Review: An almost Zero experience.
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 03 1, 2014
What I would have liked to know before I bought this book.1. What type of book is it: Action, drama, exploration? This is going to sound strange, but this book is a technical and world oriented tour book. It's a story about teaching the reader to understand the logic behind the world the book is based on. You will, literally, feel as if you're taking a class or reading a tour guide. Nothing of significant action happens until about 70% of the book has gone by. That's 168 pages or so.2. Does it keep its pacing? Without hesitation, NO. It is boring. I couldn't care less about what was going on after I realized I'd read 36% of the book (80 pages) and this space opera story hadn't fired its ship thrusters. The next 20% of the book is full of inconsequential incidents, examples of dumb people in dumb space situations versus the professional, and condescending, experience of Fleet personnel.  About 10% after that is more stuff, that even if it might be important, is MADE inconsequential because of the massive immobility of the story.3. Are the characters likable? I wouldn't know. I didn't really meet the characters. I was too busy glossing over because at that point I was too bored to care.4. How about character development and building? It's a feel good `we're all dudes together even if you're an idiot' story. There aren't any challenges at all in the first 60% of the book. This directly translates to SECONDARY character development and generally ignores main characters. There is a notable exception with one main character. As I've said before, this book is a tour/text book. So, someone has to be shown/taught all those details. That particular individual is a main character.  His (the character is male) role is to be the ordinary Joe that gets to understand everything about Fleet, space, and nuances so that the reader can understand everything as well. His role never changes, but the character, blandly written, does evolve within the role.5. Do you have to suspend disbelief? I'm sorry to say, yes. There is an explanation about a particular practice with aliens that strained my disbelief to an extreme. The explanation is reasonably worded, but utterly illogical even if it was worded nicely. Compound that with the overall attitude of the story's space ship crew, and ... well. I can't believe it. Since it's unbelievable, even within the scope of the world, it becomes more background noise.6. Is the price worth it? Hmm. It's a $2 book. Even with how boring the book is to me, others will find a lot of the conversations informative and maybe even engaging. So, yes the price is worth it.In conclusion: The author knows how to apply proper diction and wording. I admire that, but that's all I can properly admire. This is a very dull sci-fi drama with very little action and character synergy. The story pacing is, in my opinion, lacking in several fundamental levels. Character development is skewed. Many characters, regardless of them being main, secondary, or tertiary, have absolutely zero character development; no evolution within roles or otherwise. One main character evolves within the role, but it's the 'tourist' character that has to be told everything. It's a very unimpressive character. The language and techno discussions are complex and interesting as a technical handbook. This story is simply very lacking in STORY until the very last 25% of the book. Even then, it's not that much of a story anyways.0.9 stars.