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cambru's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Some fun ideas/action but suffers from a lot of exposition dumping in some very unsubtle ways. Characters are fairly one note and "twists" are seen coming from miles away
lifeinthebooklane's review against another edition
4.0
Centred around the five person crew of the Arcus, Stolen Earth is a layered, engaging and fast paced read. The plot moved fluidly from one scenario to another, providing not only the expected action of a sci-fi story but also an opportunity to acquire an in-depth knowledge of the protagonists. The story is written third person from the perspective of three characters, two of whom have secrets they would rather keep hidden. All five characters felt well rounded, I could picture them, understood their motives and knew their personalities.
The world building was very pleasing and whilst the individual elements of the story were nothing new, how the author wove them together made for an absolutely fantastic story. I could imagine this on the big screen, it had a very focused narrative which also allowed for moral examination and the reader to make their own inferences.at times. There were no tedious information dumps and I found this book held my attention from start to finish.
I really enjoyed the author's writing style and was left wanting more of both the world and it's characters. Always the sign of a great book.
The world building was very pleasing and whilst the individual elements of the story were nothing new, how the author wove them together made for an absolutely fantastic story. I could imagine this on the big screen, it had a very focused narrative which also allowed for moral examination and the reader to make their own inferences.at times. There were no tedious information dumps and I found this book held my attention from start to finish.
I really enjoyed the author's writing style and was left wanting more of both the world and it's characters. Always the sign of a great book.
sanguinejester's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
kapow_ers's review
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
reading_rainy's review
4.0
Firefly meets The Expanse is the perfect blurb for this book!! It was also a wonderful story on it’s own. I LOVE space operas and sci-fi stories in general but tend to stay away from those hard-core sci-fi that overwhelm me with tech jargon. Who cares how the darn ship works, tell me about the crew and how they relate!
Thank goodness this is a character driven, solidly written, somewhat-sciency story about how the social constructs of Old Earth and AI’s destroyed everything.
Each chapter is told by a different character POV. It’s a bit mystery, a bit political intrigue. The future kinda sucks. Everyone is controlled tightly by the government, and only a small few can see how they are being manipulated. Even the nervous crew doesn’t quite know who they can trust. I went into it blindly and you should too! Highly recommended for fans of non-stop space action.
Thank you to Net Galley and J.T. Nicholas for this arc!
Thank goodness this is a character driven, solidly written, somewhat-sciency story about how the social constructs of Old Earth and AI’s destroyed everything.
Each chapter is told by a different character POV. It’s a bit mystery, a bit political intrigue. The future kinda sucks. Everyone is controlled tightly by the government, and only a small few can see how they are being manipulated. Even the nervous crew doesn’t quite know who they can trust. I went into it blindly and you should too! Highly recommended for fans of non-stop space action.
Thank you to Net Galley and J.T. Nicholas for this arc!
neera_exlibris's review
5.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Stolen Earth is an excellently-executed sci-fi novel that touches on a range of issues that are pertinent to our current society and the times we live in. The plot was really interesting and intriguing, and presents many of the problems and issues we struggle with today. It's very well written; although it could probably be categorised as 'hard science fiction', the author has struck a really good balance between the more scientifically-specific details and accessibility to the average reader. If you understand the technical details then that adds a bonus level of enjoyment to the reading experience, but not understanding them doesn't affect your overall understanding of the plot, or the emotional intensity of particular scenes (e.g. the entry sequence). The opening chapters establish each Arcus crew member's skillset very effectively, but in a way that opens and moves the plot forward, rather than being an unrelated scene purely positioned to establish character competency.
I very much enjoyed having two female POVs to one male POV, and the choice of characters who had POVs was good. Gray of course made sense, but it was good to also have Rajani and Laurel's perspectives, since they had the most interesting stakes and the highest emotional investment in the outcome of the plot. Gray had a very refreshing lack of unwarranted male ego. He's confident in the skills he has and he doesn't downplay them, but he doesn't boast about them either, and he doesn't feel a constant need to assert his authority as captain of the Arcus. The prologue did a good job of establishing his humanity and deep care for others, and his sense of justice is communicated effectively, first through the explanation of his departure from the SolComm Navy, and then throughout the book through his decisions. Rajani and Laurel's first POV chapters successfully establish the lenses through which they view the world and those around them; Rajani as an academic and someone who has only recently 'fallen out' with SolComm, and Laurel as not quite what she seems, as well as someone who still firmly believes in the system. Rajani and Laurel's character developments were the most satisfying, especially because of their respective levels of emotional investment in the events of the book. The secondary and tertiary characters were all very well fleshed out and felt fully formed, despite their lack of POVs.
This book also contains excellent commentary on climate change, on our issues with the increasing sophistication of robots and artificial intelligence, and on the greed of the rich and powerful people in the world. The future it presents for humankind and Planet Earth is quite bleak and, in many ways, horrifically and unfortunately believable, especially given the current state of our climate and of many governments around the world. If you want to gain a better understanding of where our collective global trajectory could potentially lead us, this is definitely the book to read.
Stolen Earth is an excellently-executed sci-fi novel that touches on a range of issues that are pertinent to our current society and the times we live in. The plot was really interesting and intriguing, and presents many of the problems and issues we struggle with today. It's very well written; although it could probably be categorised as 'hard science fiction', the author has struck a really good balance between the more scientifically-specific details and accessibility to the average reader. If you understand the technical details then that adds a bonus level of enjoyment to the reading experience, but not understanding them doesn't affect your overall understanding of the plot, or the emotional intensity of particular scenes (e.g. the entry sequence). The opening chapters establish each Arcus crew member's skillset very effectively, but in a way that opens and moves the plot forward, rather than being an unrelated scene purely positioned to establish character competency.
I very much enjoyed having two female POVs to one male POV, and the choice of characters who had POVs was good. Gray of course made sense, but it was good to also have Rajani and Laurel's perspectives, since they had the most interesting stakes and the highest emotional investment in the outcome of the plot. Gray had a very refreshing lack of unwarranted male ego. He's confident in the skills he has and he doesn't downplay them, but he doesn't boast about them either, and he doesn't feel a constant need to assert his authority as captain of the Arcus. The prologue did a good job of establishing his humanity and deep care for others, and his sense of justice is communicated effectively, first through the explanation of his departure from the SolComm Navy, and then throughout the book through his decisions. Rajani and Laurel's first POV chapters successfully establish the lenses through which they view the world and those around them; Rajani as an academic and someone who has only recently 'fallen out' with SolComm, and Laurel as not quite what she seems, as well as someone who still firmly believes in the system. Rajani and Laurel's character developments were the most satisfying, especially because of their respective levels of emotional investment in the events of the book. The secondary and tertiary characters were all very well fleshed out and felt fully formed, despite their lack of POVs.
This book also contains excellent commentary on climate change, on our issues with the increasing sophistication of robots and artificial intelligence, and on the greed of the rich and powerful people in the world. The future it presents for humankind and Planet Earth is quite bleak and, in many ways, horrifically and unfortunately believable, especially given the current state of our climate and of many governments around the world. If you want to gain a better understanding of where our collective global trajectory could potentially lead us, this is definitely the book to read.
ros_lanta's review
3.0
This is one of those books that I have no strong opinions on. It was fine. There's nothing much to critique but also not a lot to make me recommend it to others. The plot was decent but it didn't excite me.