Review: Almost 3 stars.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 12 3, 2013
I used to think of myself as having slightly misogynistic tendencies, as being a bit too Pro-English, a bit too driven by the undercurrent that past bosses had treated me unfairly.Then I read Chaos Quarter, and I am a beacon of Enlightenment when placed next to the entirely sexist hero who possesses medical technology to make women lactate- apparently if any children should be abandoned, at the drop of a hat (or the squirt of a nano-bot), women can be compelled to feed, and bond with any needed child! Huzzah.The cliches in the book- from Tough Guy done wrong, his able best friend/former enemy, Working Girl with a Heart of Gold, rescued former "mind raped" Ambassadors Assistant, and LITERAL Deus Ex. Machina Cyborg Pal shows that the author did not spend enough time on making characters more than their cliche. It was more of a RPG team up than a novel.HOWEVER, the reason I gave this two stars, and almost gave it three, is that the world created is interesting regardless of the creators flaws,  and he has some solid ideas which deserve exploration. I actually recommend that you BUY the book, and leave a review of what you thought, because over time I suspect that the Author will become much better than this initial story- all of the elements are there.The only thing that I would point out regarding the building of the world is- do more research when using terms which are familiar to today's (rather than the future's) populace.For example: The author talks about a Nobel Rank system which is Earl, who is supported by 6 VisCounts, and each of the VisCounts has several Counts who report to them. My head exploded. First up, Earl and Count are the UK/Continental equivalent, and a VisCount is less than a Count or an Earl. This is a Totally PICKY point, but why use common names if you are just going to mess up the order? If you are going to make the order different, you need a throw away line like "On Earth, A VisCount was below a Count, but in the Empire, the term Vis means the title was awarded by the soverign" or some other made up story condition. Further, with a little research, you could have discovered that Earl, VisCount, Baron would have worked just as well, or Duke, Marquis, Count.Why does this bug me? Because details matter. If you want to use the conceits of modern terms (the author uses Wiki, and Internet for example), either explain how they are different in your setting, or just make up new terms. He could have used Urk, TaUrk, and ZaUrk for example as titles and no one would no what in the heck an Urk was, but the pecking order is apparent.My final observation it is easy to spot when main characters in a book are really the author with a thin veneer, powered via strong desire for revenge vs. enemies, and slights both real and imagined.  Even Dickens was guilty of that "crime", let's hope the character seperates more from the author in additional volumes, because for all of it's flaws Chaos Quarter is still better than the Gor books, and is worth reading even if just for the setting alone.