Astor Reinhardt

So Dust Lands #2. What a mess. I'm not one to do reviews, but when/if a book I read flops hard...I make an exception.

Let me start off by saying the first book was great. It wasn't a total Hunger Games cash grab...as it had some different things in it. Not much but it was there. Enough to make me ignore how much it was copying from Hunger Games (main character is female, who has a sister, MC has to fight for her life and over throw a powerful person to be free.) If she hadn't been shaved she'd have the long hair as well. But I digress. So the first book was good. Second book started off strong and then lost me near the end when she meets up with DeMalo. Really? TWO love interests?! Three if you count Tommo. Just...no. I can't keep saying that the series isn't trying to be a HG cash grab anymore. It's copying it way too much. Maybe all post apocalyptic young adult books start to sound the same? I just wish there were some where the MC DOESN'T have a love interest. That's the weakness in Hunger Games as well. Why does such a strong female lead need a love interest? She doesn't. Same here with Saba. She didn't need a love interest.

But I could look past her and Jack...fine. But her and DeMalo? Seriously that came out of left field. There's no reason for her to love him. NONE. The author just wanted a cheap way to make drama and a love triangle is the easiest way. That's poor writing in my opinion. I'm looking forward to the end of the series...I totally lost hope in the series after this book. I'll read till the end because I like finishing thing.

My advice to people who are new to the series? Stop after the first book.

I really struggled with this book. The massive amount of “made up words” threw me off. I didn't understand half of what went on in this book. If your book requires you have a dictionary in the back...you're doing something wrong.

It was not an easy book to get into...I stopped reading it at one point early on but I forced myself to read this book. If only because a lot of people seem to think it's a must read for sci-fi lovers...it's not. It's dull and needlessly convoluted.

The only saving grace for this book is the setting. I thought the setting in a desert planet was pretty cool. I also liked the plans the Fremen had for reshaping the planet.

But the writing...I'm a fast reader and it took me nearly a month to read this small (in my opinion when compared to some of the things I've read) book. Somethings wrong with that.

People keep calling this book a “grand epic”...I can think of plenty of other books that fit that title a lot better.

I'm not terribly great at reviews, so there's probably a better review on this book that you can read.

That being said, let's get into it.

I started this series years ago, when I stumbled across the first book in a thrift store. Ever since then I was hooked. I've actually had a hard time tracking down all the books in this series (some of them I had to buy online), but the series was so good I wanted to get all the books! And then...the series changed. I can't remember which book Hirata was forced into the group (was it the one before this one?) but it started going downhill there. Rowland has used ghosts and the spirit world before in her books, that didn't bother me. What bothered me is she made a “get out of jail” card with Hirata and the ghost. I suppose it really started when Hirata was injured and had to turn to the mystic arts to get strong again. She was making this character...overpowered and totally different from what he used to be. He loved Midori and his kids...now he leaves them and ignores them? When he's with them he fights with Midori? That's not his character. She totally messed up Hirata.

And she keeps doing it. Giving him more and more power. Putting him in an impossible position and finally throws the character in the trash when she has the ghost possess him. She would have been better off just killing him. So now she has an overpowered character that can come in and wrap up the ending of the book, fixing all the problems she made. Lazy writing in my opinion.

I guess as series build and get longer and longer...the author just gets lazy. It's happened in other series that start off fantastic and end horribly. Steven Kings The Dark Tower series comes to mind.

I feel that she could have took her time and made a longer book or another book altogether and actually spent time on fixing the mess she made of the characters and the world. Not only did this book make a mess of everything in that world, it felt rushed. Like she just wanted the series to be over. Which after 18 books...I suppose I can see that.

It's a poor ending to what was a great series. The characters deserved better.

After reading the amazing nerdgasim that is Ready Player One, I went into this book thinking I'd be reading nearly the same amazing story...just set in space...and with aliens. That didn't happen.

I'm not huge on space/aliens in general...same with “war” stuff as well. But I figured I could give this a shot given Ready Player One was so god damn mind blowing.

How Cline went from RPO to this...mess, I will never know.

It has ok parts...I like the geek/nerd references, Lex was pretty cool, and I liked Milo and Shin (yay for gay characters).

But it has a lot of bad parts. The main character and nearly every character (ignoring the ones I liked) were boring. The plot was...convoluted. All the EDA terms were just...god a mess. Maybe it's because I'm not into mechs and war games...but I was skipping over whole chunks of the book just to get through all the junk about EDA mechs and drones and blah blah blah. BORING.

And the self sacrifice bit was pretty obvious as soon as they introduced the dad.

I thought the “romance” between Zack and Lex was...shallow and shoved into the story. I get that “omg the world is ending...let's find a corner and $%*^” mindset...but it just wasn't needed. Lex could have stayed a friend to Zack...and just been a cool kickass strong female character. I think she was cheapened by the need to force them together for a romantic angle.