Eric Appelbaum
Added to listOwnedwith 1 book.
Light-hearted and engaging, Project Hail Mary left me smiling throughout. The tone and humor make it hard for the stakes of Project Hail Mary to feel as high as they are, but I can't help but want to see our main characters to succeed.
Light-hearted and engaging, Project Hail Mary left me smiling throughout. The tone and humor make it hard for the stakes of Project Hail Mary to feel as high as they are, but I can't help but want to see our main characters to succeed.
A solid second outing of our Holmes-and-Watson, Ana and Din. We find our duo on a new frontier town of Yarrow, not quite part of the empire, following a high profile disappearance. But I found A Drop of Corruption to be a step behind the first entry in several aspects.
The mystery oftentimes felt less accessible in the sense that certain details were indecipherable until we learn enough about Yarrow; however we aren't allowed to sit on our revelation and speculate as the details are immediately explained how they relate to the mystery. These points felt told to you far too soon, and left not much room for you to get that satisfaction from being correct. I felt Ana inconsistent in this book, torn between frustration at being in the dark - due in part to the aforementioned delay of information regarding Yarrow and it's goings on - while still being shown to have predicted much of the truth far before we learn of it. I shared in her frustrations, as it felt some of the ways Robert Jackson Bennett chose to obfuscate the mystery were cliche and unsatisfying.
The characters were not so immediately engaging as those of the first book, and I felt like I didn't get to know some characters well despite the amount of time spent with them.
I did still enjoy A Drop of Corruption, and I absolutely look forward to the third entry. This book had a lot of great ideas and themes - expounded upon in his author's note - that I saw shining through his writing and story. With a more buttoned up execution I think this next entry has the potential to knock it out of the park.
A solid second outing of our Holmes-and-Watson, Ana and Din. We find our duo on a new frontier town of Yarrow, not quite part of the empire, following a high profile disappearance. But I found A Drop of Corruption to be a step behind the first entry in several aspects.
The mystery oftentimes felt less accessible in the sense that certain details were indecipherable until we learn enough about Yarrow; however we aren't allowed to sit on our revelation and speculate as the details are immediately explained how they relate to the mystery. These points felt told to you far too soon, and left not much room for you to get that satisfaction from being correct. I felt Ana inconsistent in this book, torn between frustration at being in the dark - due in part to the aforementioned delay of information regarding Yarrow and it's goings on - while still being shown to have predicted much of the truth far before we learn of it. I shared in her frustrations, as it felt some of the ways Robert Jackson Bennett chose to obfuscate the mystery were cliche and unsatisfying.
The characters were not so immediately engaging as those of the first book, and I felt like I didn't get to know some characters well despite the amount of time spent with them.
I did still enjoy A Drop of Corruption, and I absolutely look forward to the third entry. This book had a lot of great ideas and themes - expounded upon in his author's note - that I saw shining through his writing and story. With a more buttoned up execution I think this next entry has the potential to knock it out of the park.
