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meghabytes's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
samtheowl96's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
nerdgirllin's review against another edition
3.0
Decent book. Pacing sucked. Plot was good. Characters were developed well. Somewhat predictable though, only somewhat.
ambergold's review against another edition
2.0
Incredibly intriguing premise aside, I should have known better than to break my nearly inviolate never-read-books-rated-less-than-4-stars rule. This had a very strong first act - quick pacing, inventive premise, deft method of bringing the main characters together. That was followed by a reasonable but weaker and slower paced second act, and then a third act that was so boring I barely finished the book. A waste of a good novel. Don't read.
colossal's review against another edition
4.0
Highly enjoyable science fiction adventure with romantic elements. In fact, compulsively readable.
Cara is a Psi-1 telepath (interstellar range at that level) who is on the run from her former lover Ari. Ari is a corrupt official of one of the enormous corporate entities that seem to have all the power in this future. She comes across Rakesh Benjamin, a Psi-1 navigator who rescues her from a nasty situation. In an effort to lay low they are signed up to spend a year on a colony planet with a large group of psi-hating luddites. That's dangerous enough, but the colony leader is an unbalanced incredibly charismatic man with paranoid tendencies.
There's a large cast of supporting characters and there's some nuance there. The colony leader is one of the putative villains, but he's a bit more complex than that. The supporting cast of Benjamin's Psi-Tech team are excellent as well, as is the young and stupid colonist Max Constant who is one of the point of view characters. Cara herself is an interesting character as she struggles with tampering in her brain from her time with Ari, something that's well written here. Also the world-building, both in the FPA worlds and on the colony world is quite excellent. Lots of crunchy little details and it all seems to be well thought out, from the basic gist of the platinum economy to the differing social mores across the different locale.
The book also resolves itself well while leaving plenty of meat for a sequel.
So that's all that's great with the book. It has two main problems though, the first of which is that it's very long for what it is. And there's stuff that could obviously come out. The tendency for UK SF though is towards huge self-indulgent tomes as in [a:Peter F. Hamilton|25375|Peter F. Hamilton|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1235123752p2/25375.jpg] or [a:Gary Gibson|1442754|Gary Gibson|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1343764666p2/1442754.jpg] (both of which are good comparisons for this book) so I don't expect it's out of place. The other more serious flaw, is the central coincidence of Cara and Benjamin meeting. It would be a massive spoiler to explain that coincidence, but it's probably not too much to say that they have similar and slightly overlapping histories.
Ultimately, I forgive those things, because it's a cracking good book and I'm really looking forward to the sequel.
Cara is a Psi-1 telepath (interstellar range at that level) who is on the run from her former lover Ari. Ari is a corrupt official of one of the enormous corporate entities that seem to have all the power in this future. She comes across Rakesh Benjamin, a Psi-1 navigator who rescues her from a nasty situation. In an effort to lay low they are signed up to spend a year on a colony planet with a large group of psi-hating luddites. That's dangerous enough, but the colony leader is an unbalanced incredibly charismatic man with paranoid tendencies.
There's a large cast of supporting characters and there's some nuance there. The colony leader is one of the putative villains, but he's a bit more complex than that. The supporting cast of Benjamin's Psi-Tech team are excellent as well, as is the young and stupid colonist Max Constant who is one of the point of view characters. Cara herself is an interesting character as she struggles with tampering in her brain from her time with Ari, something that's well written here. Also the world-building, both in the FPA worlds and on the colony world is quite excellent. Lots of crunchy little details and it all seems to be well thought out, from the basic gist of the platinum economy to the differing social mores across the different locale.
The book also resolves itself well while leaving plenty of meat for a sequel.
Spoiler
There's 30,000 frozen settlers out there somewhere that are going to need to be found, and what exactly happens when you give a criminal organization the sort of power that a planet full of a critical mineral resource represents.So that's all that's great with the book. It has two main problems though, the first of which is that it's very long for what it is. And there's stuff that could obviously come out. The tendency for UK SF though is towards huge self-indulgent tomes as in [a:Peter F. Hamilton|25375|Peter F. Hamilton|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1235123752p2/25375.jpg] or [a:Gary Gibson|1442754|Gary Gibson|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1343764666p2/1442754.jpg] (both of which are good comparisons for this book) so I don't expect it's out of place. The other more serious flaw, is the central coincidence of Cara and Benjamin meeting. It would be a massive spoiler to explain that coincidence, but it's probably not too much to say that they have similar and slightly overlapping histories.
Ultimately, I forgive those things, because it's a cracking good book and I'm really looking forward to the sequel.
kylerbooks14's review
4.0
The plot was engaging and I was always guessing what was going to happen next to the characters. That being said the main plot was predictable as they were given up quiet early on in the story. For me this did not take away from the story for me too much as I was curious how the characters were going to react.
The world was one of my favorite parts of the story. The different planets were really cool and I liked how different each plant was. Furthermore, the space travel may not have been different but I liked the limitation placed on travel. It made it seem more realistic and created a lot of conflicts that feel similar to the limitations going on in today's world.
I thought the psi-tech technology was interesting and it was presented as the next step in the human evolution.
One thing that did not let me give this book 5 stars was in my opinion the characters were under developed. This I found to be especially true with the side characters. When some of side characters died, I would not care that much as they did not have much personality. Additionally, I wish the relationship between Ben and Cara would have been better developed so that when drama or arguments would occur, I would understand the frustration more.
The world was one of my favorite parts of the story. The different planets were really cool and I liked how different each plant was. Furthermore, the space travel may not have been different but I liked the limitation placed on travel. It made it seem more realistic and created a lot of conflicts that feel similar to the limitations going on in today's world.
I thought the psi-tech technology was interesting and it was presented as the next step in the human evolution.
One thing that did not let me give this book 5 stars was in my opinion the characters were under developed. This I found to be especially true with the side characters. When some of side characters died, I would not care that much as they did not have much personality. Additionally, I wish the relationship between Ben and Cara would have been better developed so that when drama or arguments would occur, I would understand the frustration more.
kevinhanes's review
3.0
the ending is never really in doubt, and all of the genre tricks are there. not a bad read, and an intriguing set of people and places.
jameseckman's review
3.0
A good first novel, the romance bit seemed a bit forced but it wasn't a large part of the story. Other than that , most of the character conceptions are decent. The discrimination theme is done well, it wasn't just a collection of good and evil characters. The evil corporation bit was over the top, since this universe has FTL communications, it's hard for me to believe some of the acts left unpunished. I have that problem with modern news nowadays, so perhaps it's more credible than it feels. I will read the follow on novel when it's available.
duchess's review
3.0
3.5 rating. Decent story that got me hooked early on! I liked all of the characters except for Max Constant, who was a selfish, boring prick. The writing could have been much tighter, an issue that was highlighted by the fact the author found it necessary to repeat basic facts throughout the story. I'm not an idiot! Don't treat me like one!
I even liked the romantic sub-plot! It was cute, & Ben is adorable. I think I'll stick with this series.
I even liked the romantic sub-plot! It was cute, & Ben is adorable. I think I'll stick with this series.
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