Commander Dave

Surprisingly Entertaining!

Revisado: 11-20-22

Edit: I just re-read the Audible entry for this title and it was under Sci-Fi / Humorous. When I wrote the review I missed that little point. I need to lean to read better! :-) Being in this category, it is spot on and my review still stands as it is a really fun read, which was the point all along. :-D

Review:
This is a tough review for me as I am really a hard Sci-Fi guy and not into fantasy stories. Then there is this book. At first it was Sci-Fi, then it became silly Sci-Fi with fantasy thrown in and mixed well. When it got a little silly, I thought I wouldn't like it but I soon found it was really fun! You have to TOTALLY suspend disbelief on the same level of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, but when you do it is a really entertaining listen. Also, the narration is really top notch. I really look forward to another in the series.

Bottom line: Get this book and set your mind to a fun read. 🙂

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A Bit Mundane

Revisado: 11-20-22

Instead of writing my own review, see the review titled "A Mishmash of Intergalactic Mehhh". His summary is pretty much spot on.

Granted, the whole space cop thing is not really my genre but even if it was, there isn't anything that stands out as a good story. Its a lot like drinking a flat soda.

I struggled through to chapter 27 before I broke down and returned the book.

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The Story had Potential but Failed in Execution

Revisado: 12-12-21

I selected this book based on the hope of a story of mystery and discovery but while the idea was sound Visitor fails in both execution and narration.

The premise is that a mysterious object is coming close enough to Earth for an expedition to land on the object and find out if it is natural or alien in origin. The first half of the book builds the main character, a female astronaut, and the detailing the discovery of the object and the private companies that want to get there. Both of these items were necessary and should have been enjoyable but it was tedious (writing) and sometimes irritating (narration).

There were problems with the portrayal of the main character throughout the book. She is described to be a very skilled and excellent astronaut pilot but comes across throughout the book as a helpless female who is unsure of herself and whines a lot. It is contradictory in that she does some excellent work and has great skill, but the personality doesn't match her described abilities.

Most other characters are usually too intense and almost always yelling and generally being irritating. I understand that some characters need to be intense but the way they are portrayed is just unrealistic. No one in real life is constantly yelling to get their way like the characters do in the book.

There are exceptions, such as the Russian cosmonaut commander whose demeanor was what the main character should have been. The discoverer of the object was also a pretty good character portrayal, except toward the end of the book when he seemed to morph into a different personality more along the lines of yelling and demanding his way.

The story of getting to the object also had potential but again turned out to be an exercise in tedium. The personal conflicts were shallow, the technical challenges faced were a bit contrived and come across flat and the actual landing and discovery was short and didn't make sense in places (what is that and why would it be there?) Further, the resulting problem faced by the crew was handled badly. There was lots of yelling, whining and seemingly out of character behavior by a crew faced with a serious challenge. Again, the exception was the Russian Cosmonaut commander who's portrayal was well written. There were two other characters who seemed more normal and professional but they always seemed to be background characters. This was odd since one of them was a scientist who was working on the issue they were facing and should have a larger role.

At the end of the book, the main character falls ill and loses about two weeks of time due to her condition. She awakes to find the ship quiet and finds a video of the scientist who gives an exposition of what has happened. It's almost like the author got tired of writing and just had a character explain it in a nutshell. The book ends with little answers and a poor setup for a next book.

The narration is problematic also. The normal reading voice of the narrator is fine and enjoyable but many of his characterizations either come across as very whiney or too intense. Some of this may be the writing but many characters just grated on my nerves. Once again, an exception was the Russian Cosmonaut whose portrayal was great.

I did finish the book because I wanted to see how it turned out but the whole experience was so unsatisfying that I returned it for a refund. I would normally not ask for a refund on a book I had finished but this one was an exception. This was book one and there is more of the story to tell, but with the experience with this book I will not be purchasing.

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Simplistic

Revisado: 09-20-19

This is a very simplistic story with similar writing style. The story was interesting in the respect that I wanted to see how things turned out because I love a good mystery sci-fi story. I was, however, disappointed with how it turned out in the end. They did explain everything but the explanation was rather formulaic. Overall I think this book would be better suited to a preteen rather than an adult reader.

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Plot is okay, narration and writing is terrible

Revisado: 03-10-17

Would you try another book from Elan Mastai and/or Elan Mastai?

No. After (painfully) finishing the book the plot taken as a whole had potential but the writing of the story is not so good. I would use the word "terrible" but it could be the narration which really is terrible.

What was most disappointing about Elan Mastai’s story?

Bad storytelling & writing for a potentially good plot. Also, several strange chapters. One very memorable one is a short chapter that is just the main character dropping the F bomb after a very bad mistake he made.

How could the performance have been better?

The author is the reader. He does not need to be a narrator at all. A professional narrator could have brought the overall rating up one or two stars.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Not much. It's a time travel / people story and it had a very promising plot. If it had been a different author and different reader it could have been really good. Also, the book gets a bit better after about chapter 60, later drops again and the last 20 chapters get better again.

Any additional comments?

I rarely leave comments, especially negative ones. I felt that I needed to help people from wasting their time on this one. I struggled through it thinking the sum may be better than the parts, but aside from a decent plot it wasn't. If I could go back I wouldn't buy this book.

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