemed a bit too cheesy to fit into the plot, the ending managed to make this right.
What I really appreciate at debut writers is them having good models and trying to reproduce their style. Despite the fact that it might be a mash-up of different elements from different writers and some things felt awkward, it was a really great start that promises the author to find her own style. More than the plot itself, I'm rather interested in her development as a writer and I will continue to read this series as long as I see some new sort of improvement; it's like discovering another story (already got the second book).
While I do not know how good it will be, I do see some potential here and I do recommend reading this first part, especially considering is free on amazon right now. (and the second is 90%off or so).