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mickb's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
ebokhyllami's review
3.0
A well written book, entertaining and a pageturner. It was not the most original or unusual Fiction book I have read, but it still kept me clicking my page-button into the night. It made me look forward to reading the next book in The Star Force Series! I would really give it a 3+
kynan's review
2.0
Swarm is kind of fun. It's a sci-fi (light on the sci) story about aliens attacking Earth, told from the perspective of a man who is abducted by said aliens.
The main thing I liked about this story was the action. This is an action movie turned into a book. If you're cool with massive inconsistencies (aliens that can create autonomous potentially super-intelligent AI-controlled ships mostly constructed from infinitely reconfigurable nanoparticle clouds but that need alien pilots to....do, err, something. And the best way to find said pilots is randomly tooling around the planet, hauling people out of bed and attempting to kill them to determine if they're going to be the best something-doers it can find) then this is the book for you!
The main downside is the plot and the part that protagonist Kyle Riggs plays in it. Basically, everything Riggs touches is miraculously solved. It's kind of annoying just how many things Riggs manages to solve when apparently no-one else can (or when Riggs steps in and deals with a situation because he thinks he should).
Conclusion, don't read this book for the plot or science. If you want to read about people fighting giant robots then this could be the book for you; But don't get your hopes up on the giant, autonomous, universe-traveling robots acting sanely or being beaten by any plausible military maneuvering (not when Kyle "faster than laser turrets" Riggs is on duty).
It wasn't so terrible that I definitely won't read the next book in the series, but I'm not intending to actively seek it out either.
The main thing I liked about this story was the action. This is an action movie turned into a book. If you're cool with massive inconsistencies (aliens that can create autonomous potentially super-intelligent AI-controlled ships mostly constructed from infinitely reconfigurable nanoparticle clouds but that need alien pilots to....do, err, something. And the best way to find said pilots is randomly tooling around the planet, hauling people out of bed and attempting to kill them to determine if they're going to be the best something-doers it can find) then this is the book for you!
The main downside is the plot and the part that protagonist Kyle Riggs plays in it. Basically, everything Riggs touches is miraculously solved. It's kind of annoying just how many things Riggs manages to solve when apparently no-one else can (or when Riggs steps in and deals with a situation because he thinks he should).
Conclusion, don't read this book for the plot or science. If you want to read about people fighting giant robots then this could be the book for you; But don't get your hopes up on the giant, autonomous, universe-traveling robots acting sanely or being beaten by any plausible military maneuvering (not when Kyle "faster than laser turrets" Riggs is on duty).
It wasn't so terrible that I definitely won't read the next book in the series, but I'm not intending to actively seek it out either.
liianowaty's review
2.0
Często odwołuje się do określenia "guilty pleasure". W wypadku książek, pojmuję go na prostej zasadzie. Są to tytuły , których przywary logiczne, warsztatowe lub też powiedzmy ambicjonalne są znaczące, jednak prosta rozrywka, którą można z nich czerpać w dużym stopniu je neutralizuje. Często oczywiście balans pomiędzy tymi cechami jest różny i nie zawsze da się łatwo je zaklasyfikować. W wypadku "Roju" balans jest zaburzony, niestety w ten gorszy sposób.
Książka jest po prostu durnowata. Główny bohater, kompletnie i bezapelacyjnie oderwany od rzeczywistości, nierealny, niekonsekwentny i przerysowany. Tragiczne wydarzenia, oprócz kilku aklamacji żalu nie ruszają go w żaden sensowny sposób. Jest informatykiem z wykształcenia, a szybko staje się samczą alfą i omegą. A szkoda.
Rozwiązania sci-fi to ten sam poziom. Jak tylko cokolwiek jest wyjaśniane to niestety ale u czytelnika wzbudzi co najwyżej uśmiech politowania. Reakcje rządów na aktualną sytuację wołają o pomstę do nieba. Technikalia są po prostu bzdurne, a uwierzcie mi - nie jestem na tym punkcie zbytnio wyczulony.
Określiłem Rój guilty pleasure. I faktycznie jest w tym troche pleasure. Mimo wszystko byłem zainteresowany jak to się potoczy. Słuchałem ją w formie audiobooka jadąc z i do pracy, w której spędzam po 12h dziennie, także prosta rozrywka to najlepsze co mogę dostać. To Rój faktycznie dostarcza. Niestety, o ile potrafi wciągnąć, o tyle ilość głupich błędów i absurdalnych rozwiązań w tym wypadku za bardzo mnie odstęczało.
Książka jest po prostu durnowata. Główny bohater, kompletnie i bezapelacyjnie oderwany od rzeczywistości, nierealny, niekonsekwentny i przerysowany. Tragiczne wydarzenia, oprócz kilku aklamacji żalu nie ruszają go w żaden sensowny sposób. Jest informatykiem z wykształcenia, a szybko staje się samczą alfą i omegą. A szkoda.
Rozwiązania sci-fi to ten sam poziom. Jak tylko cokolwiek jest wyjaśniane to niestety ale u czytelnika wzbudzi co najwyżej uśmiech politowania. Reakcje rządów na aktualną sytuację wołają o pomstę do nieba. Technikalia są po prostu bzdurne, a uwierzcie mi - nie jestem na tym punkcie zbytnio wyczulony.
Określiłem Rój guilty pleasure. I faktycznie jest w tym troche pleasure. Mimo wszystko byłem zainteresowany jak to się potoczy. Słuchałem ją w formie audiobooka jadąc z i do pracy, w której spędzam po 12h dziennie, także prosta rozrywka to najlepsze co mogę dostać. To Rój faktycznie dostarcza. Niestety, o ile potrafi wciągnąć, o tyle ilość głupich błędów i absurdalnych rozwiązań w tym wypadku za bardzo mnie odstęczało.
sastrau1's review
5.0
I picked up Swarm based soley on a recommendation and reviews on Audible.com and I'm so glad I did. This book is fantastic, fast moving, well written (really well narrated if you do Audible) and incredibly creative. The novel starts with a bang when Kyle Riggs' children are snatched up by an alien spacecraft and dropped to their deaths moments later. Needless to say, Kyle is pissed and grabs a rifle (he's a farmer/computer science professor, so the rifle is on hand) before the arm reaches down to grab him. What ensues is a series of tests that he seems to complete to the ship's satisfaction and he is thereby made commander of the ship.
Riggs and other commanders have to first learn how to operate their ships (there are no windows or external viewing screens) and then form some kind of alliance against an unknown enemy. Earth doesn't know if they are allies or enemies and meanwhile, some other alien force is attempting to invade.
Larson manages to combine a likeable, yet believable character, with good writing and really out of the box imagining. He even somehow manages to credibly get romance in there when Riggs ressurects another candidate for commander who the ship killed.
This is one of those rare books that you get so involved in that you just don't want the adventure to stop. Luckily, it doesn't as this is only the first book of the Star Force series. Even thought I'm in the middle of a couple of other good books at the moment, I keep wishing that I was digging into the next Star Force book.
This sci fi military novel is in the school of "Ender's Game" and "Starship Troopers," yet totally unique -- you don't feel like your reading a copy of something else at all.
Really fantastic book - can't wait to report on "Extinction," Book 2 of Star Force!
What's your favoritie Sci Fi novel?
Riggs and other commanders have to first learn how to operate their ships (there are no windows or external viewing screens) and then form some kind of alliance against an unknown enemy. Earth doesn't know if they are allies or enemies and meanwhile, some other alien force is attempting to invade.
Larson manages to combine a likeable, yet believable character, with good writing and really out of the box imagining. He even somehow manages to credibly get romance in there when Riggs ressurects another candidate for commander who the ship killed.
This is one of those rare books that you get so involved in that you just don't want the adventure to stop. Luckily, it doesn't as this is only the first book of the Star Force series. Even thought I'm in the middle of a couple of other good books at the moment, I keep wishing that I was digging into the next Star Force book.
This sci fi military novel is in the school of "Ender's Game" and "Starship Troopers," yet totally unique -- you don't feel like your reading a copy of something else at all.
Really fantastic book - can't wait to report on "Extinction," Book 2 of Star Force!
What's your favoritie Sci Fi novel?
wagmore's review
2.0
I *almost* gave up on this one a couple of times. And that was just in the first page or two. Why? The writing and editing is atrocious in places.
But the story was imaginative enough to make me keep reading to the end, so it gets 2 stars instead of just 1. But I don't expect to be reading any more in the series, nor by this author.
But the story was imaginative enough to make me keep reading to the end, so it gets 2 stars instead of just 1. But I don't expect to be reading any more in the series, nor by this author.
netgyrl's review
Very interesting premise and the book starts off pretty good but about 1/2 through it takes a right turn into WTF? and REALLY?!?! I can suspend my disbelief with the best of them but this was even too much for me. The completely unbelievable decisions made, the leaps of logic and reason - I just couldn't stand it and stopped reading. Too bad because it could have been a really cool series.
timmyb's review
4.0
Is it deep, meaningful or thought provoking? No.
Does an everyman get abducted, rise to the occasion and lead earth’s fight against a force of alien robots? Yes.
A solid enjoyable action sci-fi read, I will definitely check out the sequels.
Does an everyman get abducted, rise to the occasion and lead earth’s fight against a force of alien robots? Yes.
A solid enjoyable action sci-fi read, I will definitely check out the sequels.
ameliapancake's review
3.0
It’s a good book, and I definitely plan on reading the next one in the series. The story is good, but it’s obvious throughout the book that this was one of the author’s earlier works. He seems to like some of the same plot mechanisms across his different story universes, but they’re not as fleshed out in this book. Also, it’s very obviously written by a man. All of his books are kind of like that, but this one is blatant about it. There’s really only one woman in the book, and she’s pretty much just a sex object.