Aurora Rising (3/5)
Without hyperbole, this is one of the most cliched sci-fi novels I've ever read.
That's not to say it's bad, per se, but it did nearly get a 2/5. There's a 40 minute video on YouTube that delves into the subject better than I can, but for now, I have to deal with this drek myself. Or, I guess I don't, but, well, I'll put it this way - look at the alphabet, pick any sci-fi IP that begins in one of the 26 letters. Chances are, you'll find at least one reference/similarity/homage/ripoff to said IP.
So, to get into things. The first book in a trilogy, this takes place in the year 2380, where humanity is part of numerous alien races (all of which are carbon-based humanoids) in the Milky Way (a.k.a. the Way, because the Verse was taken by Firefly). Among this is a group called the Aurora Legion, which is basically Starfleet, headquarted in what's essentially Babylon 5. Our crew is a band of misfits (according to the back cover), but aren't really, they're just the bottom of the elite. So, like, the top 1%, rather than the top 0.1%. All of these characters are snarky arseholes, that continue to snark even in life-or-death situations, and it really doesn't work, at least not all of the time. If your characters don't take anything seriously, why should I? Also, FTL travel in this universe is done through FoldSpace, which is mainly done through natural or artificial gates in rea-space (Babylon 5, Wing Commander). Among the races in the galaxy are the syldrathi, which are literally space elves (long-lived, pointy-eared), so pick your poison (Star Trek, Warhammer, etc.), who are in the middle of a civil war.
So, band of misfits (Firefly, Farscape, Cowboy Bebop) that are really uber elite (Star Trek), end up being paired with a girl who's been in cryo for 200 years, and is actually psychic (too many to count), but is also "the special" in saving the galaxy from a plant network monster thing (Star Wars, Halo), which has already corrupted the GIA (Galactic Intelligence Agency) branch of the TDF (Terran Defence Force), and now, they're renegades. So they have to infiltrate a worldship coupled from various other spaceships (Valerian), and do an infiltration mission, and eventually get to special girl's original intended colony to discover the ancient evil put to slumber by "the Ancients" one million years ago and gah!
Look, you can see what I'm getting with here. I can bear cliches if the execution is good enough, but this book doesn't have a single original idea in its head, and its execution simply isn't good enough to make up for it. The characters are memorable, to a point, but only because they're walking archtypes. The snark, while humorous at times, does wear down on you as things chug along. I haven't even got into the other stuff yet, such as:
-The Aurora Legion's assignment system is nonsensical.
-The special and elf boy have a 'thing' between them that becomes manifest towards the end, which culminates in absolute assinine dialogue (gravity, planets, love...gah!)
-While not necessarily a plothole, the infected planet has been under quarantine for hundreds of years, and kept secret by the TDF, but hasn't bombed it from orbit because...reasons? Yeah, the GIA is compromised, but not the TDF as a whole (as far as I know).
So, is there stuff I liked about it. Well, some of the snark is fun. There's an AI given to 'the special' to help her get used to the 24th century named Magellan, and everything that escapes his lips (not that he has lips) is gold, as well as his Internet (or 24th century) searches that punctuate chapters. If Magellan was the sole snarky asshole, and the crew more varied, things might be better, but even then, snarky AI is a trope unto itself.
So, yeah. Don't really recommend this book. There's two others in the trilogy, but I'm not in a hurry to read them. We end at the stage of "ancient evil is now emerging and our heroes are the only ones that can stop it," so I know how this story goes.
Without hyperbole, this is one of the most cliched sci-fi novels I've ever read.
That's not to say it's bad, per se, but it did nearly get a 2/5. There's a 40 minute video on YouTube that delves into the subject better than I can, but for now, I have to deal with this drek myself. Or, I guess I don't, but, well, I'll put it this way - look at the alphabet, pick any sci-fi IP that begins in one of the 26 letters. Chances are, you'll find at least one reference/similarity/homage/ripoff to said IP.
So, to get into things. The first book in a trilogy, this takes place in the year 2380, where humanity is part of numerous alien races (all of which are carbon-based humanoids) in the Milky Way (a.k.a. the Way, because the Verse was taken by Firefly). Among this is a group called the Aurora Legion, which is basically Starfleet, headquarted in what's essentially Babylon 5. Our crew is a band of misfits (according to the back cover), but aren't really, they're just the bottom of the elite. So, like, the top 1%, rather than the top 0.1%. All of these characters are snarky arseholes, that continue to snark even in life-or-death situations, and it really doesn't work, at least not all of the time. If your characters don't take anything seriously, why should I? Also, FTL travel in this universe is done through FoldSpace, which is mainly done through natural or artificial gates in rea-space (Babylon 5, Wing Commander). Among the races in the galaxy are the syldrathi, which are literally space elves (long-lived, pointy-eared), so pick your poison (Star Trek, Warhammer, etc.), who are in the middle of a civil war.
So, band of misfits (Firefly, Farscape, Cowboy Bebop) that are really uber elite (Star Trek), end up being paired with a girl who's been in cryo for 200 years, and is actually psychic (too many to count), but is also "the special" in saving the galaxy from a plant network monster thing (Star Wars, Halo), which has already corrupted the GIA (Galactic Intelligence Agency) branch of the TDF (Terran Defence Force), and now, they're renegades. So they have to infiltrate a worldship coupled from various other spaceships (Valerian), and do an infiltration mission, and eventually get to special girl's original intended colony to discover the ancient evil put to slumber by "the Ancients" one million years ago and gah!
Look, you can see what I'm getting with here. I can bear cliches if the execution is good enough, but this book doesn't have a single original idea in its head, and its execution simply isn't good enough to make up for it. The characters are memorable, to a point, but only because they're walking archtypes. The snark, while humorous at times, does wear down on you as things chug along. I haven't even got into the other stuff yet, such as:
-The Aurora Legion's assignment system is nonsensical.
-The special and elf boy have a 'thing' between them that becomes manifest towards the end, which culminates in absolute assinine dialogue (gravity, planets, love...gah!)
-While not necessarily a plothole, the infected planet has been under quarantine for hundreds of years, and kept secret by the TDF, but hasn't bombed it from orbit because...reasons? Yeah, the GIA is compromised, but not the TDF as a whole (as far as I know).
So, is there stuff I liked about it. Well, some of the snark is fun. There's an AI given to 'the special' to help her get used to the 24th century named Magellan, and everything that escapes his lips (not that he has lips) is gold, as well as his Internet (or 24th century) searches that punctuate chapters. If Magellan was the sole snarky asshole, and the crew more varied, things might be better, but even then, snarky AI is a trope unto itself.
So, yeah. Don't really recommend this book. There's two others in the trilogy, but I'm not in a hurry to read them. We end at the stage of "ancient evil is now emerging and our heroes are the only ones that can stop it," so I know how this story goes.