weaverjp

Once again, I did not read the blurb prior to sampling the first 20% of the story. So, that gave me more ample opportunities to let the book shine on its own. It seems like most of the book so far is in Malcolm's POV. He is a 2nd generation Ethiopian-American from Minnesota with scant if any remaining cultural ties to his parents' birth country. Malcolm spent a few months in Mozambique working in a farm (while being currently deployed in the army). I didn't quite understand whether he had two jobs or he finished a mission term and spent a while living there for fun under a work visa. That sort of confused me because most African countries are notorious for being quite pedantic authorizing work visas. The book never specifies whether Malcolm visited the Ethiopian embassy to activate his second birthright citizenship. With an African passport, I would assume getting that work visa would be a whole lot easier. They would authorize it easier with a US passport, but ask far too many questions regarding why an engineer would want to work in a farm earning 1 or 2 dollars a day at the most when there's jobs related to his field in Mabuto.

Most of the story focuses on Malcolm being deployed to a construction site on a lunar base where his knowledge of 3D printing panels with moon rock would come in handy. If the story had focused a little bit more on how he had to travel in a car and test the soil for the printing machine, I think I would have felt more invested in it.

Instead, the book mainly focuses on the friendship he instantly forms with 5 other military staff at the site that all like to play D&D games. I think the book will certainly cater to American readers that are very much involved in gaming culture. The problem I had was that all 6 characters are written in such a similar way like they all grew up in the same suburban neighborhood that I got confused which character was which. It would be insanely unusual for an American to work in any country in Africa, and none of the characters hounded him with questions or let him prepare a typical dish. Another one of the 6 friends was born in Taiwan, a country notorious for its rich and insanely good cuisine. We also never get to enjoy some international dinner bonding while playing D&D. Everyone was much more into American hobbies and flirting with their female coworkers. As I read the book, I often felt like I was at a party were the clique was at its own separate table having fun while I sort of stood in the corner unsure whether I should just snatch some snacks and quietly leave.

The entire book is revolved around the bond forged between the 6 characters that end up having their memories installed into a spaceship (a pet project one of the characters did in their free time that was theoretically off the record from their military superiors). Seeing the big picture that the 6 personality AI becomes the protagonist, I can understand the character driven story.

So, it was expected I would feel somewhat indifferent about the book as everyone has their memories installed in the AI. I didn't see typos and most of the time the book tries to be written in present tense. But when it comes to character driven books, readers might struggle enjoying the story if the characters seem unrelatable, which is what happened to me. I am certain however that there will be plenty of American readers that feel quite at home with the characters and find the rest of the book to be enjoyable. For me, I couldn't quite connect to the cast.… (altro)