VT WRITER

To many near death struggles.

Revisado: 05-14-23

Seriously it feels like characters “just can’t any more” every other chapter. Reading the internal monologue of a person who is desperately battling some mental challenge gets really old after a while. Further more sense they got into the sim like 65% of their problems have been solved by a literal deus ex machina often after one of the aforementioned struggles. Gonna finish it cause I want to know what happens but unless the characters find some agency I’m not getting book 4.

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Not for me

Revisado: 02-07-23

The writing was technically excellent and the world building was interesting but halfway through I found myself not caring about any of the characters or what happens next.

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Good, but a little bare bones.

Revisado: 01-27-23

This is a very fun book, but it lacks some of what I hope for in a book by this author. It doesn’t have as much of the using science to solve problems, and a lot of what it does have is handwavium. It feels a little unsatisfying, lots of interesting ideas but they aren’t fleshed out. It feels like a lot of the book is set pieces or side plots not super related to what, in my mind is the main idea of the plot namely, surviving the apocalypse and building a new society. I feel like the author felt he needed a human antagonists but instead of doing one really good one he decided to make a few pretty bland and shallow ones. In summary I would have preferred more problem solving, more nuanced political debates with multiple sympathetic sides, more exploring other dimensions, and maybe two less antagonists. Also a book double the length but that’s just me.
Ray porter, is as always, outstanding.

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A bit disappointing

Revisado: 09-30-22

If you’ve come this far you might as well get this one too. But this book suffers from smart characters doing dumb things “because plot.”

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A heartwarmingly innocent escape

Revisado: 09-21-22

Upsides
The characters are interesting, if slightly stereotypical, the plot is unique, sort of like a combination of enders game and mysterious Benedict society. All in all, if you’re into lighthearted science-fiction with a dash of geopolitics this story is absolutely worth your time.

Downsides
The characters strain plausibility in someways. They seem to have an almost magical level of skill in their fields. I also personally found it somewhat hard to suspend my disbelief surrounding certain aspects of the “science” so not the hardest of science fiction. Finally one other minor thing.
I don’t like it when books try to preach politics at me, but this book really bends over backwards to avoid doing it. I mean seriously how can you have an entire sub plot revolving around the US political system and never say what party various characters are in.

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An interesting premise poorly executed.

Revisado: 09-04-22

The characters are flat and cliché, the plot is flat and cliché, the world building is interesting but sense I don’t care about the people or what they are doing it’s hard to care about the world building. I’m only 5 hours in so it might get better but I’m not spending any more of my time on it.

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Much better than the cover implies.

Revisado: 06-04-22

Seriously it has great character development and in depth world building basically everything you wouldn’t expect. The prose are a little awkward and there is a good deal of plot armor but not that bad. Definitely worth a read

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Not a literally master work but still fun.

Revisado: 05-22-22

Really, it may not have the most original plot or the most well written prose, but it’s fun especially if you like magic systems. Also having gay characters in a book is not pushing an agenda.

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I don’t care about the main characters.

Revisado: 08-07-21

I have enjoyed all of Mr. Sullivan’s books but I’m not really a fun of this one. You get into the book and dramatic things start happening immediately. It really feels like you’re supposed to care about what’s going on but I really don’t care about anything that because I don’t care about the characters. I feel like this book might have been a very good book two. If I had time to get to know the characters I think I would have liked it.

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A good story with which to relax after a stressful day. Or a story so boring you won’t be able to finish it.

Revisado: 07-13-21

This story has some very good elements but lacks some important things.

The good
World building
The world building is great. Alien races really feel alien instead of just being humans with pointy ears or green skin. Each culture is unique but still relatable. The galactic commons is a fun government and I think I could enjoy a book about all the politicking that must go on there. All in all this universe is vast and full of interesting things and people.

Character “development?”
The characters are all interesting and relatively complex.

The bad

Character “development?”
While the characters are all interesting, only half of the main characters seem to develop and most of the development takes place offscreen leaving the reader to wonder how exactly a character got from poor A to point B.
Don’t get me wrong none of the changes seem unreasonable for the characters it’s just I’d like to see more of them happening.

The plot
The plot is uninspired. Essentially the main characters must travel a long way in order to make some money. Not very original, not very exciting, and very low stakes. Not that I think the fate of the universe needs to be at stake for an interesting story but when the price of failure is not getting paid and possibly having to file some government paper work it’s hard to get invested in the story.

The structure
Because the stakes of the main plot are so low most of the conflict comes from a string of subplots but because these subplots tend to be separated by weeks and are only connected by the fact that the same People are involved so the “story” feels more like a Series of short stories loosely strung together by the fact that they take place on the same trip.

Conclusion if you’re main interest in a story is action, adventure or a high stakes plot this story is not for you. If your willing to put those things aside to enjoy an interesting universe and fun characters this story could be worth your time. If you are looking for a story similar to this but with more action adventure and stakes I recommend Galaxy outlaws by J.S. Morin the world buildings not as good but the plot is far more interesting.

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