Tory Thai

Cool premise that resorted to generic conspiracy sci-fi stuff that we've seen before

Revisado: 03-05-25

The book's premise was intriguing, but its execution felt generic. Extensive world-building ultimately proved superfluous or entirely neglected. This resulted in significant disappointment, leaving the reader feeling cheated out of a potentially unique experience. The reliance on commonplace science fiction tropes and an excessively rapid pace leading to the climax lacked the necessary development to establish believability.

The narrative's flaws became glaringly apparent in the poorly conceived "reveals." The introduction of a character for a single paragraph, only to later reveal their importance, demonstrates a fundamental lack of narrative skill; no reader will find such a character compelling.

Even the protagonist's supposed driving motivation—his mother's death—failed to resonate. This crucial element was merely stated, not convincingly demonstrated. Similarly, other revelations, intended to create impact, instead served only to render the characters unconvincing caricatures of established tropes.

Regrettably, this book proved a poor use of valuable time. Superior alternatives are readily available.

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A must to listen to this edition. This is dense and Graphic Audio makes this feel more organized.

Revisado: 10-07-24

Graphic Audio got me back into this series.

I remember trying to read this in the past and being completely overwhelmed by the amount of characters, factions and following along with plot conflicts overlapping. Oof. I couldn't keep up.

The GA version though made this so much easier to get a feel for what was going on. I absolutely loved the production and the creative liberties that were made to get the vibe down with some of these characters.

For example some very masculine voice actors would voice feminine characters. Confusing at first but it would get across the concept of gender it was trying to reflect that the narrator just labeled the gender themselves to try and make this make sense but had made assumptions on how we as a reader would attribute it all. Or very feminine voices for some of the masculine characters to represent caring men, again the unreliable narrator would make assumptions on how our labels are used. Some characters also distinctly had flvery androgynous voices that could go either way. Again, I found it a neat edition that some thought actually went into all that. Reading it was confusing but hearing it through a production like this just finally made sense to me.

The first half is dense with world building and took a few pauses and review of a wiki to put pieces together. The author does a terrific job drip feeding details for such a massive world but even at a drip feed speed it took a while to get the feel of things.

The later half of the book was great! Finally pieces were coming together to form the conspiracy storyline that was being built up that totally had me entranced wanting to see where things were headed.

Biggest disappointment was it ended very uncompleted. Like there was not even a attempt to make this feel like a book that could stand on its own. It felt like the next chapters were missing with how suddenly it drops off right when it was getting exciting.

Also this Is a very slow moving drama. Nothing moves fast consistently. Took some adjustment to get used to the pacing. The denseness of it all though really makes it unnoticed initially until you step back and realize how little has happened amongst all that world building.

Overall can't wait to get into the next. Obviously will have to stick with Graphic Audio for this. This is not an easy book I'd ever think I'd be able to comprehend reading. The distinct voices and production really helps make it all feel more organized.

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Reading about a Maxwell to her Epstein type abhorrent characters. Was a disgusting book.

Revisado: 10-03-24

Missed opportunity with the premise where so much potential is there but instead the book just hovers back and fourth on the same topic and same conflicts, same victim hood issues just a lot of same, same same.

The same was this back and fourth on being a victim of soullessly breeding like what is depicted here. Initially, felt really novel and a unique direction to go in what I'd usually consider a book that weirdly reminds me about some similar story beats and themes seen in early X-men comics and even the early X-men movies.

A puberty like event would spawn these powers that had to be hidden from the rest of society due to a concern about causing fear. And we have a Magneto type looking to spawn a perfect mutant and based on the amount of breeding maybe even potentially take over? I have no idea, we never get a clear answer.

We got our powers here like changing into animals, moving things with your mind, flying, reading thoughts, taking control of bodies, rapid healing, etc.

The character focus was really great at the beginning but once they land in this like commune the story hits a big wall of repeating the same thematic moments over and over again without much movement or enough differences between them.

It feels overly zoomed in and honestly after a while I just wish we would get a POV change to the antagonist because he's off adventuring away from the commune in some apparent consistent change of location that I feel would be a lot more interesting to witness.

The theme of hiding these powers totally get swept under the rug and you get very little interaction with how this society would interact with these mutants because of how restrictive the setting feels to just a few areas.

I really hoping to get more exposure on what it would be like for a black mutant in this early America era. Instead we are told more then shown anything that could help get us a setting. Instead we get a commune being very self sustained so outside influence feels non existent so nothing really historical feels impactful or meaningful. Instead a rinse and repeat plot is used that overstays it's welcome and I wish moved on quicker or any movement whatsoever could occur to mix things up a bit.

The biggest issue with this book is... Why? So much drama over this same plot device around breeding but... Why? Why Breed? Breed Why? Seems like a hell of a lot of work for no one in the entire book to stop and ask... Why? It's incredibly dumb when it just never gets answered and I'm waiting endlessly for some reasonable excuse from a character asking why?

This MC has so many morale failings that I feel make her as disgusting as the main villain. She feeds into everything wrong that is going on by capitulating to it all and gets so vile along with him under this guise by the author trying to paint her as a victim or some sort of good character when she very clearly isn't.

A scene speaks perfectly to this, a future wife/sister/daughter (again incest everywhere) going through her mutant change has an issue that attacks her son/husband. Son/husband attacks back the future wife/sister/daughter and just explodes her into a bloody pulp. It's witnessed by wife/mom and dad/husband and feels entirely too undercut in it's impact with how the MC could go through that and feel anything but pure revulsion with how far and terrible things are getting. No, it just continues and she continues to feed into this nonsense as this duo of villains destined for eachother. The son husband even tells his mom wife to move on past him and asks his mom wife to get back with dad ex husband as some of his last words.

I just got sickened by how much of an enabler this MC is and how she's this idiot accomplice in this whole mess and she's painted as this victim when she's very clearly not anymore.

I also don't buy into any of the poor excuses I've seen of this MC being a tragedy, living in fear or loneliness. This book opens with all the not loneliness she's always had. How strong, powerful and independent she is and able to make her own decisions. How no man can control her, how many life experiences she's had surrounded by people she loves and the care and love she has for her community. She's very obviously capable, calculating and smart about her situation. I don't thing enough character building occurred to go from that to so easily slipping into being a victim forced to marry a son and forced to birth like 40 kids against her will. She wants this.

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Side quest feeling junk food. Still had a lot of fun though.

Revisado: 09-30-24

Graphic Audio really made this so much fun! Felt like a cozy Adult Cartoon adventure.

The characters continue to be great and the pacing on the comedy and plot are really well done. I definetly giggled quite a bit with this one.

Getting super attached to this world and characters, kinda don't want it to ever end now!

4 stars because while fun and entertaining this book in particular felt more junk foodey more then the first 2. Purely entertainment that you can play in the background when you want something cozy but I really don't think I'm going to remember the events in this book as well in comparison to the first 2 books as it wasn't significant enough to be memorable.

I think this feels more like a forgettable side quest by the end is because it nearly all takes place in a new setting that is very obviously temporary and will be moved on from with no effect at the end of the book.

So kinda felt throwaway side fluff.

Not spoiling anything but by the end, it very much is clear this was a throwaway.

Still fun though :)

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Superior way to get through this series still for sure. Plot though is still kinda meh.

Revisado: 09-29-24

Graphic Audio brought me back to this series. This time with the intent of getting through the whole thing but in the Graphic Audio version.

This was definitely enhanced by this amazing production. Characters, plot and situation are so much easier to keep track of. It's still a nonsense situation comedy but comes across a tad more normalish with the production making changes in tone easier to catch. I still however didnt like the plot as much though.
Found it still was kinda simple, exciting moments but I kinda got bored.

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Best Mech book out there, however the end just is a bit nonsensical, doesn't ruin the book but was just amateur feeling.

Revisado: 09-28-24

Amazing start but drags a bit in the middle. Some of the intense battle events I kinda felt were the worst parts. It was a bit cluttered feeling or would go on to long. I found the incremental scenes where there would be scenes instead that come and go, zoomed in a bit better on characters which helped me care about them.

Also feels like I missed a book going into this as a lot of references but no clear solid build up of the enemy happens that really needed to. At least some more history instead of brief snippets here and there. Without that it felt like an enemy for the sake of being an enemy to create drama, it's fun but gets a bit old when there just aren't really a lot of attempts to expand on details for the enemy.

Like the enemy genuinely feels generic and unique at the same time. Generic in that you could likely plug in anything as an enemy with similar scenes and not much would change because so little work expands on the enemy, unique in their descriptors and way of fighting.

Notice I also keep referring to the enemy as enemy instead of something more specific. Again it just doesn't resonate as being called anything else, i could refer to the giant mechs used but again like... Who though and why should I care?

Great writing regardless even if that one bit was annoying. I was able to overlook it and still really really enjoy myself and the very visual events. I never really struggled seeing what was going on and loved to descriptors and occasional poetic feeling writing with how passionate it all feels.

The main characters I also loved how they were introduced and the time spent giving them personalities and put in unique situations making them recognizable.

The end 30% felt a bit out of place too. There were hints of a build up but nowhere near enough to really make sense of some of the escalation. The escalation also seemingly came and went a little too easily too. Some of the drama felt soooo plugged in too. Like a sudden reveal that I guess was supposed to have more impact just.... Didn't. It's like ok? That's weird to just say out loud and immediately a resolution happens within seconds.

Very much one of the best mechanicus books out there that I've experienced so far. There are some bad writing moments towards the end that are stupid but suspending disbelief, I was able to work past it.

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Stay away if you respect your time. There are better books out in the world.

Revisado: 09-27-24

This is honestly so time wasting with its BS pacing of monotonous fluff. I do not appreciate a book that did not respect my time.
This was not fun and jumped around at the start too often to find my footing with one group before it jumps to another.
The characters are hard to distinguish. No time goes into describing them and reinforcing their description to help with figuring out the cast or to care about them. So I felt like i was drowning trying to get some details to help with the cast.
I want to rage on how stupid this book was but honestly I have better things to do and need to move on. It wasted enough time.

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Totally clear why I see this recommended so much. It's so well written.

Revisado: 09-25-24

Wow this book was good! The world building, the characters, the plot, the visuals. Just everything about it was so well written!

Its a slow start initially getting introduced to all the characters and the world they live in. All very business as usual in this universe. Once the intended main plot gets going, it goes all out. Like right away upon the introduction of the Necrons things go as you'd expect. It's intense right away and everything that the slow build up introduced you to gets completly turned upside down to this entirely new chaotic situation.

The characters are easily identifiable with their goals, motivations and personalities. Not a lot of history on them to get attached completly, which I could have used more of, but enough to care that you care about their safety.

The descriptions this author used were just so well done, easily I could picture what was going on in my mind like it's a movie. The author didn't skimp on detail of the world and managed to really capture the mood and chaos.

The plot had a lot of moving parts to it, it initially gives the impression it's going to be political intrigue, romance maybe, then switches to a story with a military focus, survival, cults, personal growth into being brave to be able to handle the situation, sacrifices and the usual doom/gloom of 40k. I loved it.

Its been a while I got to experience such good writing as there is a sea of books in this universe that are hit and misses. This is definetly a hit.

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Bland plot, lacked humor, boring world, just overall strangely just not good

Revisado: 09-20-24

I think i might have too high of expectations here, I'm not really clouded by being a super fan of warhammer to just accept anything in the universe as being good as apparently a lot of people are doing because objectively this is a very bland book. The world this takes place in is very very zoomed in to a cave for the vast majority of the book. This creates a lack of world building needs as there just isn't a lot to expand on because by the nature of it being a cave, it clearly is something we can just imagine for ourselves what it's like. So right away world building is already something this book decided to cut off. Character building, just... Where are there any character building moments? It felt like a puppet show and everyone was just really playing a role in a play, it felt extremely wooden. Even the MC who we are here for in this book just doesn't get a lot of stand out moments. It feels like a straight line that we are just tagging along to see him walk it because it's a freaking cave and of course there is only so much that can happen in there. Even the races like Orcs and Necrons get laughably glazed over as nearly non existent. I mean there was so much potential to do something fun but you literally get these moments where the characters are all in place and there is such a good opportunity to blow up a cool and scenic moment but it just gets passed by as an afterthought or extremely under developed. The Orcs and Necrons are written into the background and never entirely get featured, it felt so low stakes. Big moments get talked about and not shown all the way to the end of the book. I was constantly waiting for the big moment, the apex of the story where we will finally get the pay off and get to experience something exciting with this character, it never happens, the book just ends and the narrator just plops a blurb saying in essence 'and that's all' plop, books done. What in the world? Youre even told how well the defense is going, and here I'm thinking, cool I get to see what they means right? No, no you don't, you're just vaguely told it and the book just ends haha. The humor also was lacking, I know this series is apparently known for being on the lighter end with some funny antics, but like, ok? What exactly was so funny about anything going on or any moments the MC did that could be interpretted as funny? Again we are just told and not shown what is funny. Like 'and I'm known for being a coward and avoiding danger' as a little funny moment, but.... Ok? Be a coward then so I can laugh at what you mean by that, don't just tell me what's funny without showing because in my point of view I'm just getting to see you be not a coward by chasing through these tunnels and making smart choices to save lives and care for people who are injured... When do I laugh? It's like the author so desperately wanted there to be a joke but can't really deliver a punchline so we are just told what's funny but can't be delivered the exact funny moment. It's incredibly strange. I don't know how this would just not get noticed by an editor unless it never saw an editor with no intention of it being anything but some junk food. It wasn't the worst book I've experienced, i mean I was able to get to the end after all. And the hope and mystery on if something would happen kept me going. Wow though what a just overall terrible amount of choices here. This book could have maybe been a little tiny short story or a paragraph reference referred to in another book because absolutely nothing of significance happens and no growth is seen. If this book was never released I can imagine the series as a whole would likely not be effected. I really need to quit books immediately after recognizing the trend of authors telling and not showing. It's ok occasionally maybe during a monalog or for some exposition, but sparingly, as it's not fun to run into for nearly the entire book and should never be done to glaze over critical moments or as a set up for humor that just can't be delivered.

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Bad on a whole other level... Just wow. Please avoid this to avoid brain rot

Revisado: 09-19-24

DNF 50%

I really tried, I just could not understand the appeal of this book to have literally millions or ratings. This is garbage in so many ways and nothing makes sense in the cringe way that I feel sorry for the author for not having enough talent but obviously they sell well enough, so good for them I guess.

Immediatly lines like 'you can't read but learned how to use a bow?'
And a situation where someone obviously meaningful gets killed and the usual in that situation is an eye for an eye as it's the most criminal thing this character could do, but instead let's keep her alive and pamper her and her family? Wtf? And then this whole like situation that led her to being 'captive' gets totally brushed aside like it's never happened and was just some useful plot device to get this character where she was needed.

There's like no explanation either on attraction, this character is obviously incredibly unlikable with Jo redeeming qualities she's letting be known. And like... Why? She killed what I imagine is a close friend based on the writing. Why is that not coming up enough?

The writing is so bad, so sooo bad, so bad. Wow it's bad. It's so bad it's exhausting and fascinating how bad it is really. The audience this book attracted is wild, it was explained to me by someone I trust as incredibly complex and a entry point to getting lost in this world..... Really? This? When?

The drama going on is just so unbelievable and not enough is done to really sell it as anything with any stakes. Its

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