Review: Excellent World Building
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 5, 2011
Boulter hooked me in the sample. His set up for the main plot, introduction of the primary characters, and clever world-building grabbed me by the brain and I punched "buy it now" as soon as I hit the link at the end of the sample.I place this in the same camp of SciFi/Romance as Linnea Sinclair and she's one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Boulter does a masterful job of twining three plots - the "large" plot involving the greed of the corporate overlords, the main "romance" plot involving Jazz and Johannes, and an interesting subplot involving Johannes and his brother. While definitely squarely in cliche country, the three pieces kept the story unfolding at a very engaging pace and I found Boulter's treatment of them sufficiently interesting to move the cliche to trope. Well done!As much as I liked this book, I think it had one flaw:- All three main characters (Matt, Johannes, Jazz) stray just a bit too close to 'intentionally stupid.' You know when the plot requires the character to be just a touch too inflexible? Or do something just a bit too dumb for somebody that's supposed to be smart enough to know better? (Oooh, I wonder what's behind this door marked "do not enter" - what could go wrong?) It wasn't bad, just maybe, one beat too long. On the other hand, my reaction focused more on the characters than the author, so Boutler did a good job at keeping me in the story in spite of it.Personally, I'd like to see Mr. Boulter upgrade this cover. I feel funny saying it, given that I used this same graphic on one of my own early works. I find the typography off-putting and somewhat illegible, and the shape of it sets it apart from other "books" because it's too square. If I hadn't been intrigued by the story because of a forum conversation with Mr. Boutler, I would have given this one a pass based on cover alone and *that* would have been a mistake on my part. I'd hate to see others miss out on a really good yarn because they couldn't get past the cover art.If you like Linnea Sinclair or Catharine Asaro, you'll like the romance aspect. If you're a fan of Lee and Miller's Liadan Universe, the world building here will appeal to you. If you just like a good tale done very well and mixed nicely with hyperspace, romance, and intrigue, you're going to love this one. Grab a sample and see for yourself.