Okaaayyy....

Finally finished this book. it took me ages, mostly because a lot of it was boring. But because I like this author, especially his Engineer trilogy but also a few standalones, I kept plugging away. Put it down, pick it up, put it down. The premise of a man waking up with no memory, although a bit of a cliche, is still interesting, and that central question is what kept me going. But if I hadn't read any of Parker's other books, and trusted his storytelling ability, I probably would have marked this one DNF.

Throughout the story you get various hints at who Poldarn might be, but nothing concrete. The plot is straightforward, as Poldarn stumbles around the country during a war trying to figure out who he is, and what side he's on. So far, so good. But there is literally no emotion on the page. People die, get killed, are murdered, and you don't really care. There's a big section with buttons. The characters are all flat. The narrative is essentially one note, and that makes it boring. There seems to be no overarching plot (although now that I've finished I don't actually think that's true) but it's easy to lose interest. A couple of times I even dozed off while reading. But about 4/5 of the way through, it gets all twisty and knotted, and I found myself thinking, wait, what? And wondering if I'd missed something important one of those times when I fell asleep, or forgot something vital one of those times when I'd put it down.

And now i can't decide if I'm going to read the next one, because I don't want to be bored again, but it would be nice to know what's really going on. And now I don't know how to rate this. Two stars for the first 4/5, four stars for the last bit? I wish the pacing was better, the characters deeper. But maybe now they will be? ( )

Subject to change depending on how the rest of the trilogy goes...but. Damn. ( )

I should have DNF but I carried on because I love this author's short stories but when it comes to his full length novels apart from the Folding Knife there just somehow leave me cold, I really want to like them as much as the shorts. I think I might just stick to his short stories from now on. ( )

I just couldn't continue... ( )

If you are one of those people who is always bugging the creators of Lost to "please, please give us some answers!" then THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR YOU. Go away.
If you are like me, and would prefer there just to be questions on top of mysteries on top of WTFs, then this book IS for you. Welcome! Prepare to be totally confused.
Don't read any other reviews, don't read the back of the book, just start reading it and get ready to have your brains tied in a knot.
( )