Review: Not a typical book, but does it have to be?
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 24, 2013
So there seem to be three main issues people have with this (mini) book, I'll address them separately.1. LengthIt was never a secret that this series Scalzi is doing will be short, it's not what people have come to expect from ebooks and writers, but I like it. Some other indie authors are experimenting with 3-4 month release cycles of full books and I think it's good to shake the dust off of SOME writers who keep us waiting for years for the next installment *AHEM* Patrick Rothfuss.The other side to the length argument is pricing, but if you look at Scalzi's other books, they're in the $10+ range. As an example, Redshirts (a few months after it's initial debut so probably a bit cheaper now) is $10. The length is 320 pages, so if we do the math here... 320/10..carry the two..damnit..*calculator*...32 pages per dollar! So you didn't get ripped off. Scalzi just has a lot of readers, and can get away with charging more (well, his publisher can).2. FormatFor anyone who read the Three 'Codas' at the end of Redshirts you got the idea that he likes to experiment with different ways of telling a story (many writers do) One was told entirely in blog posts and featured a blog post where he dictated the dialogue between the blog writer and someone they were interviewing in much the same style as this book was written. Another if I'm remembering correctly was told in second person or something strange like that. The point is, not all books are going to be alike, and that's a good thing. That is also what short serials like this are good for; trying out new things.3. SubstanceUnlike the previous book in the series this didn't really feel like a full story. It was, but not the story we thought we were going to hear. Instead of hearing the story about the wildcat colony, and how they were going to survive or this enemy in the woods etc. We got the story about how this guy's ship got taken over and they all were forced to 'walk the plank' as told by the sole survivor.So really it was just the length that made this story seem incomplete, but that's a sacrifice you make with shorter stories.So, in my opinion, there's nothing wrong with this book, you didn't get ripped off, and if you want more to the story of the wildcat colony the description of The Human Division #3 seems to indicate we'll be hearing more about it soon.