This
week I'm reviewing an e-book that I picked up quite a while back
because of an extensive advertising campaign when it was first
released. Seriously, the ads were everywhere I looked on the internet
(Hooray google targeted ads!) and when I finally read the summary it
definitely looked interesting. So I thought what the heck and added
it to my to-be-read list where it sat until I finally downloaded it.
I just want to explain why I picked this book up before I go into my
review, because it's not great. Don't get me wrong, it's nowhere as
bad as certain other books I've read, but it's just not terribly
interesting.
This
book's summary and cover are what really drew me in. As my readers
are no doubt aware, I'm a huge sucker for pulp science-fiction. The
overall plot is that humanity is engaged in what is now a decade-long
war with the Vothriles, an insectoid predator species. Humanity's
greatest defense in this war are emmers like Emil, people capable of
manipulating electromagnetic fields and who can cloak Terran warships
against Vothrile sensors, break through Vothrile cloaking fields, and
in some cases destroy enemy ships with a surge of power. However, a
mysterious and highly powerful enemy, known only as Force Cantrithor,
has forced these bitter enemies to work together for their own
survival. Although the idea of two rivals teaming up against a new
threat is as old as the hills, there's at least enough potential with
new areas for the story to take its own direction.
My
biggest issue with this book was that the plot seemed kind of
disjointed throughout the book. Now, as the main character Emil is
suffering from hallucinations and has trouble telling what's real or
not, this could have been used as a legitimate way to tell the story.
However, I feel like this simply doesn't work because Emil is
“present” for the entire plot and we never really have reason to
believe anything he sees, outside of the dream sequences that are
definitely dream sequences, isn't real. As an emmer, Emil has the
ability to see everything happening inside the ship he's stationed
on, as well as detect a large number of things happening in
surrounding space as well. Furthermore, everyone has a chip installed
that allows them to access digital information with just their bodies
and most meetings occur in cyberspace. Because this is another form
of electromagnetic field, it means Emil can eavesdrop on even the
most secret of conferences held by the admirals. Heck, Emil can even
read people's minds in some cases simply by the electronic fields
their nervous systems give off. So I wasn't left feeling like Emil
was suffering from information overload or was otherwise losing a
grip on reality because of his abilities, it just felt like there
were these weird lurches in the plot as it stumbled forwards.
Another
issue I had with this book was I really wasn't invested in any of the
characters, which left me a little surprised that I managed to get
through the entire book. Emil, specifically, doesn't have terribly
much in terms of personality going on. He doesn't really have any
desires or aspirations beyond just wanting the war to end so everyone
will be safe and he won't be under constant strain anymore. I feel
like this was intentional on the part of the author to further try
and highlight how different Emil was from all the other members of
the crew, but it doesn't really work because the rest of the crew are
pretty flat as well. Samuelsson, the captain, feels guilty about the
lives in the fleet he has to sacrifice for victory, but that's about
it. Cain, the executive officer, hates the Vothriles, but that's
about it. Lokan, the ship's psychologist, is kind of suspicious, but
that's about it. There are only a handful of other characters that
are given names and the barest hint of a personality, the rest are
really just extras in the story. If the other characters had been
better developed then the differences between them and Emil may have
been much more pronounced and noticeable, but because they're little
more than line drawings Emil's flatness as a character fails to
impress itself on the reader.
I
think the reason I was able to get through this book was that it was
relatively short and not terribly difficult to read. If I had gotten
frustrated or angry over it, I may have given up on the project
entirely. But quite frankly I think the cardinal sin of this book is
that it's boring more than anything else. There was a lot of
potential and ideas there, but they just don't get developed. Can the
humans trust an enemy that now wants to cooperate? How do we know
what's real if virtual reality is a constant part of our world? Is
the sacrifice of a few lives worth victory in a war that will save
potentially millions? For whatever reason none of these are
capitalized upon and the result is a very sleepy read that leaves an
impression of “meh”. Perhaps other works from this author will be
improved, but you're not missing anything if you pass it by.
- Kalpar
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