Scan barcode
reasonpassion's review
2.0
A mish-mash of genres I could never quite get into the characters, as none of them were deep enough to care about. There was so much world-building and context-creating the story happened but out of surprise then actually following it. Not bad writing, but trying to do too much.
jrbournville's review
3.0
Several good and interesting ideas, but the pacing seemed a little off - some areas seemed to drag on forever while others felt rushed. I felt that, while there were several characters, I didn't really get to know any of them as deeply as I would have liked. Perhaps this is rectified in book 2. Even so, not a bad start to a series.
jefferson's review
3.0
As CEO of the world's most successful energy company, Lowell Bracken is at the top of his game and beginning to plan for his children to succeed him. But when a small upstart solar power company enters the scene, it triggers a series of political dominoes that will completely destabilize the power structures of the entire planet, and Lowell will be lucky to escape with his children - and his skin - intact.
This one is hard to pigeon hole. Part eco-drama. Part fantasy. Part political thriller. It's set on an alien planet, but with a tech level similar to our own. There is some kind of pseudo-magic, and dragons, but both are kept fairly low key in this first installment.
Despite these promising elements, this one didn't quite grab me. Lowell in particular seemed rather inconsistent. He's touted as a ruthless and ultra-savvy CEO who built his company up from ashes, against heroic obstacles. But when the chips were down, I never saw any of that heroic ferocity and competence in evidence. If anything, he comes across as a has-been who is now easily duped and slightly bewildered. It's one of those cases where the author describes the kind of character we all love to admire, but doesn't actually write him in a way that's consistent with that hype. And while some of the other characters do live up to their billing, they are so uni-dimensional that I wasn't able to bond emotionally with any of them.
Overall, I felt like this book took me to the brink of a really enjoyable ride, but left me standing there. It didn't quite have the horsepower to tip me over the edge and deliver.
This one is hard to pigeon hole. Part eco-drama. Part fantasy. Part political thriller. It's set on an alien planet, but with a tech level similar to our own. There is some kind of pseudo-magic, and dragons, but both are kept fairly low key in this first installment.
Despite these promising elements, this one didn't quite grab me. Lowell in particular seemed rather inconsistent. He's touted as a ruthless and ultra-savvy CEO who built his company up from ashes, against heroic obstacles. But when the chips were down, I never saw any of that heroic ferocity and competence in evidence. If anything, he comes across as a has-been who is now easily duped and slightly bewildered. It's one of those cases where the author describes the kind of character we all love to admire, but doesn't actually write him in a way that's consistent with that hype. And while some of the other characters do live up to their billing, they are so uni-dimensional that I wasn't able to bond emotionally with any of them.
Overall, I felt like this book took me to the brink of a really enjoyable ride, but left me standing there. It didn't quite have the horsepower to tip me over the edge and deliver.
aadaenyaa's review
2.0
I did not finish this. The story is highly disjointed, jumps from place to place, and just didn't keep my interest. I'll try it again at some point.
More...