What makes a story, a good story?
Some may say it’s the characters, some say the plot or theme, and some may argue it’s the message. Maybe the ending, the beginning, or the middle. The voice, the style or the prose. But, what about how it all fits together? How everything combined can make it feel like a perfect game of Tetris?
Let’s dive in to find an answer.
That said, let me welcome you to this spoiler-free review series where the best of the best will be ranked as ‘Tetris-style’—What can I say? Gaming has a big chunk of me.
Note: I don’t intend to say that the parts make the whole. Sometimes, many things converge and end up producing a much greater result—or worse, for that matter. So, stay tuned!
W H A T I S A R K O F T H E A P O C A L Y P S E ?
It all starts during the Second World War. Germany and its allies are losing the battle, traitors are being persecuted, sectors of the world are being partially destroyed… and some, are making grand discoveries. Discoveries that would lead to humankind being saved from facing its own responsibility. The name of that discovery?
The Magellan II.
A spaceship that would take humans into a whole new kind of territory just to escape the hell they’ve made out of Earth. Oh, and hell it is.
**
Having seen both spaceships and dragons inside the book’s blurb made me instantly curious about what kind of story could get both things to mix, and get insanely positive reviews to go along with it. My previous experience with both elements had turned less than fruitful, so I had my doubts, but curiosity still remained.
And what did I conclude after reading it?
Well, let me just say I got my answer. Albeit a very personal one.
Should you read this book, or just skip it?
Let me tell you what you need to know before making that choice.
C h a r a c t e r s
Okay, this is one of those books I find hard to divide into different categories to be reviewed in this format. There’s something about it that makes some components weigh heavier than others; perhaps because my interest was picked by one category most of all, but I can’t be sure of the exact reason for it. So, let me attempt to make a distinction between one and the next, for the purpose of this review.
Let’s try characters.
First thing to mention should be that this book doesn’t place its bet on characters, or character development. Characters don’t grow or evolve from what their task is, they simply fulfill it. They need to do x or y thing, for x or y thing to happen, and they, without complaint, do it.
Contrary to how this may sound, it doesn’t strike me as a bad thing. These characters make the plot interesting; their actions matter most than their emotions or their thoughts because they’re mere pawns in it. Pawns that have a purpose; it’s what they do that keeps the reader flipping pages, it’s what happens to them that makes their story interesting and what ultimately kept me going.
They might not be relatable, or particularly interesting, but they play a part.
A part I wanted to keep knowing more of.
The negative side?
Well, this type of character doesn’t really strike my personal fancy.
Verdict? W O R K S F O R M E
P l o t
This is where things get interesting.
I am not one to read novels where the plot is the main aspect of it. Mainly because I enjoy connecting with people and empathizing with hardships. However, whilst reading this, I found I can sit through an entire book with little to no concerns for this type of interaction. Sure, characters connected, suffered, and enjoyed themselves, but this wasn’t the main part of the story.
The plot was the main point.
Why? Personally, I enjoyed it because this read more like a conspiracy theory than anything else. There were dark secrets behind widely known information, and a bunch of arguments I had seen thrown out before, as to where humans really come from, or what the Nazis had been able to do while nobody was watching.
Although this wasn’t implied to be a hundred percent accurate in our real world, my mind kept going to the ‘what ifs’. What if everything–or at least some portion of it–turned out true?
It intensified as the plot kept getting faster paced, and also, as stakes rose. Reading this made it feel like a documentary that exposed how humans got to where we are, and how it all could possibly turn out in the future.
But that’s me, I am a sucker for conspiracy theories.
Verdict? W O R K S F O R M E
W r i t i n g
In this sense, writing was straightforward.
Simple to read and understand. Whatever technologies, or political matters it addressed, it seemed to know what it was doing. The explanations, the descriptions, and everything regarding technicalities appeared to me as if they could exist in real life. I am no hardcore fan of the sci-fi genre, so I probably could get tons of contradictions on this, but to me, the author did it credibly.
What I would say went wrong for me in this case, was that the pacing sometimes felt awkward due to the nature of the story. Tons of time could go by between paragraphs, and that sometimes took my mind off immersion, resulting in me having to do a double-take on things.
But for the most part, I thought it served its purpose.
Then again, not my preferred style.
Verdict? W O R K S F O R M E
T h e m e s
At first, I couldn’t quite pinpoint the themes within this story.
I actually started liking where it was going, up to the mid-point. Then I realized what sort of ideas lay beyond the plot, or the characters themselves. And those ideas I don’t particularly like. Or my interpretation of those ideas, anyway.
There’re always things you support and things you don’t. Mine happen to be in this book, and I cannot shy away from saying I’m not into them. Ideas are a tricky thing, and though they may seem harmless, they can accomplish quite a bunch. I want to clarify though, that I’m not implying the author has dangerous ideas or something of the like, it’s just a show of how our culture can get inside our brains without us realizing it.
Why do I say this? Because this story has some nationalistic tinges to it.
I don’t often like the idea of nations, and though this book tries to fight it, I think it ends up reinforcing it to an extent. Maybe subconsciously, maybe not, but it sort of does, and this is something that, then again, isn’t my cup of tea.
Should I do an analysis of why the ideas of nations can be limiting?
Let me know somewhere!
Verdict? N O T F O R M E
To make a long story short, this book is:
Not for me.
F i n a l t h o u g h t s
To answer the question of why this book managed to mix spaceships and dragons so well, I would have to revert back to my love of conspiracy theories. Once you have a decent explanation for it, no amount of imagination can make you believe the contrary.
The world in this story made it possible for this mix to exist. If we’re not the only ones in space, would a reptile hegemony in other places sound so crazy? The writing, the plot, and existing conspiracies do make this a possibility.
As to my rating of it…
This is one of those cases where every category ranks positively except for one, and I still don’t find it suits my tastes. Maybe I feel too strongly about what lies beyond the stories we tell, and maybe that isn’t fair to books themselves, but, if stories shape us, then shouldn’t everyone be concerned with what ideas we transmit?
In short, I believe you should read this book if you’re looking for a well-written conspiracy theory that centers itself on plot, and don’t mind a bit of nationalism thrown around. I’m already sure there’s a market for that, and the positive reviews account for it!
I thank the author for the copy I received from him in exchange for my honest thoughts.
He did a good job, even if it wasn’t exactly a book for me.
**
If you think this book could be your thing, buy it here. And discuss it with me when you do, I would want a second opinion on my interpretation!
If you don’t want to buy, but you think my blabber was interesting enough, follow me here.
Thanks a bunch!
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