Review: Wanted to love it...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 6, 2013
First off I'll say this: Annihilation was a very good book. But, it is the sixth book in an outstanding saga, so the bar is set pretty high. It feels like the series is running out of steam, this is the third book in which there was no real movement along the major story arcs.There is also the bizarre evolution of Riggs himself. Before, the attraction to this character was his normalcy; he was a near-middle aged college professor who is thrust into the world of combat arms. Now, he seems to be morphing into an abusive megalomaniac that is chasing around almost all his female subordinates. It's entirely within Larson's purview as to what Kyle becomes, and I assume there's an ultimate goal in mind, but for me having him become a much less likable character made this book harder to enjoy.I also felt there was a "rushed" quality to this book. There were a handful of typos (rare for Larson) and much of the major plot lines were re-hashed from previous books. With Mech, Element-X, and Star Force each begging for attention it's possible the author IS rushed to get the books out in a timely fashion to satisfy demand. And that leads me to the biggest issue; for $5.99 I expect an indie author, even one as wildly successful as Mr. Larson, to respect his readers a bit more and deliver some satisfaction at the conclusion of each book. The last three, nearly $18, have really moved the story to nowhere.Hopefully in the next book there will be some measurable movement between the Empire, Star Force, and the Blues...