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cwuestefeld's review against another edition
3.0
Tolerable space opera. As typical for the genre, the characters are cardboard cutouts, it's all about the action and space-stuff.
jobby's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
theamazingmrg's review against another edition
3.0
After reading, and thoroughly enjoying, Gridlinked, I decided to try reading the rest of the Polity novels in chronological order, so I started this.
I enjoyed the read, but it does feel like there's a second part missing. Lots of unanswered questions stop it from being great, and it just ends. There is a resolution to the central plot, but not the overarching backdrop that makes the book feel unfinished.
I'm definitely still down for more in the Polity universe though.
I enjoyed the read, but it does feel like there's a second part missing. Lots of unanswered questions stop it from being great, and it just ends. There is a resolution to the central plot, but not the overarching backdrop that makes the book feel unfinished.
I'm definitely still down for more in the Polity universe though.
clarkeyhk's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
hucklebuck411's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
righteousridel's review against another edition
3.0
Prador Moon is the tip of the iceberg for the Polity Universe, and I picked it up in order to decide if I'm going to invest in the other 10+ novels. If you're in a similar position... well, what I found was a moderately interesting science-fiction setting that was mainly let down by un-engaging characters.
The Polity Universe's defining characteristics (in this novel) appear to be the recognition of AIs as sentient life, as well as teleportation being a commonplace technology. This creates a unique setting, but Prador Moon is about the beginning days of a galactic war with the Prador, and so the military angle consumes most of the page count and it's not the author's strong point. The space battles lack emotion due to a lack of main characters aboard those vessels, and the ground combat is too simplistic and consists mainly of small squad infantry actions. If scenes with space ships and lasers is boring, you're in trouble.
On the bright side, we are exposed to a number of POVs from the Prador, and this alien race is surprisingly well characterized and is actually more interesting to me than either main character Jebel or Moria. We find out a lot about their culture, their government, and way of thinking that is somewhat stereotypical but still intelligently presented.
In the end, Prador Moon is just too scattershot. There's too much plot to cover with too many character POVs (6?) in too short a page count. As such, I was never invested in any characters, and this novel stands solidly mediocre with a hint of brilliance behind its world-building.
The Polity Universe's defining characteristics (in this novel) appear to be the recognition of AIs as sentient life, as well as teleportation being a commonplace technology. This creates a unique setting, but Prador Moon is about the beginning days of a galactic war with the Prador, and so the military angle consumes most of the page count and it's not the author's strong point. The space battles lack emotion due to a lack of main characters aboard those vessels, and the ground combat is too simplistic and consists mainly of small squad infantry actions. If scenes with space ships and lasers is boring, you're in trouble.
On the bright side, we are exposed to a number of POVs from the Prador, and this alien race is surprisingly well characterized and is actually more interesting to me than either main character Jebel or Moria. We find out a lot about their culture, their government, and way of thinking that is somewhat stereotypical but still intelligently presented.
In the end, Prador Moon is just too scattershot. There's too much plot to cover with too many character POVs (6?) in too short a page count. As such, I was never invested in any characters, and this novel stands solidly mediocre with a hint of brilliance behind its world-building.
distgenius's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Where to start, where to start…
Prador Moon, and Asher’s work with the Polity universe in general, is oft talked about as a dark, violent sci-fi series with body horror. The violence is there, and to an extent there is some body horror, but this particular work is much more bland than expected.
Which is a shame, because if the expectation is something like Aliens but in novel form, this book did not deliver on that. The violence was intense but brief, and body horror just didn’t exist at all. It is even hard to call it dark, because there was so little characterization and almost no focus on any one event long enough to evoke moods or feelings at all. The cast are described, and the reader is told how they feel and how they act, but the writing does not evoke those things. It simply exists.
The book jumps from event to event, providing just enough detail to flesh that event out but never enough to connect them thematically or in terms of cause and effect. There is just enough detail to create a narrative, but not enough to push the reader to care about that narrative. It reads more like a summary of historical events than a novel, and for such a short book that just leaves me underwhelmed.
Now for some positives: the Prador are interesting. Asher spends more time going into their motivations and political structures than for his human characters, and that does provide at least some measure of motivation for the plot at hand.
Overall, there’s just not much to recommend about this. Other sci-fi novels, such as The Expanse have more body horror, politics, and more well defined characters. Novels like Armor show the brutality of war while still providing some form of connection to the characters. Myriad other authors have done the “violent first contact” novel, and frankly most have done better. This is at best popcorn fiction, but is missing the butter and salt that make the popcorn worth reading.
Prador Moon, and Asher’s work with the Polity universe in general, is oft talked about as a dark, violent sci-fi series with body horror. The violence is there, and to an extent there is some body horror, but this particular work is much more bland than expected.
Which is a shame, because if the expectation is something like Aliens but in novel form, this book did not deliver on that. The violence was intense but brief, and body horror just didn’t exist at all. It is even hard to call it dark, because there was so little characterization and almost no focus on any one event long enough to evoke moods or feelings at all. The cast are described, and the reader is told how they feel and how they act, but the writing does not evoke those things. It simply exists.
The book jumps from event to event, providing just enough detail to flesh that event out but never enough to connect them thematically or in terms of cause and effect. There is just enough detail to create a narrative, but not enough to push the reader to care about that narrative. It reads more like a summary of historical events than a novel, and for such a short book that just leaves me underwhelmed.
Now for some positives: the Prador are interesting. Asher spends more time going into their motivations and political structures than for his human characters, and that does provide at least some measure of motivation for the plot at hand.
Overall, there’s just not much to recommend about this. Other sci-fi novels, such as The Expanse have more body horror, politics, and more well defined characters. Novels like Armor show the brutality of war while still providing some form of connection to the characters. Myriad other authors have done the “violent first contact” novel, and frankly most have done better. This is at best popcorn fiction, but is missing the butter and salt that make the popcorn worth reading.
csdaley's review against another edition
3.0
This was actually a 2.5 star for me. The book was barely passable for me. I will probably give the series two more books because I have heard a lot of great things about the 3rd book. My main problem might not be other people's. I just could not get into the whole concept of a horrible man-eating alien that was smart enough to fly space ships but little else. The type of book I would have eaten up in high school but not so much now.
imakandiway's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-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
3.0
mattp3's review against another edition
4.0
A fun, fast-paced military sci-fi which has interesting ideas, as well as rigourously employing pre-existing tropes and speculative technology.