Sean Sandulak
I suppose it's not the worst complaint to say that a book as too short. Normally when I hear that, I assume it's someone putting their own expectations on what a book should be instead of enjoying it for what it is. In this case, however, I think the book suffers somewhat for it. This could have been a much better introduction to the series, but instead it brushes past the MC's backstory, it leaves many of the characters underdeveloped and flat, and awkwardly tacks on a love-at-first-sight romance.
The writing itself was good, and the plot, while not expansive, moved along without a hitch. A solid 3.5 stars, rounded up for giving us a much better representation of nerd culture than other books I've read.
When I first started writing this book , I wasn't trying to construct a universe to contain some characters and a plot. Rather, I was building a platform to explore and deconstruct the paranormal romance and urban fantasy genres which I found often fell back on the use of clichéd tropes and plot devices. After listening to and reading many discussions about these topics, both through the Vaginal Fantasy Book Club and elsewhere, I wanted to try a different take which still incorporated much of the flavor that makes these books so appealing to so many.
Too often the protagonists in these stories are either hapless, passive victims or overpowered über women who can do no wrong. I chose to tell the story of a regular person, without any special powers or abilities, who is thrust into a series of extraordinary circumstances beyond her control. She is not a damsel in distress, however. She constantly struggles to be heard and take control of her own destiny.
I terms of the tone, I was shooting for a Buffy or Lost Girl balance of drama, horror, and humor. I find when you lean too heavily on one or the other, the writing starts to take itself too seriously. I wanted to push boundaries, but still keep the reader, as well as myself, entertained.
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy it.
DarkShip Thieves is written in the style of a classic YA space opera where the plucky outsider challenges the establishment. Set around a future Earth where bio-engineered supermen were driven off and replaced by a ruling aristocracy, one young woman finds herself caught between a struggle for power and a hidden society of enhanced humans who must steal to survive.
Like most space operas, the plot tends towards melodrama, but the story is well-paced and exciting enough to pull you along to the end. The world-building is well thought out and developed, and helps support the narrative rather than overwhelming it. The characters are unique and individualized, but I personally found it hard to relate to them. Athena is rebellious, bratty and overbearing, while Kit is brooding, melancholy, and self-sacrificing. Their relationship, which is supposed to be the transformative for Athena, seems to arise out of nowhere, but hey, that's what happens sometimes, especially when you're nineteen. All in all, a fun read, but not one to be examined too closely.
While this novel has a rich world full of detail and cultural diversity, it suffers from slow pacing and a tremendous amount of unbroken exposition. The plot develops at an agonizing slow pace until it is jarringly interrupted by a seemingly non-sequitur story within a story about life in a Jewish ghetto in seventeenth century Prague. Once the story did gain some traction, I found myself feeling unsympathetic toward any of the characters who spend all of their time wallowing in guilt and self-doubt over their past mistakes and the existential nature of their own existence including, surprisingly, the cyborg and the golem.
There is very little in the way of dramatic tension. Whenever there is a moment of genuine conflict, it is resolved with surprising speed or is glossed over altogether. The ending in particular was anti-climatic. By the end I felt the relief of having completed a difficult chore rather than the satisfaction of a well-told story.
A beautiful but flawed novel. If you're willing to invest the time required to read it, it can be a worthwhile experience, but if you crave something with excitement and action, this book may not be for you.
