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A review by bibliophilicjester
The Ark by Patrick S. Tomlinson
adventurous
medium-paced
2.75
This is a fun time! As long as you're willing to just accept that the characters are a bit eye roll worthy 😅
Most important for me though...I didn't figure out who did it!!!! Or why!! Even when the pieces started fitting together! I'm pretty good at figuring stuff out usually but damn this author got me. V exciting haha ALSO I was iffy about the sequel while reading, but the way it ended/knowing what comes next...yeah, I might check it out.
So this is basically a murder mystery on a generation ship, which works really well for me. I think I saw this cheap for Kindle and for whatever reason decided to preview the sample...and was hooked. Again, for me, I love this type of story no matter how many times it's done. I think this one has enough to set it apart and make it memorable.
Unfortunately, my problems were kind of large problems, hence the meh rating. The way people from different countries are defined and separated despite no one really caring about that anymore (allegedly) and intermingling...it just felt like saying you're a badass assassin and then not actually assassinating anyone on page. There are even characters speaking broken English, which felt not only offensive but really out of place.
The main character is a whole issue as well. He's a retired athlete who was handed this cushy police type job, which is apparently a thing that happens often on the ark. He ends up taking the murder very seriously and doing his job well, which is a point in his favor. But between the coworker romance and everything that involved and the doctor he slept with in the past who clearly still has a thing for him ..eh. I just didn't like the character interactions overall when it was MC and pretty much any woman. Except the museum lady lol she was great. But still went out of her way for our MC.
And the last thing I have to note is that span is NOT the past tense of spin. If you write "he span around" I WILL picture him throwing a wrench (spanner) at someone. Every time. It was used properly I think two times in one chapter toward the end, but in the rest of the book, everyone span around repeatedly. I guess it's nitpicky, but it took me out of the story and made me question some of the other editing.
Still though, overall a fun story if you don't mind a voluptuous female love interest with a questionable power dynamic, some cringe dialogue and interactions, and a bit of drawing things out. If you go into it expecting fun, I think you'll like this one ☺️
Most important for me though...I didn't figure out who did it!!!! Or why!! Even when the pieces started fitting together! I'm pretty good at figuring stuff out usually but damn this author got me. V exciting haha ALSO I was iffy about the sequel while reading, but the way it ended/knowing what comes next...yeah, I might check it out.
So this is basically a murder mystery on a generation ship, which works really well for me. I think I saw this cheap for Kindle and for whatever reason decided to preview the sample...and was hooked. Again, for me, I love this type of story no matter how many times it's done. I think this one has enough to set it apart and make it memorable.
Unfortunately, my problems were kind of large problems, hence the meh rating. The way people from different countries are defined and separated despite no one really caring about that anymore (allegedly) and intermingling...it just felt like saying you're a badass assassin and then not actually assassinating anyone on page. There are even characters speaking broken English, which felt not only offensive but really out of place.
The main character is a whole issue as well. He's a retired athlete who was handed this cushy police type job, which is apparently a thing that happens often on the ark. He ends up taking the murder very seriously and doing his job well, which is a point in his favor. But between the coworker romance and everything that involved and the doctor he slept with in the past who clearly still has a thing for him ..eh. I just didn't like the character interactions overall when it was MC and pretty much any woman. Except the museum lady lol she was great. But still went out of her way for our MC.
And the last thing I have to note is that span is NOT the past tense of spin. If you write "he span around" I WILL picture him throwing a wrench (spanner) at someone. Every time. It was used properly I think two times in one chapter toward the end, but in the rest of the book, everyone span around repeatedly. I guess it's nitpicky, but it took me out of the story and made me question some of the other editing.
Still though, overall a fun story if you don't mind a voluptuous female love interest with a questionable power dynamic, some cringe dialogue and interactions, and a bit of drawing things out. If you go into it expecting fun, I think you'll like this one ☺️