James W. McAllister

Wow, I can't get through two paragraphs of this. Admiral MacAllister (our author) of the Fortiter Starclan (author's publishing company) was bad enough prior to opening the sample on Amazon. The next three sentences made any hope for this die a very painful death.

Don't get me wrong, sci-fi space exploration is a major favorite of mine. I've been a trekkie since I was a kid (granted, that was TNG not TOS, but I've seen 'em all).

"...as obnoxious alarms fulfilled their purpose by agitating everyone on the bridge."

No one who would need those alarms would find that their only purpose. Warning alarms are there for a very important purpose, agitation is not one of them. (Though the pitch can cause it as a side effect.)

I wouldn't even give this an attempt as free at this point. This tried to be too technical from the first word, and really, that's not what draws people into the story. A lesson could really be learned from a few episodes of Star Trek. I mean, they didn't beat viewers over the head with the details of Data being an android. It was filtered in through plot lines where necessary. The Enterprise wasn't shown with details like "four kilometer long exploration vessel" as was done in this story. It was given an impressive view by little things like bits of conversation where Riker mentioned the size of the crew in relation to his last post or Beverly's comment about so many lives in her hands. I don't want beaten over the head with flat writing of details that block any connection to the story. It feels arrogant and as if readers are unwelcome to continue.… (mais)

Warning: Baby spoiler

I would like to confess that I haven't read too many Sci-Fi novels: fantasy, fiction or otherwise. However, I'm open to reading different types of genres.

I was given this title to read as a member of Y. Correa's Read and Review. I was drawn in by the blurb. Who wouldn't be taken in by the fight for Earth, aliens, assassination, and sprinkles of romance here and there?

Yes, it is the blurb that draws the reader in, but it's all about the execution that keeps the reader there. If the execution in conveyance is not successful, the story will lose its' luster, no matter how exciting the blurb is.

I found myself experiencing "anticipation drenched" once I delved in.

Some of the chapters went into great details about the various ships, such as the USF Excalibur. I know the author's intent was to make me feel as if I was on the ship. Yet I felt the detail was so excessive; I almost forgot some of the purpose of some of the chapters. Example was Chapter One. It was about the crew coming home, yet the author went into such extensive detail about the USF Excalibur that I thought the Chapter was about detail specs of the ship.

The amount of time spent on describing the ships could have been invested in the physical and emotional development of certain characters, like the people who plotted against Admiral Angus as well as the depth of the love (the love story) between Admiral Angus and his wife. It was a missed opportunity to give life to the highlights of romance that were mentioned in the blurb.

In addition, the constant back and forth with the action and the recollection of events made me a bit dizzy. At times, I had to stop and re-read certain parts, even jot down side notes to make sure that I kept each crew with each ship to track the action properly.

My Best Laid Plans were to enjoy this read, but the pace and style of this work thwarted that goal.

My extended review can be found on The Review Board
… (mais)