Andrew

I've never heard of Robert Sheckley, but this story was included in a lost sci-fi short story collection. The story itself was an interesting take on how humanity could end war by allowing registered people to hunt each other instead. The views on women is a product of the time I suppose, but it was nice she was the one laying the trap in the end.

I found it funny, though, that despite being in a future where humans would hunt each other, things like milkman would still exist.

This book started out alright and has an interesting premise, but it was rather difficult to get through. The dialogue is wooden, the characters pretty bland, a bunch of scenes simply could have, and should have been left out. There's a few instances of things being more or less repeated unnecessary. Catie, the teenager is a mary sue of a character and over all the story has little to do with the starship or the premise established in the first chapter. There's little world building, and events just fall in place for the protagonists.

I finished it more because I don't like to leave a book unfinished and had hoped it would get better, it did not. Also at one point 3D printers were mentioned and spelt as three-D.

This is the second Alastair Reynolds book I have read and totally different than House of Suns. However, I still greatly enjoyed it as it had a different take on the time travel/alt history trope than I'm used to. I plan on picking up more of the Author's works in the future as its all been great scifi for me!

There was plenty of potential within this book, however, I found the execution lacking. Adian's motivations were a bit hollow and “redeeming” himself at the end after 7 years of seeking bloody revenge felt hollow. Cadence's betrayal wasn't a shock, but she didn't give any hint that she was little more than a washed-up drug addict until the epilogue where she was entrusted with probably the true villain's most important plan.

The dialogue was also questionable at times. Adian called Knightfall a man when she started to drive his motorcycle just so she can say she wasn't one was... cringe at best. Also, I don't mind cussing in the slightest but it felt overused here to prove how dark and edgy the world was.

Finally, the story is labeled as a “gamelit” but there aren't any actual gamelit elements in the story. The only thing that exists was Adian's AI would info dump about characters and items, this could have been done a different way and the gamelit label dropped entirely.

This was a bit depressing but a great read. It was though provoking and took the pov of two different people during two different periods of time. It deals with suicide, bullying, alzheimer's, dealing with lost and morality. It was worth every moment of reading though I did have to put it down a few times to decompress. If any of these topics triggers you I would avoid the book.

I really enjoyed this books through out most of it. It did feel a bit YAish to me though but considering the MC's age that's not surprising. There were parts where I felt the characters had a moment of dumbness just so they'd be in a tough spot story wise.

If you enjoy LitRPG however it was a good quick read. I do recommend it and will likely pick up book 2.

This was honestly poorly written. The author can be forgiven as this was her novel, and on the surface, there were some great ideas. However, I felt the dialogue was a bit basic. There was a lot of telling rather than showing. It felt that at one moment, we were told each time the characters looked at each other instead of just allowing the scene to play out.

The mystery was forced as well, and the characters on a whole were just flat. I do own the second book, but I am on the fence if I'll try to read it.

The whole Blackbeard Universe is quite entertaining. It may not set the world on fire, but the concepts in the book are fascinating and silly. Traditional naval combat in the vacuum of space is not the most realistic but its a wonderful idea.

I also find the idea of humanity having to abandon Earth and various nations attempting to thrive on their own in the cold of space fantastic.

The series is cheesy and lighthearted most of the time, but it's just deep enough to bring me back for more.

A dark look at a future where humanity burried the truth by manipulating people through broadcasts and burning books. However, the important message is to continue to think for one's self and make your own decisions as even books can lie to you and just because you read doesn't mean you have the best of intentions.

Good read

I really enjoyed the book by its end, but admit I had trouble getting into the writing style and the audio narration of the book.

This was also my first D&D related novel and felt like I was missing a ton of background information by jumping in here.


However, the portral of the various forms of magic was fantastic, as was how they dealt with spell slots. By the end of the book the story had came together impressively well and made the scattered plots meld together.

I have enjoyed this series up until this point, however this book was highly disappointing to me.

McGowan, who was stripped of his command during the last trilogy for some, inexplicable reason, is given his command back just in time to hotheadly start another war with a new species. His normally over cautious tactics thrown out the window as he tries to lay siege to a system against an enemy of unknown strength and capabilities with only seven warships merely off of the assumption that they were hostile. His small character growth that he seemed to experience last book had regressed.

Capp, frankly should have been promoted by now. More so if there is need for experienced captains enough to placed a degraced one back in command.

I also didn't understand why Vargas was so openly hostile towards Drake for no real reason.


Now the good parts? The portrayal of the insectoid race was fantastic, as each alien race has been. It would have been easy to start a war based off of the two sides misunderstanding one another rather than an incompetent captain given a command he was already stripped of.

Okay sequel

Setting aside the many typos I found during read, this book was okay at best. It's short length was what attracted me to it as I was looking for something to read in between long books, however I feel more time spent on exploring conflicts and some of the characters would have done wonders for the over all pacing. One moment a character will be upset at another and within a few short pages everything's peachy again.

Despite this I did enjoy it, but felt book 1 was better written.

Good humorous story

Felt a bit slow at parts but over all the story was interesting and plenty of humor to keep you entertained. It was an interesting take on superheroes, and how corporations, goverments and insurance could work to regulate super heroes and make a profit.

Well Actually might have one of the most creative power sets ever haha.

Fun read, and very heavy in action. The lot twist at the end was a bit much and honestly there was so much action I never truly got to any of the characters. Rules and laws on how the universe works are also thrown out the window at any point to advance the plot.

Let's be real through Bry was the real star the whole time.

As with the first book, the only real saving grace is the pov chapters from the Insectoid characters. The alliance bumbles around the galaxy its a wonder they came out ontop of any of the earlier conflicts. Captain McGowan once again, wouldn't have been left in charge of anything after the stunts he's pulled. Also how does Drake always seem to disappear with a large number of ships during each of these conflicts?

This is the end of the lastest trilogy and arguably the best of the three. Though it still had some issues, like Drake being on the otherside of the galaxy again after arriving in the New Sagovia at the end of book 2.

McGowan and Vargas actually had decent character growth during the course of this book, growth that I though had already occurred after the previous war
Diggins was a brilliant character and was a shame to see him go. I would also have enjoyed a PoV chapter involving Kelly or some of the Scandinavians though.

The insectoid chapters were once again the best part of the book. Hopefully if this franchise continues however, we experience a different sort of story rather than a desperate hopeless conflict.