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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
My 5 stars for this book are not just for this book, but for the entire series. Loved it.
This series started with a lot of promise and good ideas, then spent the next two and a half books describing an endless an pointless war. Maybe that war is pointless is the point, but the over-explaining by the authors and the repeated "If we just win this battle, the war will be over!" got a little tedious after a while. Overall not a bad series, but not great, the ideas could have been implemented better by an Clarke or Asimov caliber author.
Also, this book was not in my local library system, so I had to pay $4 to find a used copy on Amazon, which was a withdrawn for lack of use copy from a library in Wisconsin. That might have been telling...
Also, this book was not in my local library system, so I had to pay $4 to find a used copy on Amazon, which was a withdrawn for lack of use copy from a library in Wisconsin. That might have been telling...
Was 3.5 right up until the epilogue, which really spoke to my inner sap.
A fitting conclusion, speaking to the core themes of personal freedom and faith, with a much needed reduced focus on military maneuvers. While I enjoyed the last two, the Kollins are at their best writing character and philosophy.
A DRM-free Tor ebook.
A fitting conclusion, speaking to the core themes of personal freedom and faith, with a much needed reduced focus on military maneuvers. While I enjoyed the last two, the Kollins are at their best writing character and philosophy.
A DRM-free Tor ebook.
If you're reading this, it's because you finished the first three and you felt compelled to see if the last book manages to dig itself out from the drudgery of the military sci-fi it seems to have become. It has not.
Upon reflection, the problem is that the uniqueness and exploration of the setting we get to encounter in the first book becomes mundane and unnecessary in the third and fourth, and by that time, the limitations of the writing--a lot of time spent telling us details and feeling of people rather than showing us; a reliance on melodrama; characters that wear their motivations on their sleeves rather than allowing the reader to explore their inner monologues--become more obvious. Dani and Eytan Kollin are clearly capable of writing books, but their style seems stuck in that late '50s/early '60s style of Azimov's Foundation trilogy--the setting compels further reading, but the characters and prose are somewhat flat. In the first book, we had the thrill of seeing how this new world worked. In the second, we cared enough about what happened in the first book to motivate our further exploration, especially as Cord relocated to a section of the solar system we hadn't encountered before. But by the third book, we clearly see that, without the novelty of a new idea, the writing and characters themselves don't motivate us, and reading the book at that point becomes work.
I'm disappointed at the ending. I can't say I expected it, but there was a lot of heavy-handed morality and Mary Sue/Gary Stu-dom floating around, especially whenever O'Toole (She Who Must Be Obeyed, But If You Don't It's No Big Deal As She Already Anticipated Your Inaction And Did Your Job For You, But Better) was involved in the scene. You're probably better off skimming this book if you have to know how it ends.
Upon reflection, the problem is that the uniqueness and exploration of the setting we get to encounter in the first book becomes mundane and unnecessary in the third and fourth, and by that time, the limitations of the writing--a lot of time spent telling us details and feeling of people rather than showing us; a reliance on melodrama; characters that wear their motivations on their sleeves rather than allowing the reader to explore their inner monologues--become more obvious. Dani and Eytan Kollin are clearly capable of writing books, but their style seems stuck in that late '50s/early '60s style of Azimov's Foundation trilogy--the setting compels further reading, but the characters and prose are somewhat flat. In the first book, we had the thrill of seeing how this new world worked. In the second, we cared enough about what happened in the first book to motivate our further exploration, especially as Cord relocated to a section of the solar system we hadn't encountered before. But by the third book, we clearly see that, without the novelty of a new idea, the writing and characters themselves don't motivate us, and reading the book at that point becomes work.
I'm disappointed at the ending. I can't say I expected it, but there was a lot of heavy-handed morality and Mary Sue/Gary Stu-dom floating around, especially whenever O'Toole (She Who Must Be Obeyed, But If You Don't It's No Big Deal As She Already Anticipated Your Inaction And Did Your Job For You, But Better) was involved in the scene. You're probably better off skimming this book if you have to know how it ends.
Really good series.
A couple neat take aways about history and media that really are worth pondering. Basically, it is a question of how to make sure that history can travel through time. I mean if it is electronic in the way it is stored, what is to stop others from changing history? The book doesn't really hammer this, but what happens in 500 years when the next Constantine shows up and rewrites things? How will people know what happened? For that matter, we base our decisions on the information we are given, but how far can a narrative controlled by the government be taken.
Couple things I did not like
While the story is wrapped up better this way, Justin should have been woken up. It is immoral to leave him suspended. He was a good man and for sure should have been there to see the world or universe as it unfolded. Again, I admit the story is tighter that way, but I just didn't like it.
Also, I think that Trang was fertile ground for some sort of agreement for a long time. The fact that Hector saved him from the Avatar plague is not enough to forgive him or trust him. Trang was smart enough to see through Hector and I just don't think it needed to wait that long if that is the case. This is why I don't write them though since it again makes for a better story. I guess it is just that when you develop a character enough that the reader feels like they know that character, it is tough when they act in ways that don't seem like would be their nature.
So all that being said, this series is my favorite type of science fiction. This environment allows the author to bring things up that you just could never do in another format. I can see the seeds. They are all around us. The seeds of the ideas that spawned this series. The author took them, incubated them in a crazy setting and set them free on the world.
The Kollin's have very interesting ideas about the world and people in general. I am sure I would enjoy their company discussing things on a philosophical level that I rarely find people are capable or even interested in doing. I don't even think I would agree with them on everything. For example, I would imagine I am far more negative on the role of religion to reform in a way that they sort of suggest. Their philosophy and opinions really are available to the reader to ponder and enjoy. I truly look forward to whatever they come up with next.
A couple neat take aways about history and media that really are worth pondering. Basically, it is a question of how to make sure that history can travel through time. I mean if it is electronic in the way it is stored, what is to stop others from changing history? The book doesn't really hammer this, but what happens in 500 years when the next Constantine shows up and rewrites things? How will people know what happened? For that matter, we base our decisions on the information we are given, but how far can a narrative controlled by the government be taken.
Couple things I did not like
While the story is wrapped up better this way, Justin should have been woken up. It is immoral to leave him suspended. He was a good man and for sure should have been there to see the world or universe as it unfolded. Again, I admit the story is tighter that way, but I just didn't like it.
Also, I think that Trang was fertile ground for some sort of agreement for a long time. The fact that Hector saved him from the Avatar plague is not enough to forgive him or trust him. Trang was smart enough to see through Hector and I just don't think it needed to wait that long if that is the case. This is why I don't write them though since it again makes for a better story. I guess it is just that when you develop a character enough that the reader feels like they know that character, it is tough when they act in ways that don't seem like would be their nature.
So all that being said, this series is my favorite type of science fiction. This environment allows the author to bring things up that you just could never do in another format. I can see the seeds. They are all around us. The seeds of the ideas that spawned this series. The author took them, incubated them in a crazy setting and set them free on the world.
The Kollin's have very interesting ideas about the world and people in general. I am sure I would enjoy their company discussing things on a philosophical level that I rarely find people are capable or even interested in doing. I don't even think I would agree with them on everything. For example, I would imagine I am far more negative on the role of religion to reform in a way that they sort of suggest. Their philosophy and opinions really are available to the reader to ponder and enjoy. I truly look forward to whatever they come up with next.