Un novato es ascendido tras concretar una gran hazaña eliminando un nido alienígena. Ovacionado por todos sus compañeros después de recibir la medalla de honor, es trasladado a el equipo especial. Su misión, el destino de la humanidad. En un ultimo ataque forzado por los aliados para acabar finalmente con los Tungs. Pero que seria de nosotros si todo lo que nos cuentan es mentira. Descubrir la verdad en una guerra. Tener en las manos la verdad absoluta redactada por un enemigo. ¿Podrías decidir quien es el bien y quien el mal? Todos tomamos decisiones, la joven leyenda debería tomar solo una, a consecuencia de la extinción de la raza humana.

¿Que harías tú si todo lo que te importa en la vida estuviera al otro lado de un visor?

 

 

There are some books that just don’t click. It’s not necessarily the book’s fault. I’m a picky reader, so I find a lot of books that fall into this rating for me. It’s got a lot of good reviews on Goodreads, which goes to show how picky I can be. I say to the book: It’s not you, it’s me.

 

To really summarize the plot, it’s basically about stopping killers offing blue-eyed girls. There’s some gods involved, different classes of people, and dark forces.

 

First and foremost, I didn’t like the main character. I didn’t like her voice, her actions, or her approach. I don’t mind a rough around the edges character. Matter of fact, the more flaws the better. I like a strong, kickass female lead. I don’t mind if she’s got a mouth on her, enjoys sex, and is rebellious. But Saru takes all those to an extreme, verging on just raunchy, unlikeable, and immature. It was her tone that set me off. So without having a remotely likable character for me, I just didn’t get into it.

 

Character aside, the world was—for me—extremely confusing in the beginning. A lot of terms tossed at me with little to no explanation. I got it soon enough, but it threw me right from the start. However, the world was not without some fun. Her car could drive itself home without her and there was a fun story that went along with that tidbit. Another cool part was that most people had implants that put the internet in their heads, basically. They could search and stream stuff without any computer. She could tune her body so she looked like she was interested in a conversation when she was really watching television in her mind. I found that incredibly fun, though it took me a bit to understand that was what was happening. Other than that, I’m not sure I ever got a good feel for the world. No big picture. However, this could be because of my lack of imagination. The classes of people were interesting, and how each viewed the other was intriguing. Definitely added some depth to the story.

 

The first chapter was a job Saru had finished. It was long and since all we’re given of it is merely a recap, it was fairly boring. I didn’t find it was all needed. Especially in the beginning. These recaps happened a few more times, all of which I had a difficult time plugging through. They slowed down the pacing and I found it hard to push through quite a few sections. Especially since some internal thoughts seemed really drawn out. I ended up skimming a bit.

 

The writing had some moments, but more often than not, I just didn’t connect. I’m a woman. And our main protagonist is a woman. And I can say with absolute certainty that when I’m scared, my breasts have never, ever tingled. Nor have I ever wanted to jam knitting needles in my breasts when I hear a grating sound. It’s not that I find this offensive, it just ... well, it just didn’t make sense to me. I don’t know, maybe my breasts are sleeping on the job.

 

I always felt at a distance with the book. The pacing was on the slow side with—for me—entirely too much internal ramblings that added little to the story and felt too long. A few fun and interesting moments along with some of the ideas were all that kept me going. This review sounds really negative, but the world had fun, intriguing nuances which is why I didn't give up on it.

 

Overall, it was the tone of the main character that kept pushing me from loving this story. Again, I’ll remind potential readers that there’s a lot of good reviews for this book, so I suggest checking out a sample (Futuro has a few on his website as well as Amazon's preview options).

3,5 stars.

My first thought when I finished this book was "This needs a sequel!". This book has a closed end, but it is mentioned that there are more things going on than what most of the characters can see. I even thought that this was the first volume in a series until I checked Goodreads and saw that it was a stand-alone.

First of all, what I didn't like is that the book focuses too much on the story, with very little information about the world or the characters. We get enough information to feel that they are more than just a name, but not much more. The story takes place in a dystopian world, but it is not the usual dystopic world. It doesn't have the usual feeling of hopelessness for humans. In fact, those that are not poor are living normal lives. Nature is much more dangerous than what we know, but it never reaches the point of the usual post apocalyptic world.

The story was very interesting and I liked the many plot twists that leave you wondering whether everything is as the main characters think. There are some strange creatures that only a few people can see. These people think that the creatures are dangerous, as they attack people who are injured and close to dieing. The big reveal at the end is obvious after a while, but it didn't make the book boring, so it didn't bother me at all.

Also, this is a romance-free book. There is only a tiny hint at a romantic subplot, but it is very small and doesn't affect the plot. It is just some flirting with a hint at the end that it may be more in the future.