Reviews

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Theatre of the Gods is yet another book that I would not buy for myself and only got to reading because I borrowed it from someone. It reaffirmed my previous belief that I'm just not into space stuff (be it books or movies). So, in a way, this is one of those "It's not you, it's me" scenarios.

The book was well written, with interesting tidbits of ads, songs, Easter eggs etc. It also tried to be funny, without making very outward ha-ha jokes, and while it succeeded in some places, in others it was more like "Oh, okay, I see what you tried to do there". I've noticed that the satirical humor is a trend among the sci-fi books I tend to pick up. Another example is Stanislaw Lem's The Star Diaries, which I found much funnier and original.

What I dislike about sci-fi, though, is how focused it becomes on making space fun and misses out on character development. Theatre of the Gods was not the worst in this aspect, it had interesting backstories for the characters, and at least attempted to have nice relationships between them, although they rang a bit hollow to me. It does seem to be the trend though - 70% space and explaining of the futuristic concept of the book, 20% adventures, 10% trying to build characters one cares for.

And when it comes to the adventures, this was what I liked the most. After I got through the immensely boring first part where a lot of space nonsense is happening, the rest of the parts were more adventure-driven, with some character-focus, and those read more like a fairytale/fantasy book, so I read them much more quickly and with more interest.

If you're into sci-fi, I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to you, though. I think that for real fans it could be a great gem. Just not my personal thing.

Before I forget, homunuculus.

gcolston1832's review against another edition

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2.0

Theatre of the Gods by M Suddain is a story about a journey through space and different dimensions. We follow a rag tag group as they travel to another dimension, encountering dangerous planets, whilst carrying precious cargo that gets them followed by some of the most dangerous people in the universe.

I’m really sorry to say that this book only received 2.5 stars from me. I really wanted to love this book but unfortunately that was not the case. I went into this book really excited as the premise was interesting and there were some really cool concepts introduced at the start, but they weren’t fully explored. I also found it to be quite confusing, spending most of the time not quite following what was going on.

That being said, the book was by no means all bad. As I said there was some really cool concepts such as all humans being part machine, and they did get me really excited at the start.

The actual layout of the book is interesting. Between some of the chapters there were illustrations of posters etc that related to the universe this book is set in and I did think it was a really nice touch.

It was actually quite funny at times and I did tab a few quotes I found particularly amusing. For example, seeing as the book is set in the future, they used more current music as traditional shanties, including Nirvana, and it made me laugh.

Some of the characters had some sort of special abilities and I liked the exploration of these, particularly those of the Well-Dressed Gentleman. The way it was described was quite clever and I did like that element of the story.

The characters overall were decent. They were nothing special, but they were fun to read about.

I did think the climax of the book was quite exciting. It really picked up at this point and got me interested in the story again.

However, I did have a hire a few problem with the book, the biggest being that it was just quite confusing. Things were happening and I didn’t understand how, the plot felt quite messy and jumpy and it just found it difficult to follow.

After the actual space travel ends, the characters arrive at a city and then for a long time nothing happens. I found myself starting to get bored at this point and I didn’t really want to pick up the book and read it, which may be why it took me so long.

There were cases of characters surviving things they should not have survived. I won’t give spoilers but someone would be gone, certainly not to return, but then miraculously reappear at a later point. I just found it unrealistic that anyone could escape these situations.

I also had a really big issue with the fact that the book was so plot-driven. It really affected the characters and whilst they were okay, they had very little dimension and I didn’t feel like I knew them or was attached to them in anyway. This wouldn’t have been so bad if the plot made up for this but it really didn’t, so everything just seemed pretty mediocre.

The other issues with the characters was that they didn’t really fork any meaningful relationships, with a few exceptions, but the strongest relationships were developed before the story begins, so we didn’t get to see the development. Any relationships that were formed during the course of the book were unconvincing.

Finally, the book left me with loads of unanswered questions, which I don’t want to be left with when I’ve finished a book. It wasn’t even done in the sense that it was open ended, though it partly was, it was mostly just things that hadn’t been explained or wrapped up properly.

Overall, this book really had so much promise, but the execution wasn’t great. I did find the confusion hindered my enjoyment alongside the lack of attachment to characters. I have plenty of questions still, but there doesn’t seem to be a sequel to answer them, at least that I can find. If there is a sequel, I would be reluctant to pick it up anyway because I don’t know if I would enjoy it.

plennard's review

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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