kepheus's review against another edition
2.0
I get that the author is trying to convey a vast and complex universe, but it's as flighty as a condorfly and dull. The characters are brief sketches with little depth (especially anyone in love) and even less to do or say.
taberiusrex's review against another edition
2.0
I write this review in full recognizance of the fact that I have neither finished the entire series, nor do I plan to.
Minor spoilers to follow.
Kevin Anderson has done good work in the past, and I'm thrilled at his work on an original IP instead of doing franchise work. That said, I agree with a lot of the flak he's gotten saying that this story doesn't need to be stretched out to a full seven books. It could probably fit comfortably in a trilogy or tetralogy; or, if he really wanted to keep the number theme going, he could have done a better job confining each book to just a couple of characters, making their stories more significant and their development coherent.
I'll give an example, but it comes from a later book, I think. Also, it having been so long since I read it, some of the details are a bit fuzzy.
The story of Tasia Tamblyn is a very interesting one: she's a Roamer, an outsider in the Terran Hanseatic League, who joined up with the military out of a sense of vengeance and duty. She joins the flight school, fights her way to the top of her class, and graduates with honors. She makes friends and enemies alike, both for her heritage and her flippant attitude.
It's an intriguing and wonderful story, a bit common but with plenty of room for originality and character growth. It could easily fill a book. Anderson took care of it with a few chapters, most of it being taken care of "off-screen," so to speak.
Overall it's still an enjoyable series. I lied earlier, I'll probably finish some day. But it smacks of wasted opportunity: given the amount of space the story takes up, Anderson could have shortened it without losing substance, or beefed up its significance by narrowing his focus to just a few individuals.
Worth your time if you're a big SF fan, otherwise not a great place to start.
Minor spoilers to follow.
Kevin Anderson has done good work in the past, and I'm thrilled at his work on an original IP instead of doing franchise work. That said, I agree with a lot of the flak he's gotten saying that this story doesn't need to be stretched out to a full seven books. It could probably fit comfortably in a trilogy or tetralogy; or, if he really wanted to keep the number theme going, he could have done a better job confining each book to just a couple of characters, making their stories more significant and their development coherent.
I'll give an example, but it comes from a later book, I think. Also, it having been so long since I read it, some of the details are a bit fuzzy.
The story of Tasia Tamblyn is a very interesting one: she's a Roamer, an outsider in the Terran Hanseatic League, who joined up with the military out of a sense of vengeance and duty. She joins the flight school, fights her way to the top of her class, and graduates with honors. She makes friends and enemies alike, both for her heritage and her flippant attitude.
It's an intriguing and wonderful story, a bit common but with plenty of room for originality and character growth. It could easily fill a book. Anderson took care of it with a few chapters, most of it being taken care of "off-screen," so to speak.
Overall it's still an enjoyable series. I lied earlier, I'll probably finish some day. But it smacks of wasted opportunity: given the amount of space the story takes up, Anderson could have shortened it without losing substance, or beefed up its significance by narrowing his focus to just a few individuals.
Worth your time if you're a big SF fan, otherwise not a great place to start.
novelyon's review
slow-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
3.0
hawkeyegough's review against another edition
5.0
Love it. It feels a lot like the Dune universe, but less populated with different races and species (granted this is the first book and I expect that to change). Kevin J Anderson does an excellent job of writing hard sci-fi in a way that leaves room for mystical unexplained phenomena. Well-rounded characters from a huge variety of backgrounds made the whole thing very believable. I'm going to buy the second one since my library only carries 1 and 3-7, but I need to read all of these if they're this good (and so should you).
pjonsson's review against another edition
3.0
This is indeed a large and very well written book. Unfortunately, after having read it I do not get the satisfied feeling that I would have expected. Instead I get a feeling that there was too much text and too little actual story. Actually it is not that there is no story. There is a lot of it in fact. But the author painstakingly goes on and on with details, interactions between people etc. etc. and nothing really happens for long periods of time. The entire book is more or less just an introduction to the actual story.
Each individual piece of the book is very good in itself but, surprisingly, when put the pieces together, the whole becomes…not so great. Each chapter is well written and it is actually fun to read but after a while you feel that you are eating a meal which turned into Groundhog Day while you were eating the entrée and you never get to continue to the main course.
When the book finally ends, with no less than five players with their own agenda a no qualms to promote it via deceit and treachery, the stage is set for a true space opera full of scheming, backstabbing and other such despicable activities. I cannot say that this is exactly my cup of tea. Having said that, there is also ample opportunity for action since a brutal war is looming at the horizon. If the next book is in the same style as this one I am afraid that the actual action will take a back seat though.
The story itself is quite compelling, to me at least, and holds quite a lot of promise. Thus I am quite hesitant to give up on the series even though I did not get the satisfaction out of this book as I hoped. In any case I rarely give up on a book series unless it turns out to be real crap. I will not dive into the next one right away though. I need a fix of some easier to read literature before I dig my eyes into the next on in this series.
Each individual piece of the book is very good in itself but, surprisingly, when put the pieces together, the whole becomes…not so great. Each chapter is well written and it is actually fun to read but after a while you feel that you are eating a meal which turned into Groundhog Day while you were eating the entrée and you never get to continue to the main course.
When the book finally ends, with no less than five players with their own agenda a no qualms to promote it via deceit and treachery, the stage is set for a true space opera full of scheming, backstabbing and other such despicable activities. I cannot say that this is exactly my cup of tea. Having said that, there is also ample opportunity for action since a brutal war is looming at the horizon. If the next book is in the same style as this one I am afraid that the actual action will take a back seat though.
The story itself is quite compelling, to me at least, and holds quite a lot of promise. Thus I am quite hesitant to give up on the series even though I did not get the satisfaction out of this book as I hoped. In any case I rarely give up on a book series unless it turns out to be real crap. I will not dive into the next one right away though. I need a fix of some easier to read literature before I dig my eyes into the next on in this series.
bop_oppy's review
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Enjoyed reading this but it was incredibly slow paced and didn't really make me care about what was going on. Parts of the world and the story were intriguing, I especially liked the concept behind the world of theroc. Unfortunately it was very clear that the book was written to be part of a larger series. This wouldn't always be an issue but for such a long book to only feel like an introductory chapter was disappointing- it doesn't really hold up as its own piece.
Having said that I still enjoyed it and am now reading the second installment!
Having said that I still enjoyed it and am now reading the second installment!
zolama's review against another edition
2.0
Meh. It's an early 2000s space opera that feels like it could have written much earlier. It almost feels rote. There's too much exposition and a very stereotypical/standard kind of story behind it all. It's readable, but you have to be prepared for it to be pulpy and tedious at times.
heebson's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
slow-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? Yes
2.0
It’s an ok book, but the entire series is too long - as in has too much padding
dadreadsstuff's review against another edition
5.0
Trying to get any leisure reading done with school, work, and family is much harder than I thought. Took me about a month to finish this. But it was worth it.
I read the first five books of this series many years ago. I hadn't read any space opera and didn't even know what that meant at the time. I just wanted to read something with a bunch of aliens and space problems and I got lucky at the library. I never finished the series. Not sure why. But about a month ago I started wanting to go back to some sci-fi because I had been reading horror and fantasy for years.
Does this book have flaws? Sure. But I found it easy to ignore them because the world is massive and the different types of characters were a blast. The conflict is epic and the many different storylines that interweave are fascinating.
A really scary enemy in the sky threatening the whole universe, forcing groups of people who otherwise hate each other to work for survival together. It's like a fantasy in space. Freaking fantastic!
I read the first five books of this series many years ago. I hadn't read any space opera and didn't even know what that meant at the time. I just wanted to read something with a bunch of aliens and space problems and I got lucky at the library. I never finished the series. Not sure why. But about a month ago I started wanting to go back to some sci-fi because I had been reading horror and fantasy for years.
Does this book have flaws? Sure. But I found it easy to ignore them because the world is massive and the different types of characters were a blast. The conflict is epic and the many different storylines that interweave are fascinating.
A really scary enemy in the sky threatening the whole universe, forcing groups of people who otherwise hate each other to work for survival together. It's like a fantasy in space. Freaking fantastic!
payal_reads_alot's review against another edition
3.0
I'm so torn about this book. I can't tell if I liked it but I know I didn't hate it. Here's what I liked about the book.
1. Fascinating details about interstellar travels and lifestyle.
2. Change in human genetics due to isolation and environment (green priests).
3. Introduction of peaceful Aliens (Ildirans).
4. Differences in lifestyle between humans and aliens.
5. Types of robots and the work they did.
6. The ruling structure - I imagined that it sounds rather close to what we can expect from an empire.
Here's what I didn't like about it.
1. Flat characters.
2. Mining. Why does a space saga always, always involve mining?
3. Lack luster romance - it tried and failed rather spectacularly at invoking feelings.
4. Overall boring. It read like a history book; drab and droning.
5. Really short chapters. It did nothing to improve the book since these were too short to give rather good handle on each of the characters.
6. The ending, ugh! I know it is part of a series, but that ending was horrible.
I'll say its close to 2.5 but will round it up to 3.
1. Fascinating details about interstellar travels and lifestyle.
2. Change in human genetics due to isolation and environment (green priests).
3. Introduction of peaceful Aliens (Ildirans).
4. Differences in lifestyle between humans and aliens.
5. Types of robots and the work they did.
6. The ruling structure - I imagined that it sounds rather close to what we can expect from an empire.
Here's what I didn't like about it.
1. Flat characters.
2. Mining. Why does a space saga always, always involve mining?
3. Lack luster romance - it tried and failed rather spectacularly at invoking feelings.
4. Overall boring. It read like a history book; drab and droning.
5. Really short chapters. It did nothing to improve the book since these were too short to give rather good handle on each of the characters.
6. The ending, ugh! I know it is part of a series, but that ending was horrible.
I'll say its close to 2.5 but will round it up to 3.