It's a great set of stories and intro to the Xelee universe. One of the best pieces of science fiction I have read this year but some of the stories felt like I just kept wasting my time in them.

November 7, 2023

I read it and I did not like it as much as I thought I would. It had an intriguing premise but an almost lame ending.

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May 26, 2024

Great book and build spectacularly on the first one. The pacing, in the end, could be slightly better though but that's a minor problem.

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Some aspects get belaboured more than they need to but it's a good book exploring the concept of far future humanity in a sane, almost mundane way (not that the things that happen aren't fantastical). For me personally, it didn't breach the 3 mark.

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DNF. There were some good bits of info, but the majority of the text reads like an anime filler episode. Not worth IMO, could have been a medium-sized blogpost instead of a self-masturbatory semi-rambly treatise.

May 6, 2023

It started well but then devolved into the same murder in the family and intrigue that plagues most books of this genre. Not worth the time I spent on it.

January 20, 2024

Unsure of what I just read – suffice to say the plot is engaging if meandering and the ending personally for me left a lot to be desired. However, I felt a great degree of compassion for the main character, and it helped me get through the book.

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Yeah nah! Too much navel gazing and the plot moves too slow for my own personal taste.

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November 2, 2021

Wonderful book with an amazing detail of world building. Some of the sub ply towards the end can get a bit tedious but overall it's a great read.

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March 21, 2024

Good book. Starts off a bit weird and tired but picks up pace and character in the latter half. I really wish the main character had a bit more of non linear development arc and bit less of “i'm a traumatised pariah” archetypal character.

October 14, 2021

Waste of time

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DNF, The book is too slow. I came in after reading the whole Xelee omnibus, and this felt like some of the stories there that, in hindsight, I should have stopped midway too. Life is too short to read stories with no action or a meandering plot or an insufferable protagonist.

January 21, 2024
January 1, 2022

One of the most enjoyable reads I have had this year.

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Great book and if you can handle some bits where the author spends too long on christian allegory and some hard sci-fi, the payoff in the end is worth it.

August 25, 2021

I gave up quarter of the way through. I don't mind the interview format but the buildup of the story was too slow and the characters try too hard imo.

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Great book even though I did not read a prequel. Some elements are unnecessarily convoluted imo even though not due to lack of story but due to cramming too much especially in the latter parts of the story.

September 12, 2021

After reading these books multiple times over the last couple of years, the second book remains undisputedly
My favourite.

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October 14, 2021

Great book if you keep in mind the context it was written in. I'm not usually into rambly military space operas but this one was just the right pace for me. I would recommend it.

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I read this 4 years ago so I guess this review is delayed. I reread it again now and had the same feeling of wonder that I did last time. Also, probably one of the best foreign language translations in any of the books I have read.

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October 28, 2024