A worthwhile series and an imaginative author

Having read and listened to books one through five I find far less concerned with the series's impact on my primary and tertiary education than it's entertainment values. If considering the purchase for the first time I would disregard "helpful" negative reviews with no substance. Labeling such as "helpful" is admitting that a person's vague negative impression is enough to turn one's interest. On to the subject at hand...

As with all sci-fi there is an expectation that we need to suspend our beliefs. When telling such a story you can try explaining the technology or you can simply say "this is fact". As a reader it helps to remember that the author created the world and thus things are just as they say. As mankind does tend to attribute the creators of universes. We can enjoy the tale of struggles and triumphs in an harsh galaxy where trust, loyalty and candor are the rarest and most precious of resources.

This series revolves around a group of characters that are under constant threat in a sector so brutalized that altruism has been all but abolished. It is a harsh environment of tragedy, betrayal(a bit too much of both for my taste without a greater reckoning), and controversy. Bad things happen, perhaps too many. Evil gains power. Selfishness prevails. Even those some consider great falter. The heroes have a long dark road to traverse. So be warned.

What makes it worth the price of a credit or the addition of narration to the kindle editions is the overall story. Suspend belief, ignore the few holes and pretend you are not the ultimate armchair tactician or the illegitimate heir to Stephen Hawking's research and enjoy being told as tale. These are the type of books that hold their value in their concepts. Said value measured in the number of times you think the word "cool".

In summary, the author is flawed(as we all are) and still growing as a writer but ultimately imaginative and willing to share the interesting entertaining worlds he creates. The work is, as I've said before, a look into the lives of the characters not a simple telling of a series of entertaining events. Verbose, yes, but I hope you find it helpful.

22 people found this helpful

Only finished because I was bored

This wasn’t that great. I thought it might be better because of the ten realms series the author wrote. It just lacked imagination and kinda seemed similar to how people talk about why they don’t like Superman with nothing can really hurt him. It’s just not what I expected and I won’t be reading any more in the series.

2 people found this helpful

Painful

Terrible writing. Clearly does not understand show don’t tell. Desperate need of at least one rewrite and and editor. An interesting story and I wanted to like it but I can’t. The main character is a whiny bitch whose stupidity is almost as large as his sense of inadequacy. I won’t be reading the rest of the series.

15 people found this helpful

Could not finish.

I was most of the way through when I decided I didn't need to waste anymore time with it.

8 people found this helpful

Solid

Solid story..An interesting concept of gamers conscripted to be an alien spices mercs/slaves...not an original idea but the author does a good job with the story, kept me entertained and half way thru the 1st book it was good enough that I bought the rest of the series. Just finishe book 1 and will start book 2 tomorrow...looking forward to the next one

1 person found this helpful

Awkward cringey details ruin the story

The primary plot is okay enough military sci-fi.Humans get kidnapped by aliens to be used as super soldiers trope.

However some weird shit really gets in the way of enjoying this story.

For one the aliens force our protagonist and other humans to "marry." Aight, sick alien slavemasters want more children to enslave, cool cool. Except apparently there's no kind of actual enforcement, and yanno, our erstwhile mech pilots seemingly have no reason to do more than be stuck sleeping two to a room.

Despite this the main character *instantly* thinks of this forever more as a real marriage that he needs to take seriously. More like an arranged marriage in real life that he's 100% committed to even if he doesn't like it. For some reason?????

Leaving aside the whole weird plot point that half the cast of side characters are like 10.

Also there's an anime character in the story; by which I mean a japanese person clearly taken straight out of anime rather than even a real world stereotype. I could almost tolerate this until the bit where the super advanced universal translator started not translating common japanese words because it's apparently a shitty fan-sub of an anime. *eyeroll*

Really feels like someone's "god I wish I had a tsundere GF from a cold loveless arranged marriage" wish fulfillment.

1 person found this helpful

Painful to listen to.

I decided after reading other reviews and checking reviews on the sequels that I would give this a try. My mistake, I should have saved the credit. There is no believably in the writing and only gets confusing in some places. The main character is a gamer with God like fame telling adults and children he will lead them. At the same he has a Air Force reservist who thinks guard is a MOS and ripping steel out of a wound and slapping a bandage on it is good enough for government work. The book is a teenager dream written down on paper.

6 people found this helpful

Skip this one

As said below this might be a good idea, but the writing needs help. I gave it about 45 minutes before I had to give up.

10 people found this helpful

a unorginal story with some really creep parts

This is not a poorly written book; it is a poorly thought out one. It smashes several stereotypes into one story and does not work. But what gets me is the forced marriage fight; it doesn't even make science. If you win, then you are forced to marry your opponent. The author uses it just so the main hero is forced to interact with the mysterious grumpy Japanese samurai girl. I could not make it past the whole; I am in a black wedding dress because it symbolized the death of my freedom line. This book is just crapy and forced writing. Highly do not recommend it.

This was the literature version of junk food

like junk food it fills the bill when we want something to read that will be entertaining but not expecting it to rise to great literature. The narrator really helps it out getting the best out of the story. Assuming there is a sequel I'll buy it to see where it goes.