cal_jessamine's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
sonofthe's review
4.0
Been interested in this series for a while. Finally got around to it. Wasn't expecting the alternate history element. The ending makes me wonder how Sales will continue the story.
krakentamer's review
3.0
A quick listen to an overall entertaining story, but it's definitely not consistent. By far the biggest problem I had with this was the too-intrusive acronym explanations. I think that a simple way to get across the same point would be to use the full term the first time, and then the acronym after that. Also, there were quite a few acronyms that didn't need to be expanded (e.g. AFB). Sure, not every reader will know what all of these terms mean, but this is book is going to appeal only to a very specific set of readers - and those readers will all be able to follow the story even if they don't know every expanded acronym. However, while nearly every subsystem in the Apollo space system got a shoutout, there was a major piece of hardware that got barely more than a handwave, and it was a bit distracting waiting for both the backstory as well as the actual operational description of this piece of equipment, and then to see that it never came.
My second gripe is possibly more with the narration - the narrator would spell out some acronyms that are pronounced as words (such as TAC - it was either "TACK" or the full Tactical Air Command, and it wasn't "The TAC" and definitely not T.A.C.), while pronouncing others that are usually spelled out in that context (such as LEO for Low Earth Orbit).
My final gripe is, again, with the narration - the narrator was a bit flat, and it would be a little jarring when he'd switch to a paragraph that started a flashback or memory. Ideally there'd be a little pause there to let the reader know that there was a context switch occurring, but the narrator just barrelled right through the paragraph gap, leaving me to wonder if I'd skipped ahead in the narration.
So in the end, the story itself was interesting, the flashbacks only made sense to explain some motivations near the end, and the acronym issue was a bit distracting.
My second gripe is possibly more with the narration - the narrator would spell out some acronyms that are pronounced as words (such as TAC - it was either "TACK" or the full Tactical Air Command, and it wasn't "The TAC" and definitely not T.A.C.), while pronouncing others that are usually spelled out in that context (such as LEO for Low Earth Orbit).
My final gripe is, again, with the narration - the narrator was a bit flat, and it would be a little jarring when he'd switch to a paragraph that started a flashback or memory. Ideally there'd be a little pause there to let the reader know that there was a context switch occurring, but the narrator just barrelled right through the paragraph gap, leaving me to wonder if I'd skipped ahead in the narration.
So in the end, the story itself was interesting, the flashbacks only made sense to explain some motivations near the end, and the acronym issue was a bit distracting.
wilygecko's review
1.0
Audio version. Not for me. Very dry narration and the background music was distracting. Storyline felt disjointed as well.
klfgasaway's review
dark
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
djotaku's review
3.0
I got this book in audiobook form as part of a Humble Bundle that had a bunch of other space exploration non-fiction books that I was interested in. The other day I had run out of podcast episodes so I loaded this into my audiobook program.
This is a very short book - probably novella length so it's difficult to discuss without spoilers, so there will be some minor, unmarked spoilers ahead. The story takes place in an alternate timeline where the USA never stopped exploring the moon after the Apollo Project. In this alternate timeline, a group of men have become trapped on the moon and are trying to figure out how to get back home.
It is an old fashioned SF story that reminds me of the style of the short stories in GRRM's Nightflyers collection. If the reader is a NASA nerd they'll probably get a huge kick out of the technical details in the story. For me as someone who just casually follows NASA and was listening to a bunch of acronyms, it could become a little dense. For example, a regular book would have said, "Commander so-and-so pushed the ignition button." But this book had text like, "Commander so-and-so pushed the BLAND (button lander alternative neutral dummy) button"
The glimpses we get of the world via the story are interesting. And I'm not against reading the rest of the quartet. But after the way this story ends, I'm curious where the author goes from here.
This is a very short book - probably novella length so it's difficult to discuss without spoilers, so there will be some minor, unmarked spoilers ahead. The story takes place in an alternate timeline where the USA never stopped exploring the moon after the Apollo Project. In this alternate timeline, a group of men have become trapped on the moon and are trying to figure out how to get back home.
It is an old fashioned SF story that reminds me of the style of the short stories in GRRM's Nightflyers collection. If the reader is a NASA nerd they'll probably get a huge kick out of the technical details in the story. For me as someone who just casually follows NASA and was listening to a bunch of acronyms, it could become a little dense. For example, a regular book would have said, "Commander so-and-so pushed the ignition button." But this book had text like, "Commander so-and-so pushed the BLAND (button lander alternative neutral dummy) button"
The glimpses we get of the world via the story are interesting. And I'm not against reading the rest of the quartet. But after the way this story ends, I'm curious where the author goes from here.
curlybooks's review
1.0
This was a techno-babble lackluster mess. No real explanations about wonder device that lets them change realities...and the worst ending to a book that I've read in a long time. I was hoping to get a new sci-fi series experience (a self-published one at that) and instead I wish I had never even bothered. Harsh but true.
lauredhel's review
2.0
The germ of a good story, crushed under a massive pile of PLSS A7LB LM USMC LCGUSN TKS LEVA TLI J-2 F-108D WTFC.