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A review by tagra
Nova War by Gary Gibson
1.0
I wrote about my distaste for the first book in the series, which had SO MUCH potential but was completely overpowered by sloppy writing and self-indulgent gratuitous eroticism. Dakota Merrick has all the parts in play to be a strong, intriguing character with a lot of depth... but she wastes it by spending the first book fucking everyone (including her ship). Other reviews suggest the series gets stronger as it goes, so I popped open the second one to see how the writing evolves.
It opens with the same problem the first one had: huge exposition dumps from characters I haven't really been given much of a chance to give a single shit about. The underlying plot points really have some power to them, but it feels like such a slog to care about any of the characters.
We finally get back to Dakota, who finds herself in prison. She's naked, of course, with plenty of mentions about her breasts, and she immediately notes how her pubic hair has been shaved. This does not look like a promising indication that the writing will be any less indulgent. Sure enough, when she is finally reunited with her boy toy (who, I noted, is also naked but he's such a flat character that he isn't even graced with a physical description) the first thing they do is fuck. Even though she's been starving herself and is so weak she's barely coherent. Priorities!
Let me be clear: I'm not prudish, and I will happily read explicit content in books, as long as there is a REASON for it. There is no reason for all of the gratuitous sexuality in these books. It's self-indulgent and distracting, and the worst part is (as I said in my review of the first book) it could fairly easily have been modulated to actually have a point. Dakota Merrick could be a really interesting female protagonist, because she's been ostracized and traumatized and has difficulty connecting to people. Building a trust relationship with Corso could be a REALLY powerful sequence. But, instead, she prances around naked and fucks everything with a cock at every opportunity (real cocks or artificial ones, it doesn't matter to her!). It's pretty clearly biased, too. We become intimately familiar with Dakota's naked body, breasts, pubic region, anus... but there is barely any time wasted describing Lucas Corso. Who wants to read about him anyway, right? It's all about the boobies and pubic hair! And, naturally, the males she fucks think it's the best sex they've ever had. Even the main enemy is like "You know what, I kind of like her, despite trying to kill her." I wonder how long it will take before she fucks him too, despite the fact that he's a fish in a floating bubble. (He does have tentacles that extend outside of it! Hmmmmm...)
I skimmed through roughly 30% of the book and found the characters were still acting inconsistently (one moment they're badass, the next they're weeping and cowering) and just gave up before getting out of the prison sequences. It's really a shame because the plot is interesting and the action is fast paced, but the characters ruin it for me. As I said with the first book, though: give it to an editor who will slash all the bullshit out of it and an effects team who will bring the action to life and we'll have a decent (possibly cheesy) movie that I will happily watch.
It opens with the same problem the first one had: huge exposition dumps from characters I haven't really been given much of a chance to give a single shit about. The underlying plot points really have some power to them, but it feels like such a slog to care about any of the characters.
We finally get back to Dakota, who finds herself in prison. She's naked, of course, with plenty of mentions about her breasts, and she immediately notes how her pubic hair has been shaved. This does not look like a promising indication that the writing will be any less indulgent. Sure enough, when she is finally reunited with her boy toy (who, I noted, is also naked but he's such a flat character that he isn't even graced with a physical description) the first thing they do is fuck. Even though she's been starving herself and is so weak she's barely coherent. Priorities!
Let me be clear: I'm not prudish, and I will happily read explicit content in books, as long as there is a REASON for it. There is no reason for all of the gratuitous sexuality in these books. It's self-indulgent and distracting, and the worst part is (as I said in my review of the first book) it could fairly easily have been modulated to actually have a point. Dakota Merrick could be a really interesting female protagonist, because she's been ostracized and traumatized and has difficulty connecting to people. Building a trust relationship with Corso could be a REALLY powerful sequence. But, instead, she prances around naked and fucks everything with a cock at every opportunity (real cocks or artificial ones, it doesn't matter to her!). It's pretty clearly biased, too. We become intimately familiar with Dakota's naked body, breasts, pubic region, anus... but there is barely any time wasted describing Lucas Corso. Who wants to read about him anyway, right? It's all about the boobies and pubic hair! And, naturally, the males she fucks think it's the best sex they've ever had. Even the main enemy is like "You know what, I kind of like her, despite trying to kill her." I wonder how long it will take before she fucks him too, despite the fact that he's a fish in a floating bubble. (He does have tentacles that extend outside of it! Hmmmmm...)
I skimmed through roughly 30% of the book and found the characters were still acting inconsistently (one moment they're badass, the next they're weeping and cowering) and just gave up before getting out of the prison sequences. It's really a shame because the plot is interesting and the action is fast paced, but the characters ruin it for me. As I said with the first book, though: give it to an editor who will slash all the bullshit out of it and an effects team who will bring the action to life and we'll have a decent (possibly cheesy) movie that I will happily watch.