A review by novelheartbeat
Insignia by S.J. Kincaid
Did not finish book.
DNF @ 80 pages
I had tried to read this once before and couldn't get into it. It's been a couple years, so I wanted to try again - this time I downloaded the audio, because it's narrated by Lincoln Hoppe and I loved him in Illuminae and Aurora Rising.
Sadly, that was literally the only thing about this book that I remotely liked. I didn't like the prose, the tone, or the main character. Or any of the characters, actually. It looked good on the surface, with plenty of diversity and characters that I should have liked, but I just didn't. I think the sophomoric tone/writing really ruined everything for me. It also felt exactly like every other generic dystopian I've ever read. It didn't bring anything new or exciting to the dystopian table, which made me not want to continue. I saw a couple people comparing it to Ender's Game, which I hated, so maybe that's another one of my issues. It really did feel like Ender's Game all over again.
Then, as if I wasn't already feeling apathetic enough, there was an exercise/training simulation in which "Japanese ronins came rushing out." That's right. Ronins. (In case you're unfamiliar with Japanese culture, the plural form of ronin is, in fact, RONIN.) How TF did that pass editing and publication? My eye twitched every time it was repeated and it was just too much for me.
I had tried to read this once before and couldn't get into it. It's been a couple years, so I wanted to try again - this time I downloaded the audio, because it's narrated by Lincoln Hoppe and I loved him in Illuminae and Aurora Rising.
Sadly, that was literally the only thing about this book that I remotely liked. I didn't like the prose, the tone, or the main character. Or any of the characters, actually. It looked good on the surface, with plenty of diversity and characters that I should have liked, but I just didn't. I think the sophomoric tone/writing really ruined everything for me. It also felt exactly like every other generic dystopian I've ever read. It didn't bring anything new or exciting to the dystopian table, which made me not want to continue. I saw a couple people comparing it to Ender's Game, which I hated, so maybe that's another one of my issues. It really did feel like Ender's Game all over again.
Then, as if I wasn't already feeling apathetic enough, there was an exercise/training simulation in which "Japanese ronins came rushing out." That's right. Ronins. (In case you're unfamiliar with Japanese culture, the plural form of ronin is, in fact, RONIN.) How TF did that pass editing and publication? My eye twitched every time it was repeated and it was just too much for me.