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A review by erin_boyington
Stalag-X by Kevin J. Anderson, Steven L. Sears
3.0
The art is okay throughout, though I didn't much care for the way women were depicted. (Aren't we over everyone missing half their shirts and being the same Barbie body type yet?)
If you're looking for a horror-y alien novel, this will work. I think the Krael are fairly one-dimensional bad guys. It's said that they are hierarchical and can't operate if the leader is killed, but we never see what that would actually mean. They're mostly an excuse to draw teeth and tentacles, which is cool with me. I think the whole human extinction angle is only fascinating if there are humans you can care about, and none of the prisoners in the camp rose to the level of fully-developed people since Joe Human's interactions with them were all antagonistic.
Finally, I didn't fully buy Joe Human's arc from survival-motivated loner to selfless hero. It's clear from the beginning that we're missing his backstory, but each of his actions (especially in the first quarter) don't fully add up to the decisions he makes at the end.
It's set up for a sequel, but meh.
Received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
If you're looking for a horror-y alien novel, this will work. I think the Krael are fairly one-dimensional bad guys. It's said that they are hierarchical and can't operate if the leader is killed, but we never see what that would actually mean. They're mostly an excuse to draw teeth and tentacles, which is cool with me. I think the whole human extinction angle is only fascinating if there are humans you can care about, and none of the prisoners in the camp rose to the level of fully-developed people since Joe Human's interactions with them were all antagonistic.
Finally, I didn't fully buy Joe Human's arc from survival-motivated loner to selfless hero. It's clear from the beginning that we're missing his backstory, but each of his actions (especially in the first quarter) don't fully add up to the decisions he makes at the end.
It's set up for a sequel, but meh.
Received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.