Review: Prototype

Prototype by M.D. Waters
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

[Disclaimer: I won a copy of this book in the Goodreads First Reads giveaways.]

This book was like a hell of a lot better than the first one. It still had its problems, but overall the story was better, and the action a lot better too. It wrapped up very neatly (and I mean, pretty much every loose end is tied up), which is almost always a plus for me (I hate loose ends, especially at the end of a series), although maybe a little too neatly? Not sure yet.

Since I don't want to spoil this book for anyone who hasn't read Archetype yet, I won't post the rest of the review here.  If you want to read it, you can click here!

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Review: Archetype

Archetype by M.D. Waters
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

[Disclaimer: I won a copy of this book in the Goodreads First Reads giveaways.]

There's nothing particularly special about this book that makes it terribly innovative. It has the typical dystopian women-as-property-because-they-overbred-boys idea, a controlling husband, a woman who wakes up on a table and doesn't know who she is or anything about her past... It's what she figures out as she tries to understand her history that sets this apart from other dystopian SF I've read lately.

Now, I'm not saying this was a particularly bad book, but it wasn't amazing, or mind-blowing, or recommendation-worthy. I enjoyed the read, and I plan to read the second book because I want to know what happens (especially with what happened in the last 50 pages or so, and also because I won the second book too).

What I liked (in list format because I feel like it):
* The reveal towards the end as to who Emma really is
* Declan's personality coming out in full, and the way he slowly showed it throughout
* The flashes of memory (this is also something I didn't like)

What I didn't like:
* The way Emma speaks. She does not use contractions, she speaks like a robot. And I guess this can be considered a clue (no, she's not a robot), but I would have thought as her memory came back she would start speaking like a normal human being again. She doesn't.
* The descriptions of lovemaking, and love, and all that junk. I'm cool with sex in books, that's not the problem. It's just that I've never *ever* had (or heard of anyone who has had) sex like the stuff in this book. And coupled with the flowery romantic language when Emma is thinking about Declan and this mystery person she sees in her memory flashes, it was too over-the-top for me to be even remotely realistic.

As long as you aren't expecting a mind-blowing thriller, or epic SF, you'll probably enjoy this book. It was interesting, and I read it in two days. So I'm judging it for what it is, and not for what it's not (although I do wish the writing hadn't been so flowery most of the time), and yeah, I liked it.

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Review: Offworld

Offworld by Robin Parrish
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While this was an entertaining science fiction romp, I wasn't exactly feeling the Christian SF aspect. It seemed thrown in there for effect, but even then the story didn't make sense without it. I don't know why it bothered me, but it seems like there should have been more to what happened. I kind of said to myself, "That's it?"

And if the author is using "divine intervention" to explain how the crew got through everything they did, that felt more like a cop-out than a real tribute to God. Because none of it could have possibly happened the way it did without divine intervention, but it didn't feel genuine either. Gah, I feel so confused right now.

As a book, it was pretty good. It felt like he was trying to write a movie more than a novel, though. The fact that I couldn't figure out what was going on until the last 10% could be said to be the mark of a good writer, although it could also be said that what he was positing was so surreal that no one would have figured it out before the big reveal anyway.

See how conflicted I am?! I'm trying to leave positive remarks but then I get confused again... I feel like I have no idea what I just read!

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