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Very disappointing novella

Revisado: 03-13-24

The story simply has too little to it. Although it contains elements of an homage to noir or hard boiled detective mysteries, this doesn’t excuse the lack of clear motivations or character growth. The extremely short list of characters totally undercuts the mystery of the perpetrator’s identity, and in general this book wouldn’t merit any attention at all were it not for the author’s other books and reputation. I look forward to Martinez’s next effort and hope it is more of a return to form.

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Not his best

Revisado: 09-29-23

I love and admire Scalzi’s work, but this is comparatively weak. Is fun, and moves are an enjoyable clip, but it’s a very shallow heist story that ultimately comes across as a kind of more childish version of Wanted. It rather blandly ignores the fact that a protagonist with no background in murder is somehow immediately on board with slaughter.

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A frustrating entry

Revisado: 09-13-23

I’m a lifelong fan but this book makes me miss the Diary era. Here it feels like the author is trying too hard to ape Burroughs, and had too few ideas for the story. His narrator remains a cypher, alluding to his most famous anonymous Narrator, but with no satisfying explanation of his lack of character. The true omnipresence of incest and revelry in literal feces simply wears on one’s patience.

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A gripping sci fi noir

Revisado: 05-30-23

Although there is nothing truly innovative here, and the metaphor made flesh of the Titans is a bit on the nose, it’s great fun. Noir is an intrinsically exaggerated style, and it works perfectly here to telling a well paced and entertaining story. I’m not sure if there’s room for a sequel, but it’s a reminder of how sometimes good work can just be good, without needing to be groundbreaking.

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A substantial improvement

Revisado: 04-02-23

I’ve greatly enjoyed both books in this series, but this sequel improves on the characterization and pacing. My only complaint is that the ending is coming dangerously close to a buffy-style bit of team building, but I’m looking forward to the next entry.

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Doesn’t stick the landing

Revisado: 03-02-23

Due to power creep, the story has moved radically from its original idea of human dynamics to instead become a cyberpunk manifesto of sorts. It’s less about any of the characters and more about how they all need to erase their individuality to become a homogenous uniformity. By making impossible tasks from previous chapters and books trivial, all sense of boundaries and rules go out the window. As a result, the finale seems entirely unearned.

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A wonderful and comprehensive read

Revisado: 02-19-23

I picked this up after hearing of it in a podcast. As a former fraud prosecutor I was enthralled.

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Solid but repetitive

Revisado: 07-21-22

The research and construction is great, but I find that in the attempt to move back and forth in the timeline to tell the various stories of the empire, the author too often repeated elements, not trusting the reader to remember. Still, worth l listening to.

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Abysmal

Revisado: 12-23-15

A story of whining cowards who are constantly held our as correct even as the universe showed then to be wrong.

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