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adventuresinfictionland's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
thekingcrusoe's review
3.0
"The rest of 2023 has no space to finish this unfortunately."
Yeah okay, KC, tell that to Cyber-Monday Audible deals that let you buy the audiobook and finish it not just by the end of the year, but NEARLY before December.
Anyway. I think there's a lot of great stuff here. I've only rated this a 3-star, but I think there's a lot of great 4-star worthy stuff to offset that. Majority is more like a 3.5, with the leanings depending on what you're into.
For me, I thought by far the best parts of this book were Part 1 and what it did with all of the character work; and the general thematic undertones of the whole work. Between the dichotomy of oppression and freedom; identity and slavery; power and expression; omniscience and constraint; and so many other things that I'm forgetting about at the moment, the thought-provokingness of the book was by far what kept me coming back. At times, I will admit, the vast array of what it covered in the themes of the books means that some things don't get handled in quite enough depth as I'd like, and a couple of moments directly counter each other in places as well, but I love the degree of creativity on display here.
The main reason I'm keeping this down to 3 stars is twofold:
1.) The story itself, while being a very good popcorn-flick of a story (and despite having such ambitious thematic subtext for a story of this type), didn't often go in the directions I wanted for it to. The fact that the shift of the scope and setting happens so drastically in Part 2 of 8 seemed weird to me, because Part 1 was easily my favorite part of the STORY, so I just felt like I had that ripped away from me too soon. The rest of the story is decent, but nothing I would consider to be the best in the world (and to be fair, it doesn't need to be, hence why I call it fun popcorn material), and seemed more like a road for thematic exploration, which I appreciate, but find unfortunate for readers who were hoping for a better paced development of the story.
3.) The final act feels simultaneously too fast for believability, and too long in the tooth; in other words, it seemed strangely paced, and certain aspects didn't really hit the mark for me; it also greatly affected some emotionally impactful moments for characters that didn't do near as much me as I think they should've considering how invested I was in the first half of the novel.
To expand on the first point I just made as well, I would also say that MOST people reading this kind of book are going to read it for the story itself, hence why I'm putting more weight on the 3-star story verses the 4-star themes.
Finally, I will leave off saying that Majority feels very much more like the first half of a duology, MAYBE the first third of a trilogy. The fact that this series is 6 books long frankly kind of astound me. I'm not sure what Goldsmith could do to really draw the tale out that long. Of course, that's not to say it's impossible, but when my instincts say "Yeah, this is half number one", the way that God of War [2018] is the first half of the Norse arc of that saga...I have my concerns about the pacing of the rest of the series.
However, I wouldn't not recommend Majority: if you're curious about the ideas of finite godhood in a universe where a pure majority-system rules, there's a lot to think about and dig into, and I thoroughly enjoyed doing just that, even if the bedrock story isn't 100% to my liking.
I'll be interested in continuing the series, but I cannot say I will make it a priority in the year to come. (Though for those interested, the full thing is already written, and these official publications will be done in relative quick succession, so if you're wondering about whether it'll be finished or not, I don't think you need to worry about that in this instance.)
Thank you to Abby for providing me the ARC for review, though I'm sorry it took so long to finish it.
Yeah okay, KC, tell that to Cyber-Monday Audible deals that let you buy the audiobook and finish it not just by the end of the year, but NEARLY before December.
Anyway. I think there's a lot of great stuff here. I've only rated this a 3-star, but I think there's a lot of great 4-star worthy stuff to offset that. Majority is more like a 3.5, with the leanings depending on what you're into.
For me, I thought by far the best parts of this book were Part 1 and what it did with all of the character work; and the general thematic undertones of the whole work. Between the dichotomy of oppression and freedom; identity and slavery; power and expression; omniscience and constraint; and so many other things that I'm forgetting about at the moment, the thought-provokingness of the book was by far what kept me coming back. At times, I will admit, the vast array of what it covered in the themes of the books means that some things don't get handled in quite enough depth as I'd like, and a couple of moments directly counter each other in places as well, but I love the degree of creativity on display here.
The main reason I'm keeping this down to 3 stars is twofold:
1.) The story itself, while being a very good popcorn-flick of a story (and despite having such ambitious thematic subtext for a story of this type), didn't often go in the directions I wanted for it to. The fact that the shift of the scope and setting happens so drastically in Part 2 of 8 seemed weird to me, because Part 1 was easily my favorite part of the STORY, so I just felt like I had that ripped away from me too soon. The rest of the story is decent, but nothing I would consider to be the best in the world (and to be fair, it doesn't need to be, hence why I call it fun popcorn material), and seemed more like a road for thematic exploration, which I appreciate, but find unfortunate for readers who were hoping for a better paced development of the story.
3.) The final act feels simultaneously too fast for believability, and too long in the tooth; in other words, it seemed strangely paced, and certain aspects didn't really hit the mark for me; it also greatly affected some emotionally impactful moments for characters that didn't do near as much me as I think they should've considering how invested I was in the first half of the novel.
To expand on the first point I just made as well, I would also say that MOST people reading this kind of book are going to read it for the story itself, hence why I'm putting more weight on the 3-star story verses the 4-star themes.
Finally, I will leave off saying that Majority feels very much more like the first half of a duology, MAYBE the first third of a trilogy. The fact that this series is 6 books long frankly kind of astound me. I'm not sure what Goldsmith could do to really draw the tale out that long. Of course, that's not to say it's impossible, but when my instincts say "Yeah, this is half number one", the way that God of War [2018] is the first half of the Norse arc of that saga...I have my concerns about the pacing of the rest of the series.
However, I wouldn't not recommend Majority: if you're curious about the ideas of finite godhood in a universe where a pure majority-system rules, there's a lot to think about and dig into, and I thoroughly enjoyed doing just that, even if the bedrock story isn't 100% to my liking.
I'll be interested in continuing the series, but I cannot say I will make it a priority in the year to come. (Though for those interested, the full thing is already written, and these official publications will be done in relative quick succession, so if you're wondering about whether it'll be finished or not, I don't think you need to worry about that in this instance.)
Thank you to Abby for providing me the ARC for review, though I'm sorry it took so long to finish it.
fluffymao's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
2.75
I wanted to like this book. The premise is so compelling! Escape from a galactic-spanning empire of all-seeing telepathy? How?
But the execution left... a LOT to be desired. A LOT.
But the execution left... a LOT to be desired. A LOT.
punkhazard's review
Such a shame cause this series has such an unique concept and world. But the excecution was horrible. The writing was terrible, felt even worse in some ways then the normal Royalroad story. Something about it felt off, like it didn’t know how bad it really was. The biggest negative by far though is how boring it was. The book literally spent over 100 pages just having characters standing in a room talking to each other. No action(which is weird cause the book is marketed as being action packed) no tension, nothing interesting at all happening between a disabled super genius and a giant hive mind that stretches across trillions of minds and through the infinite reaches of space. I genuinely don’t know how the author managed to make that boring but he did. None of the side characters were interesting or even felt exactly necessary. The whole premise of the Torth being able to read minds and recall every memory they want is way too overblown and no matter what the book said there’s no way that the MC should be able to outsmart or surprise them. It’s ridiculous as hell. This book actually makes me angry.
marieoamartins's review
4.0
I really liked Majority! This storyline was highly creative. It was really a satisfying read with proper pacing and a nice amount of character development. I’d have liked more details about the world-building, but for me, it’s always something tricky for fantasy authors, you can’t spend 100 pages talking about the world you’re creating from scratch to people understand the foundations but if you write only a couple of things it lacks context. Everything is very well thought out.This book is a captivating science fiction adventure, skillfully crafted with engaging characters and thought-provoking themes.
Definitely a must-read for sci-fi enthusiasts!.
I received a free copy of this book via Podium Team and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Definitely a must-read for sci-fi enthusiasts!.
I received a free copy of this book via Podium Team and am voluntarily leaving a review.
commykaze's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I received an ARC for this book so I wanted to fit it in as soon as possible and provide some thoughts on what I read. This is the first entry in a unique space opera series that has actually already been completely written. It follows an unlikely group of heroes as they are thrust into an alien world that challenges everything they know about themselves, each other, and society.
First let me say that the society and world introduced in this book feel fairly fleshed out. I would say moreso the ideology of the different beings is focused on more heavily than any physical aspect of the world. The ideas at play are very interesting as well, dealing with the balance of emotions and intellect and the conflict of the individual vs the collective. There is also a lot here about slavery, personal identity, and responsibility.
I do have some issues with the writing, most of it having to deal with things getting explained too much rather than things being shown and happening naturally. There were some descriptions I wasn’t a fan of, “dopey-looking,” “ultra-disabled,” and a few others that I would have preferred seeing something a little more artful. As a whole though, the writing did flow rather nicely. The pacing was consistent throughout the book, and just for purely twisted entertainment I rather enjoyed the uptick in carnage in the latter half of the book.
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