I loved every bit of the Bobiverse books so when I saw Dennis E. Taylor had a new book out, I didn’t hesitate to click the Pre-order button. I knew I had to keep my expectations in check and I knew I wasn’t getting another rehash of the Bob books, but I still turned out to be dissapointed with this one.

Story

I usually try not to read the blurb, because often times they contain more spoilers than I care for, so I just got into this book and started listening. About 15% in, I was quite confused about what this story was actually going to be about, so I went back and read the blurb fully, which I regretted not long after, since it was basically the first 42% of the story condensed in a few paragraphs.

In an even shorter version, the story boils down to this, mankind encounters alien stuff, and in true human nature style, like the neanderthals we are, we immediately poke it with a sharp stick.

It reminded me a lot of Liu Cixin’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past Series, but not as deep.

Characters

Given the fact that we get a small cast, which we follow along, at no point did I feel for any of them, which is a missed opportunity in my book. I didn’t even relate to Ivan’s family issues, despite being a familiy man myself. Again, not sure why.

It also didn’t help that all military characters were cut from the same cliché cardboard as Hollywood action movies make them out to be.

World-Building

As far as I can tell, good stuff. Not great, but solid enough. There’s a lot that’s left fuzzy, but everything that is required for the story is explained in a plausible way and I had no problems with it. Humanity’s stupidity included.

Writing

I liked the writing here. Nice and crisp, with plenty of dry humor to go around.

Conclusion

As interesting as the premise is, it fell short for me. I enjoyed it, but feel like this could have been more. 3 stars.

Also, I found out that I truly despise named chapters and they should never ever be used by anyone ever again.