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ammonoids's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
An interesting, slow-building military sci-fi. I can see the threads building but not quite where they all connect yet- this doesn't feel quite like a full book, especially with the cliffhanger.
cara_may123's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
2.0
Wasn’t as good as how the blurb was written
antoinetteo's review against another edition
adventurous
relaxing
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? No
4.0
sherwoodreads's review against another edition
Simply inhaled this.
Be warned: it's the first in a series, and ends on the sort of cliffhanger that causes readers to breathe brimstone and pitchforks. If you can't stand that sort of ending, then buy the book and stash it underneath that copy of Proust you've always meant to read, until the next comes out.
It starts deceptively slowly, as Aden, who has been a prisoner of war for five years, is released and told to get out of Rhodia. Everyone hates the Gretians who lost the war, but they really, really hate the military unit he was in.
We also are introduced to some other POVs. Some of these connect up toward the end, others don't, but as attacks begin to happen, without anyone knowing why or who, it's clear that all these POVs will be converging as action stars shifting into high gear.
Kloos is so good at military SF and worldbuilding. Terrific characters, fascinating setup, unpredictable turns in the plot. But how long O lord, how long, until book two????
I'll be buying this in print.
Copy provided by NetGalley
Be warned: it's the first in a series, and ends on the sort of cliffhanger that causes readers to breathe brimstone and pitchforks. If you can't stand that sort of ending, then buy the book and stash it underneath that copy of Proust you've always meant to read, until the next comes out.
It starts deceptively slowly, as Aden, who has been a prisoner of war for five years, is released and told to get out of Rhodia. Everyone hates the Gretians who lost the war, but they really, really hate the military unit he was in.
We also are introduced to some other POVs. Some of these connect up toward the end, others don't, but as attacks begin to happen, without anyone knowing why or who, it's clear that all these POVs will be converging as action stars shifting into high gear.
Kloos is so good at military SF and worldbuilding. Terrific characters, fascinating setup, unpredictable turns in the plot. But how long O lord, how long, until book two????
I'll be buying this in print.
Copy provided by NetGalley
yevolem's review against another edition
3.0
The plot seemed to be loosely based on a mix of post-world wars Germany, which ought to be familiar to the author as he was born and raised in Germany. The narrative was told from four perspectives, two of each from both the occupied and the occupiers. I was only particularly invested in the starting viewpoint character and given the length of the novel, I think having four was too many. The four are: a recently released POW trying to decide what to do with his life, a character who exists to have plot shown to them for the reader's benefit, a human face for the occupation, and a business leader of the occupied.
I had a lot of conflicted feelings about this relatively short nominally military science fiction novel. Probably almost any review will tell you the same thing, that this was only a small portion of a story. By the end of the the book the setting was mostly set up, but that's all. I can only guess at what the overarching plot was meant to be based on the relevant historical parallels. I don't fault him on a commercial basis for spreading it so thin, but as a work of entertainment it left a lot to be desired. As a note, Kloos is a member of GRRM's writer consortium and explicitly thanked Scalzi, whose writing this moderately resembled.
Aside from a few silly moments, this made for fine enough reading, but the problem is what this series holds for the future based on this first novel and the length of his other series. It would seem that each book will progress the narrative as little as possible so that it can be as many as books as possible. Again, I don't fault him for that, but I don't think I'm interested enough to follow through on that premise. I'll probably quit here to avoid becoming committed. Even if they were all already released my answer would likely still be the same. It falls just barely short of being sufficient for me to continue.
Rating: 3.5/5
I had a lot of conflicted feelings about this relatively short nominally military science fiction novel. Probably almost any review will tell you the same thing, that this was only a small portion of a story. By the end of the the book the setting was mostly set up, but that's all. I can only guess at what the overarching plot was meant to be based on the relevant historical parallels. I don't fault him on a commercial basis for spreading it so thin, but as a work of entertainment it left a lot to be desired. As a note, Kloos is a member of GRRM's writer consortium and explicitly thanked Scalzi, whose writing this moderately resembled.
Aside from a few silly moments, this made for fine enough reading, but the problem is what this series holds for the future based on this first novel and the length of his other series. It would seem that each book will progress the narrative as little as possible so that it can be as many as books as possible. Again, I don't fault him for that, but I don't think I'm interested enough to follow through on that premise. I'll probably quit here to avoid becoming committed. Even if they were all already released my answer would likely still be the same. It falls just barely short of being sufficient for me to continue.
Rating: 3.5/5
petri28's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.25
maraya21's review against another edition
3.0
elliereadsstuff's review against another edition
2.0
This book has two major flaws, in my opinion. Firstly: the character development, or rather the lack of character development. All the characters are the same. If I opened a random page in the book I’d have no idea who’s point of view I was looking at. Secondly: the plot feels almost nonexistent. The book ends without any answers and without any real story to begin with.
That being said, I did enjoy the combat scenes and the world building and will probably continue the series.
That being said, I did enjoy the combat scenes and the world building and will probably continue the series.
i8gyoza's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
4.5
rilkegriffin's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0