rpmiller's review against another edition
2.0
This is not a complete story. There is no ending in this book. As a chapter in a longer saga, it was OK.
masyukun's review against another edition
2.0
Supposedly the first book in the series, but it's constantly flashing back to the interesting things that happened before this story started -- there is way too much exposition in this book. It's distracting and the narrator feels like that friend who recaps the last season of the show you watch together 15 minutes before season 2. All the adjectives and descriptions are cliched. The men grunt and ooze masculinity; the women are sexy as hell.
Every character is on an upward trend. There are no opponents that present real threats. There are no obstacles that the characters cannot overcome. The protagonists have the best technology and their enemies can't figure out what's happening. Every good guy is special in some way. Even minor throwaway good guys are cycling champions and natural geniuses. Throwaway bad guys wish they had followed through on their New Years' fitness resolutions.
I call this genre Domination Fantasy -- it's written as if its target audience are slightly dense, white collar middle managers who fantasize about ruling the world with unopposed benevolently absolute power -- next to their compliant, hot wives -- and anyone who doesn't like them is a fat bad guy.
Every character is on an upward trend. There are no opponents that present real threats. There are no obstacles that the characters cannot overcome. The protagonists have the best technology and their enemies can't figure out what's happening. Every good guy is special in some way. Even minor throwaway good guys are cycling champions and natural geniuses. Throwaway bad guys wish they had followed through on their New Years' fitness resolutions.
I call this genre Domination Fantasy -- it's written as if its target audience are slightly dense, white collar middle managers who fantasize about ruling the world with unopposed benevolently absolute power -- next to their compliant, hot wives -- and anyone who doesn't like them is a fat bad guy.
odbookreviews's review
4.0
Description: This story takes off after the end of the third Rho Agenda book, "Wormhole." We are now seeing how the events in that story changed the world, politics, and our protagonists' lives. In this installment we watch the heroes struggling to stay alive.
In Short: The Rho Agenda series is really a top notch science fiction series. The technology is truly spectacular. This series on the whole is a really amazing one and should definitely be read in order and without gaps for the full effect.
Pros: This book has the most amazing alien technology and physics. We also get to see alien worlds and even meet alien characters, which was really exciting. My favorite parts of this book were the ones about Jennifer and Raul who escaped on a spaceship and are now lost in space. Trekkies will really appreciate their journey. This book is very intelligently written, it makes the alien science and characters seem so believable. The books in this series have a ton of detail and an overwhelming cast of characters that make it a very rich story line. I look forward to seeing what exciting events will happen in the next book.
Cons: This book felt longer than it actually is. I think this is partially due to the perspective jumping around to not only key players but less important characters. One short scene is repeated twice from the perspective of two people next to each other, which was redundant. There are no real resolutions and in the end everything is still up in the air. Even in series books I like to see each book have a strong story and even though a lot happened I didn't feel like much was accomplished. Instead the story was more of just an ongoing struggle for the characters but I'm sure we will see them make and achieve more objectives in the next installment.
Parent's Guide: Trigger Warnings: violence, torture, murder, gore, combat with guns and blades.
I was given a free copy of this book in return for my honest review.
More reviews of Rho Agenda books at: ODBookReviews.blogspot.com
In Short: The Rho Agenda series is really a top notch science fiction series. The technology is truly spectacular. This series on the whole is a really amazing one and should definitely be read in order and without gaps for the full effect.
Pros: This book has the most amazing alien technology and physics. We also get to see alien worlds and even meet alien characters, which was really exciting. My favorite parts of this book were the ones about Jennifer and Raul who escaped on a spaceship and are now lost in space. Trekkies will really appreciate their journey. This book is very intelligently written, it makes the alien science and characters seem so believable. The books in this series have a ton of detail and an overwhelming cast of characters that make it a very rich story line. I look forward to seeing what exciting events will happen in the next book.
Cons: This book felt longer than it actually is. I think this is partially due to the perspective jumping around to not only key players but less important characters. One short scene is repeated twice from the perspective of two people next to each other, which was redundant. There are no real resolutions and in the end everything is still up in the air. Even in series books I like to see each book have a strong story and even though a lot happened I didn't feel like much was accomplished. Instead the story was more of just an ongoing struggle for the characters but I'm sure we will see them make and achieve more objectives in the next installment.
Parent's Guide: Trigger Warnings: violence, torture, murder, gore, combat with guns and blades.
I was given a free copy of this book in return for my honest review.
More reviews of Rho Agenda books at: ODBookReviews.blogspot.com
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