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Cst's Reviews > H+ incorporated
H+ incorporated
by
by
***Review copy provided by the author***
This is a good book. It could have been great, but ultimately it didn’t work out that way. It is made even more impressive by the fact that the author wasn’t writing in his native language, which is noticeable in a few places.
I liked the first half of the book much better than the second and in the end I felt that this story needed more time to develop. The first half introduces the characters, their situation and their world and it works astonishingly well. Not quite cyberpunk – maybe proto-cyberpunk – it shows a world where people start thinking about technology as capable of improving humans, but still hesitating about taking that final step. It feels real and logical, like this is the way it will happen in reality. Conflicts are introduced and developments are foreshadowed. Then the second half happens and it leaves all that behind.
I cannot call it anything else than jarring. All the prepared plotlines are discarded and a new conflict is introduced out of nowhere. This conflict delivers the motivation for the action that takes up the rest of the book. While it may be not the worst motivation it is not even close to the motives before it, so I was annoyed because I cared about these earlier ideas and didn’t about that new one. Ultimately it felt like there was an entire book cut out of the story, smashing two halves together that didn’t work out. The characters develop their abilities at a pace that feels wrong and shift their roles without reason. This would have worked better with deeper backgrounds.
Technically, there is little bad to say about the book. There are spots where the language doesn’t quite fit, but they are very few and serve more to set the mood than anything else. I would have liked a bit more of the local atmosphere, it feels like a location like Manila is wasted here, never gaining enough character to matter. I may not have liked the action, but it is presented very well, with clear sequencing and great pace.
This book should have been two great books, I can see that clearly. Unfortunately it has only become a good book. I look forward to reading more from this author.
This is a good book. It could have been great, but ultimately it didn’t work out that way. It is made even more impressive by the fact that the author wasn’t writing in his native language, which is noticeable in a few places.
I liked the first half of the book much better than the second and in the end I felt that this story needed more time to develop. The first half introduces the characters, their situation and their world and it works astonishingly well. Not quite cyberpunk – maybe proto-cyberpunk – it shows a world where people start thinking about technology as capable of improving humans, but still hesitating about taking that final step. It feels real and logical, like this is the way it will happen in reality. Conflicts are introduced and developments are foreshadowed. Then the second half happens and it leaves all that behind.
I cannot call it anything else than jarring. All the prepared plotlines are discarded and a new conflict is introduced out of nowhere. This conflict delivers the motivation for the action that takes up the rest of the book. While it may be not the worst motivation it is not even close to the motives before it, so I was annoyed because I cared about these earlier ideas and didn’t about that new one. Ultimately it felt like there was an entire book cut out of the story, smashing two halves together that didn’t work out. The characters develop their abilities at a pace that feels wrong and shift their roles without reason. This would have worked better with deeper backgrounds.
Technically, there is little bad to say about the book. There are spots where the language doesn’t quite fit, but they are very few and serve more to set the mood than anything else. I would have liked a bit more of the local atmosphere, it feels like a location like Manila is wasted here, never gaining enough character to matter. I may not have liked the action, but it is presented very well, with clear sequencing and great pace.
This book should have been two great books, I can see that clearly. Unfortunately it has only become a good book. I look forward to reading more from this author.
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Reading Progress
November 3, 2018
–
Started Reading
November 3, 2018
– Shelved
November 11, 2018
–
Finished Reading
