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cecile87's review against another edition
2.0
DNF. If I had known that this would be a bug fight, I wouldn’t have picked it up.
It felt Star trekky at first, so I read up to 260-something. But it looks like there’s no relief—there’s 6 or 7 more volumes of bug fight and the captain never catches a break. No thanks.
It felt Star trekky at first, so I read up to 260-something. But it looks like there’s no relief—there’s 6 or 7 more volumes of bug fight and the captain never catches a break. No thanks.
birdloveranne's review against another edition
Stopped halfway through (at the end of ch 20). Just not that good. Cliches, weird point of view changes, strange character voices (by the narrator). Character words and actions that don't make sense in the situation. Just too many issues for me to feel like continuing.
vkshiro's review against another edition
3.0
I'd give this 3 and a half stars. Much of the book is one big battle in space but found it entertaining. Kind of like a mix between Stargate Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica (nowhere near as intelligent as the latter though). Fairly easy read. I recommend for people who enjoy sci-fi.
jaypeabee's review against another edition
5.0
It's heavy in military and technical descriptions but the story is very cool. Very action-packed.
konain's review against another edition
2.0
Kind of difficult book to review. The premise was great, but it needed a better writer than Currie to pull it off. Writing was dull, characterization was zilch and dialogues looked artificial. The only saving grace was space battles but even they were marred by inconsistencies. Currie couldn't create the tension required in space battles. Even the characters didn't seem serious enough especially considering that it was the first time in human history that somebody is indulging in space battles with aliens.
In fact on that topic, just imagine....humanity comes across intelligent life for the first time and that too and is anyone surprised? No. It's just like they are used to having a cup of tea with aliens everyday! Amidst a battle of (supposedly) epic proportions, view is shifted to fighter pilots playing poker! A couple of alien ships arrive for collecting refugees and Currie starts explaining their crafts and their arrival, even making the Captain leave the bridge and come down to greet them! Come on! The first spaceship put together by humanity may very well be annihilated in a few moments and what do you want to do?.....check out the alien designed civilian crafts!
*Minor spoilers ahead*
Then there are other inconsistencies. Many equipment in the ship are dismantled to make it invisible and yet at the flip of a switch everything is undone and the ship is again back to normal. How, is never explained. The alien humans are peaceful for a millennia so much so that they abhor war and yet within days they are able to manufacture a humongous warship, just explained away that some "Forge" took ancient designs and did it. Even if that is so, one would imagine that running and using such a huge craft would need some training, but still the alien crew manning the ship seem so conversant with its functions. This is disrespectful to your readers' intelligence, Mr Currie.
Further, halfway into the book Currie decides that the characters should start swearing. More importantly from plot point of view, three quarters into the book Currie decides to give the aliens some theological moorings and they start voicing prayers to their "Maker". Even episodic books have less inconsistencies that this.
Nevertheless, just to see if the writing improves I'll give the next book a shot.
In fact on that topic, just imagine....humanity comes across intelligent life for the first time and that too
Spoiler
humans*Minor spoilers ahead*
Then there are other inconsistencies. Many equipment in the ship are dismantled to make it invisible and yet at the flip of a switch everything is undone and the ship is again back to normal. How, is never explained. The alien humans are peaceful for a millennia so much so that they abhor war and yet within days they are able to manufacture a humongous warship, just explained away that some "Forge" took ancient designs and did it. Even if that is so, one would imagine that running and using such a huge craft would need some training, but still the alien crew manning the ship seem so conversant with its functions. This is disrespectful to your readers' intelligence, Mr Currie.
Further, halfway into the book Currie decides that the characters should start swearing. More importantly from plot point of view, three quarters into the book Currie decides to give the aliens some theological moorings and they start voicing prayers to their "Maker". Even episodic books have less inconsistencies that this.
Nevertheless, just to see if the writing improves I'll give the next book a shot.
kwerle's review against another edition
I've now read all 7 books in this particular series. I was looking for some hard-ish SF, and this started decidedly mushy. And then it turned to soup. I had enough trouble with the last book in the series that I won't be reading the follow-up series.
claire_loves_books's review against another edition
4.0
It did take me a while to get into this (80 pages or so) but one I did get into it I really enjoyed it. I feel like this book was as much about military action as space and sic fi (which isn't a problem for me). The action scenes were really well written, probably some of the best action scenes I've ever read. While most of the technology used worked well and seemed believable (as part of the Odyssey universe) I feel like it could have cut down on some of the technology jargon in places.
The plot itself was interesting and a lot more complex then I would expect from a first time self published author. It really did surpass my expectations and I'll be reading the next book soon.
The plot itself was interesting and a lot more complex then I would expect from a first time self published author. It really did surpass my expectations and I'll be reading the next book soon.
nivek1385's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this and feel it is similar to the Frontiers Saga by Ryk Brown, but I didn't enjoy this as much. I did like that this was self-contained, especially as I am not sure about continuing the series. Maybe it is because it was self-contained and didn't include the major hook to the next one.
sparverius's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
futuregazer's review
2.0
Not great, not bad. Squarely in the middle for me.
This is a very specific sort of space opera. It is military science fiction that it really there for the military part, with the science fiction being the medium used to set the scene - and there's nothing wrong with that, sometimes you want a book that is going to largely be about battles and strategy, which follows the "space is an ocean" trope fairly closely. However, I do like fuller, rounder novels most of the time myself, so that's one reason for the middle of the road rating. (For comparison, I love the Vorkosigan Saga which, while focused on military space opera to some degree, also tends to explore a lot of societal issues, bioengineering prospects for the future, realistic personal dilemmas and relationships, societal intrigue and politics, and literal family life / how to relate to those in your family. Of course, it doesn't do all the things in every book, so there is no true comparison yet.)
Generally speaking though, if you love stuff that mirrors the movie version of Starship Troopers fairly closely, give this a look. (Actually, the author rather disappointingly points out how very exactly this book follows this formula, and while they did use it to make one interesting if unanswered point about science fiction writing, it was still a massive jar when I was already trying to ignore the similarities. Plus, the author rather proved that their characters at least do not realize there is a LOT more to science fiction to spaceships and hostile aliens, so it makes me wonder if the author fails to realize that as well?).
However, if heavy handed military philosophy is something you can't look past to see the story, give this one a pass. Unlike many other books that look at this sort of thing, this one is rather composed of straw man arguments that make a certain view of things look not just better on balance, but obvious. Utterly pacifist aliens set up against (so far) an utterly existential threat. There is a character who talks all about how peace is not the goal of soldiers, and the point was fine and dandy, but again, I personally enjoy books more if they actually take on both sides of the coin for the arguments and ideas they put forward, rather than presenting only scenarios that imply one absolute view would work in every situation. There are many other situations in which that sort of thinking would get these people killed, or ruin civilizations. In short: books should reflect the fact that while a no violence philosophy has a lot of flaws, so does a gung-ho for violence philosophy. So, the book is not balanced on that.
Science... the author makes the usual concession to needed tech for interstellar travel - fair enough. They also do a pretty great job of talking the reader through what relatively hard sci fi space battles specifically with lasers would need to be like (hint: not what Star Wars would have you believe XD). There is a little oddity with the "black hole" settings on the stealth ship - the author talks about how it weakens them to enemy fire, but doesn't say anything about how the ship gets rid of its heat while it is in full absorption mode. They would have to dump it somewhere, which would presumably give them some visibility. Maybe it comes up in future novels. But yeah, space is an insulator, it would get toasty in that ship.
Biology....had some flaws. I'm actually forgetting the main one I tried to note down, so I'll have to come back to this in a bit, but there was one glaring whackiness that made me say "whoops" out loud. But, you can't win em all, so whatever.
I'll read the next one, because sometimes you want to watch cartoons, rather than a full well-thought-out movie. But, I sure hope it gets a little better if I'm going to go any further with the series.
This is a very specific sort of space opera. It is military science fiction that it really there for the military part, with the science fiction being the medium used to set the scene - and there's nothing wrong with that, sometimes you want a book that is going to largely be about battles and strategy, which follows the "space is an ocean" trope fairly closely. However, I do like fuller, rounder novels most of the time myself, so that's one reason for the middle of the road rating. (For comparison, I love the Vorkosigan Saga which, while focused on military space opera to some degree, also tends to explore a lot of societal issues, bioengineering prospects for the future, realistic personal dilemmas and relationships, societal intrigue and politics, and literal family life / how to relate to those in your family. Of course, it doesn't do all the things in every book, so there is no true comparison yet.)
Generally speaking though, if you love stuff that mirrors the movie version of Starship Troopers fairly closely, give this a look. (Actually, the author rather disappointingly points out how very exactly this book follows this formula, and while they did use it to make one interesting if unanswered point about science fiction writing, it was still a massive jar when I was already trying to ignore the similarities. Plus, the author rather proved that their characters at least do not realize there is a LOT more to science fiction to spaceships and hostile aliens, so it makes me wonder if the author fails to realize that as well?).
However, if heavy handed military philosophy is something you can't look past to see the story, give this one a pass. Unlike many other books that look at this sort of thing, this one is rather composed of straw man arguments that make a certain view of things look not just better on balance, but obvious. Utterly pacifist aliens set up against (so far) an utterly existential threat. There is a character who talks all about how peace is not the goal of soldiers, and the point was fine and dandy, but again, I personally enjoy books more if they actually take on both sides of the coin for the arguments and ideas they put forward, rather than presenting only scenarios that imply one absolute view would work in every situation. There are many other situations in which that sort of thinking would get these people killed, or ruin civilizations. In short: books should reflect the fact that while a no violence philosophy has a lot of flaws, so does a gung-ho for violence philosophy. So, the book is not balanced on that.
Science... the author makes the usual concession to needed tech for interstellar travel - fair enough. They also do a pretty great job of talking the reader through what relatively hard sci fi space battles specifically with lasers would need to be like (hint: not what Star Wars would have you believe XD). There is a little oddity with the "black hole" settings on the stealth ship - the author talks about how it weakens them to enemy fire, but doesn't say anything about how the ship gets rid of its heat while it is in full absorption mode. They would have to dump it somewhere, which would presumably give them some visibility. Maybe it comes up in future novels. But yeah, space is an insulator, it would get toasty in that ship.
Biology....had some flaws. I'm actually forgetting the main one I tried to note down, so I'll have to come back to this in a bit, but there was one glaring whackiness that made me say "whoops" out loud. But, you can't win em all, so whatever.
I'll read the next one, because sometimes you want to watch cartoons, rather than a full well-thought-out movie. But, I sure hope it gets a little better if I'm going to go any further with the series.