shanbitt's review
3.0
I enjoyed this book. It took me awhile to pick it up and read it after I received it even though it had gotten good ratings. For whatever irrational reason I had, I went into the book expecting not to like it. However, it lived up to the ratings. I didn't rate it a four, but if GoodReads had half star ratings I would have rated it a 3.5. Fours I reserve for books I really liked and couldn't put down or have something profound to say. Fives are for books I would read over and over again or have impacted my life in some way.
I liked the characters, especially Captain Davage (I would be in love with him too) and Lt. Kilos. I loved how Kilos joined the Marines so her husband could live his dream. The female characters were protrayed as strong, independent women without sacrificing their feminity. At the same time the male characters were still able to be men. The illustrations were excellant!
Mr. Garcia did an excellant job with the world building. He walked that fine line of explaining just enough for you to understand without spelling it out for you in pain-staking detail. Most of the world building was treated as if you grew up in the society of the League of Elders and it took for granted that you knew everything. There weren't large explanations at the beginning of the book about the universe, the reader learned as the book unfolded. Flashbacks to the youth of the characters provided a little more detail into Mr. Garcia's universe which I thought was a good strategy.
The story was a little more of a romance story than typical fantasy/sci-fi books I've read in that the book focused a lot on the romance. This was kinda of a neutral thing for me. I wouldn't like to have a lot of my fantasy follow this route, but it worked here.
The main thing I didn't like about the book was that it was a little like a roller coaster ride. There was a beginning, then a climax, then a resolution, another climax, another resolution, etc, etc until the end. I would get into the story and read until the resolution and then there would still be book left. I would put it down for a few hours and then pick it back up again, get really into the story and then at the resolution there would still be more story. This is probably why the book didn't get a four star rating from me. I was excited to keep reading, but there were too many stopping points instead of a steady build up to one climax and resolution (even just two would have been okay). Other than that there were a couple of editing errors (I'm sure I have a few in these review).
I can't wait to read the next few books in the series and find out what happens next!
I received this book for free through GoodReads First Reads.
I liked the characters, especially Captain Davage (I would be in love with him too) and Lt. Kilos. I loved how Kilos joined the Marines so her husband could live his dream. The female characters were protrayed as strong, independent women without sacrificing their feminity. At the same time the male characters were still able to be men. The illustrations were excellant!
Mr. Garcia did an excellant job with the world building. He walked that fine line of explaining just enough for you to understand without spelling it out for you in pain-staking detail. Most of the world building was treated as if you grew up in the society of the League of Elders and it took for granted that you knew everything. There weren't large explanations at the beginning of the book about the universe, the reader learned as the book unfolded. Flashbacks to the youth of the characters provided a little more detail into Mr. Garcia's universe which I thought was a good strategy.
The story was a little more of a romance story than typical fantasy/sci-fi books I've read in that the book focused a lot on the romance. This was kinda of a neutral thing for me. I wouldn't like to have a lot of my fantasy follow this route, but it worked here.
The main thing I didn't like about the book was that it was a little like a roller coaster ride. There was a beginning, then a climax, then a resolution, another climax, another resolution, etc, etc until the end. I would get into the story and read until the resolution and then there would still be book left. I would put it down for a few hours and then pick it back up again, get really into the story and then at the resolution there would still be more story. This is probably why the book didn't get a four star rating from me. I was excited to keep reading, but there were too many stopping points instead of a steady build up to one climax and resolution (even just two would have been okay). Other than that there were a couple of editing errors (I'm sure I have a few in these review).
I can't wait to read the next few books in the series and find out what happens next!
I received this book for free through GoodReads First Reads.
More...