So, fair warning. I’ll try to keep it vague, but this review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS
First things first, THE GOOD:
– Narration is 10/10. Jeff Hays is the only reason I stuck around as long as I did. I love his work in other series, and highly recommend looking at most things he reads.
– Forbes also writes combat scenes pretty well. They’re compelling and exciting and you can get a really good visual of what’s happening.
– Some of the characters have depth and are compelling, interesting characters. Not all of them though.
Ok, now THE BAD:
– The writing is immature. I don’t mean it contains fart jokes, I mean that you are very aware you’re reading/listening to a book. The story absolutely does not suck you in, because the writing style has random phrases or words that rip you right out of the story.
– The use of “fragging” instead of the f-word is a direct rip off of the use of “fracking” in Battlestar Galactica, and it’s extremely taxing. It’s one thing if you have some custom cuss word that’s used on occasion, but 2 of every 3 sentences includes at least one “frag” or “fragging” or “frag off” or “go frag yourself”
– It’s really obvious immediately that Forbes has never served in the military. He falls into the same trap that a lot of author’s do. His characters dialogue and interactions feel hollow and forced. Soldiers use some of those words, but that’s not how we talked 99% of the time. Most of the time, soldiers just sound like people. When we discuss military stuff, we use a lot of acronyms or jargon, but if we’re not specifically discussing military stuff, we just talk like normal ass people.
– The story is not just derivative… it’s just ripped off entirely. HERE’S THE SPOILERS…
The books are really just long chapters. The 7 book series doesn’t portray conflict – resolution arcs per book. It’s just one long story split arbitrarily into separate volumes. You don’t get the run down until book 4, but it’s hinted at constantly. Lots of pun names and Biblical allegorical references and allusions. But in book 4 you meet one of the Seraphim… yeah… like angels… and she gives you a breakdown of the overarching story that’s been guiding everything til now. I’ll give you the cliff’s notes summary… it’s the Bible. God created seraphim, then he filled the universe and worlds with life, but he made humans in his own image. some angels, led by Lucifer, took umbrage… there was a rebellion… they managed to destroy the local manifestation of “The One” (the other characters just call him God), and in the process tasted his blood. The blood contains nanomachines that give the host telekenetic powers among other stuff, but if you don’t consume human blood, the nanomachines will die off, since humans were made in God’s image.
So short short short version… space vampire fallen angels whose power is derived from microscopic things in their blood… like Jedi. Their goal is to build enough power to return to Elysium and kill God.
It’s exactly as bad as it sounds, and none of these ideas are novel or original at all. It’s a mashup of the most popular sci fi tropes.
If none of that bothers you, have at it. Jeff Hays is a top tier narrator and can carry this story on his shoulders if you’re willing to push past it. But I made it to book 4 and I’m 100% out.