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The New Definition of "Go Big or Go Home"

Revisado: 11-01-20

My review title is not a joke. This book took the whole concept and the very definition of "Go big or go home" to a whole new level as what starts as what seems to be another alien bonds with human story and balloons it to a level of war and change unlike few books I've read before. There are great sci-fi war books, then there are the ones that just stand out. Like Dune stand out. This is one of those books.

This is a hard to put down book written in third person but told entirely from the POV of ira, a xenobiologist finishing a contract survey job on a yet to be populated planet. On a routine job she stumbles across something ancient and alien and all hell breaks loose from that point on. I've read and watched some reviewers say this book had slow moments. Me and them have very different definitions of slow moments. And not a sub-plot or twist is wasted. It all builds to one hell of a finale and interesting ideas of what directions future installments of this "Fractalverse" storyline the author promises to come.

The ending makes you think "Where could it go from here?" even though it's pretty much spelled out by the plot. And because the main character and all her supporting cast are well rounded and interesting you know you want to know what direction the author plans to take us one. If I had any criticism I'd put is I didn't quite understand how the first part of the finale battle ended. I wasn't sure what happened before the main big bad was confronted. However that's a minor nit-pick. Do yourself a favor, take a walk in this world. Don't let the length of the book fool you, you won't notice it at all.

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A MUST LISTEN/READ for Dresden Files Fans

Revisado: 10-01-20

Dresden File Fans, LISTEN to THIS BOOK. I'm not kidding. If you've read or seen any legitimate reviews you will hear the endless Avengers: Endgame comparisons. Because Battle Ground is and that's exactly what it needs to be. I'm going to warn you that there are character turns/changes in this. Some are "OM Fing G!!!" turns, some are "did you seriously do that" turns, and some are "Holy SHIRT! I totally forgot about that!!!!" turns. This is Jim Butcher going all Alan Tudyk at the beginning of Firefly, pulling out all his toys and just making them beat the snot out of each other. Changes was major, Batte Ground is epic. James Masters ROCKS. Jim Butcher's that man, even if he's going to be "the man" who'll have to stay away from fans as they go all "Star Wars Fan Prequel Psyho" on him. He knows why. Nuff sed,

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Great Installment, but I Have So Many Questions

Revisado: 09-16-20

I wish I could address the many questions I have, but my questions would be spoilers. If you're already a fan of the Schooled in Magic series you're loving this installment will be a no brainer. I happen to be a huge fan of this series. It's mostly due to the MC, Emily. At the start, this was a YA/Magic School book, but from the start, it didn't pull any punches. The magic system is interesting, friendships are earned and it doesn't waste time with the typical "boy and girl notice each other while huge monsters is running after them" thing many YA do. In fact, due to the deep polical side story and how brutal magic is I'm not sure this could be called a YA.

In this installment, we got a glimps into a set of side stories the author put at the end of one of the installmants. And what a glimpse it was. Emily has had a few reoccuring fears throughout the series that sometimes felt a little eye rolling. Well, the author started this story out with a big mystery that got deeper and deeper as time went one. When the mystery was solved he didn't put his MC in danger, her figuratively through her off a climb into the boiling lave and an ignited volcano. And if was a threat that was forshadowed if you were paying attention.

There has been a thread running throughout the series that was ignored in this book. I'm getting a little impatient that the autor doesn't just get to it and pull the threat already. I mean, seriously, you can only danget the "person in the shadows" thing but for so long. I hope it would come with the next book but reaidng the books plot tells me it's not. I;d really like that to come to a head already because so far it's not really making much sense.

Besides that, a great read, a great reader and I can't wait for the next book.

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Wow. . .and with twists

Revisado: 09-16-20

Teagan Frost is a great character. When they make the movie I hope Hailee Steinfeld plays her, she's be perfect for the party.

TWISTS - oh yeah, there were some major twists in this book. The big one left we with a "Wait. . .WHAT?" feeling in my brain. There were twists and growth.

Villain - the villain did stretch things a bit, but they were given interesting limitations. I'd prefer a little more nuance in my villian - evil for evil's sake in a little hard to pull off. And the villains. . .um. . .henchman?. . .seemed to me to make really stupid decisions the author tried to justify but there can a point where I rolled my eyes and thought "for real? You're really going to do that?"

The ending was a little. . .anti-climatic? (Not the right word, but the best I can do). I mean some might disagree because the ending did have everything you could want, action, one hell of a ticking clock, big booms all around, but then. . .it's a little hard to explain without going into spoilers. I just wish there was more of a finality to it instead of a lead into the next installment. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't change my rating. It dfid worked on many levels but something about the ending picked some mental nits.

Over all an excellent installment to a great book. Looking forward to the next one.

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A Well Done Character Driven First-Contact Story

Revisado: 07-23-20

This is a great debut book, not filled with the usual traps a lot of first-time authors fall into. It's not a spoiler to say it's a first-contact story. We sci-fi fans read a lot of those and so few stand out. Axiom's End stands out because it's an epic story with so much personality you find yourself caring. It's a character-driven story that brings up so many interesting questions about life, ethics, love. Lindsay Ellis has some balls imagining this story at a specific period of time we will all recognize and going "what if this happened.) At first, the time-period seems innocuous and for a few pages, you worry a story like this could become dated. But as the story plays out and you're carried along the journey with the protagonist you realize that this is one of those stories that might last the test time. We've got ourselves a fresh face in science fiction and can't wait to see what other things she has in store for us in the future.

Fan note: If you know Linsay Eliis work, get ready to crack up at a reference you just know she sat with her manuscript and went "I HAVE to put this in here." And it worked.

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Great Series & Excellent MainCharacter

Revisado: 06-20-20

This series has surprised me at how nicely paced and engaging it is. It subverts a lot of the UA/New Adult fiction and I can’t wait to hear the next installment.

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Supberbly Imaginative and Funny AF

Revisado: 04-23-19

I'm going to admit I did not like the cliffhanger but loved the cliffhanger (check it out and you'll see what I'm talking about.) This is a story with an excellent voice and great characters. Here's a look at why diversity works because you're not going to get a group of more diverse characters in Super Hero fiction. Making Superheroes a group controlled by mega-corporations is brilliant and this is the story of how that can be subverted and perverted to AWESOME ends. If you read the first book, you'll totally love this one. If you haven't check them both out. It's a wild ride and a good time. That's why this book gets all the high marks, it's really that good.

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Good Story, Refreshing Twists

Revisado: 02-07-19

I did not think I'd like this book after reading the synopsis. I was never a Top Gun fan so merging that world with a science fiction background did not pull me in right away. Turns out there's a lot more to the story of "the girl who wanted to fly" than I thought. The characters were engaging when death happens the reader feels out in context to the story. It flowed very sell from the beginning to the long middle to the end. Spensa' had a good voice, one of just turning to an adult youth without the petulance they usually put in characters like her. There were nice twists and reveals worth the price of the book alone. If you're looking for the start to what sounds a really AWESOME series, pick this one up. You won't go wrong'.

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Honest Review from a Black Man

Revisado: 01-09-19

This is going, to be honest, so if you don't like that please don't read. There are problems when white writers do Black characters, and one of those problems is a misunderstanding of the things Black people take issue with when it comes to racism. While a world after Trump is an interesting idea for a story, especially with the 2nd Civil War as presented as the backdrop of this book, my biggest problem was with Dr. Watson. Microaggressions are a pain in the butt, this is true. They also inform the kind of person one is dealing with but they don't stop us cold from living life. In too many places in this story, Dr. Watson experiences what I saw as micro-aggressions and is paralyzed by them. That's not such a shock since the story stops throughout the book because Dr. Watson is paralyzed by everything. I get that the main character has to have flaws and be put their paces but JEEZ, it got soooooo annoying making the read more a slog because I kept rolling my eyes.

And speaking of rolling my eyes, does the author know how the Sherlock Holmes trope works? I'm going to forgive the face a character has a robot arm and it's the lamest robot arm in fiction, but here we got the lamest Sherlock analog on Earth. Instead of a lone warrior armed with the art of deduction, we have a character with an internet implant who uses that to learn things. I mean in any version of Sherlock Holmes the character takes one look and can know what you had for lunch, the last time you had sex and why you're the killer. In this version, the Sherlock analog doesn't do that - the thing that defines Sherlock Holmes.) She just annoying. I mean Sheldon from Big Bang Theory annoying and all her information either comes from her "bosses" or from her internet implant. That's not Sherlock Holmes works. For example, in the show Sherlock, he uses a smartphone but not to deduce anything about anyone. There is nothing wrong with having an LGBT woman of color Sherlock (or Sara) Holmes, but she HAS to be Sherlock Holmes, not a not-so-super-spy who uses an implant to get all her information.

These are the reasons I was extremely disappointed with this book.

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Over-Sexed and Not Enough Real Action

Revisado: 12-13-18

This could have been a great story akin to two other similar ones I've read, but I had too many problems with how the story was handled. Don't get me wrong, this was clearly a YA story so I went into it with eyes completely open. But many YA stories are great, such as Schooled in Magic or Zero Enigma. Here's my problem with how this story went. First of all the main character was just too much a victim. I get writers to have to present their main characters with problems they have to work to overcome, but it seems like everyone in the book could beat this character without much work. The second one is, okay how can I put this. Dear authors; no one, and I mean NO ONE, is that distracted by sex that much except in adult movies. Every chapter seemed to read like this: "OMG, the dangerous person is after me, but wow that guy is hot and has a nice package." Sure, guys notice woman parts and I guess woman notice guys parts, but if you're in trouble thinking about what sex would be like just doesn't come to mind. Maybe this is the kind of person the main character is supposed to be, but it happened way too much and was too damn distracting. A final problem is that instead of being surprised, the dangers just seemed to come out of no-where. All of a sudden this person is trying to kill the main character and it didn't feel like it was leading up to or foreshadowed. Even the big twist just seem forced.

I do not have a problem with a narrator sounding like a kid when they do young characters. But these students are supposed to be 17 years old. The narrator made everyone sound like they were 13, except the over-preoccupation with sex.

Like I said, I take YA for what it is. It's not aimed towards my demographic but it can be written in such a way that anyone could enjoy it. (See my reference to two YA series that I feel anyone can enjoy.) There are similarly bad books in my demographic with their own set of issues. This one wasn't my cup of tea. I don't think I'll be reading the other parts of this series.

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