Scan barcode
A review by novelinsights
Fortune's Rising by Sara King, Lance MacCarty
4.0
This was a fun sci-fi adventure about a planet called Fortune, where a larger governing body called the Coalition has enslaved the native people (aka the colonists) to raise terrifying slug-like creatures and harvest their eggs, the yolk of which being incredibly valuable due to its intelligence-boosting properties. Being the first book in a series, this story followed several interconnected characters, depicting their experiences on the planet as the population moved toward rebellion.
In the beginning of the book, the author listed some of her literary influences, one of the first being Joss Whedon, and the book definitely felt like it took place on one of the Rim worlds in the Firefly 'verse, which I liked. I could also see his influence in the witty dialogue, although I will admit that occasionally it felt like someone said something out of character just to surprise the reader or make a witty comment.
This book also featured an enemies-to-lovers subplot, which is a trope I typically don't like, though I was fine with it here due to the fact that there were some indications from very early on that the enemy was actually a good guy. The main problem that I had with it was that the romantic inclinations started a little too early on for my taste. The POV character was kidnapped and almost immediately starting thinking about how attractive her captors were. Regardless of who kidnapped me, I don't think I would be capable of seeing them as attractive, at least without taking some time either for them to earn my trust or for me to develop Stockholm Syndrome.
My other problems with the book were mostly small matters of wording--tiny pieces of out-of-character dialogue, word choice that I didn't agree with (like the repeated describing of one character's eyes as 'piss-brown,' which sounds like a very unhealthy color for piss to be), etc. There were also several editing errors (a word missing, the same word used twice in a sentence, someone being called the fourth something when he was only the third, etc.) but they weren't overwhelming and it was obvious that they were accidents and not the result of the author failing to understand some important element of grammar. Because this was a self-published book that thus lacked a professional editor, I think the occasional oversights were forgivable.
I would recommend this book to any fans of character-led science fiction, and I am excited to get my hands on the second book in the series.
In the beginning of the book, the author listed some of her literary influences, one of the first being Joss Whedon, and the book definitely felt like it took place on one of the Rim worlds in the Firefly 'verse, which I liked. I could also see his influence in the witty dialogue, although I will admit that occasionally it felt like someone said something out of character just to surprise the reader or make a witty comment.
This book also featured an enemies-to-lovers subplot, which is a trope I typically don't like, though I was fine with it here due to the fact that there were some indications from very early on that the enemy was actually a good guy. The main problem that I had with it was that the romantic inclinations started a little too early on for my taste. The POV character was kidnapped and almost immediately starting thinking about how attractive her captors were. Regardless of who kidnapped me, I don't think I would be capable of seeing them as attractive, at least without taking some time either for them to earn my trust or for me to develop Stockholm Syndrome.
My other problems with the book were mostly small matters of wording--tiny pieces of out-of-character dialogue, word choice that I didn't agree with (like the repeated describing of one character's eyes as 'piss-brown,' which sounds like a very unhealthy color for piss to be), etc. There were also several editing errors (a word missing, the same word used twice in a sentence, someone being called the fourth something when he was only the third, etc.) but they weren't overwhelming and it was obvious that they were accidents and not the result of the author failing to understand some important element of grammar. Because this was a self-published book that thus lacked a professional editor, I think the occasional oversights were forgivable.
I would recommend this book to any fans of character-led science fiction, and I am excited to get my hands on the second book in the series.