Interesting mashup

The combination of themes is interesting but sometimes the story gets ahead of itself because of the way that the story is told. Might turn into an interesting series. Definitely something to keep an eye on. ( )

I really wanted to give this 4 stars, and it came so close. The prose is beautiful, and I still really recommend this book, but it can feel like a slog at times. There were points where the language was protracted and overly crafted, turning a moment that could've been a few pages into too many. All of this could've been forgiven if the climax didn't feel so underwhelming. But don't let this put you off. The world is wonderfully crafted, and perhaps Marlowe's journey becomes more fleshed out throughout the series. ( )

This puts the "epic" in "epic space opera". ( )

Way too wordy! I quit in the middle of the book, just could not care about any of the characters. Writing is OK, and world building is OK, but very thin plot. Reads like an compilation of coming of age exploits in a space opera setting. ( )

The very good: the most depth in characters I have seen in a long time. Everybody has reasons for their actions, and those reasons also have reasons. I rarely find that in sff and highly appreciated it.
The good: the author can write a lot of information without info-dumping and creates a complex,extensive world.
The bad: in places, the writing is too overburdened, and often the level of details is overblown. Most characters act exactly as expected.
The very, very bad: it's highly unoriginal. In short,it's Dune fan-fiction written in wanna-be Rothfuss style. And not just inspired, it's actually filled with elements taken directly from Dune,not even properly disguised.
The conclusion: Ruocchio has good potential, but it is not fulfilled in this copy-cat series. I will try him again, when he writes in a different fictional universe, one of his own. ( )