I had high hopes for this book. I was looking for a new sci-fi series and the description of potential first contact and finding alien artifacts in deep space is always a subject I enjoy – when written well.
Like some of the other reviews, I too thought the tech was much too glossed over. It was explained away too quickly. One minute they are on earth, the next they have an amazing interplanetary ship made with knowledge gained from a mysterious message. Instead the author chose to focus more on the characters and their interactions. I’m fine with that, and any good series should develop the characters. But I found myself not caring at all about any of them. In fact, as of this writing I can’t remember a single name of any of the characters. That’s not good.
Perhaps what ruined it for me the most was (minor spoiler), where four of the main characters are caught up in a teenage-like love quadrangle. One has a crush on another and the other isn’t sure of his or her feelings about a third, yada, yada…And these “conversations” came at ridiculous times. Let’s just say for the sake of being spoiler-free, there’s a point in the book where two of the couples are exploring something and they are musing about feelings for this person or that. What? There is potential danger at any moment and they aren’t focused on the mission.
Action was almost non-existent as well – except towards the end. I know this first book is a setup for more in the series, but there was nothing at all to hook me. In fact I kept looking to see what chapter I was on so I could get it over with.
I hate writing less than stellar reviews, but this one just didn’t do it for me – not when there are so many outstanding sci-fi series, and at just 7 hours there’s not much value for the price either. Sorry, I won’t be continuing.