My Favorite Books

The Walking Drum
Ender's Game
Dune
Jhereg
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Curse of Chalion
The Name of the Wind
Chronicles of the Black Company
The Faded Sun Trilogy
The Tar-Aiym Krang

Thursday, August 29, 2024

Review: Relics of Tomorrow

Relics of Tomorrow Relics of Tomorrow by Brandon Cleland
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: ***
Performance: **

A Very Simple Trope filled Dystopian Story

It is a basic coming of age story in a dystopian world that is divided into levels according to net worth. A young, orphaned thief, dreams of making it to a level above the smog where he can ditch the O2 mask and see the sun. Of course … there is something special about the young hooligan … who eventually teams up it a shape changing alien who becomes something of a mentor for the “big league” of possession liberation. There is a little force humor between the pair as they have encounter a few mishaps in each caper/heist, but nothing too unbelievable (and or unexpected). The story does come across as something of a “paint-by-the-numbers” piece all the way to the end (which was a tad on the rabbit/hat or comic book style). Overall it was entertaining, but fairly forgettable.

The Narration was pretty basic. The reader struggled to differentiate character voices, especially for women, and there was something off that made the delivery feel awkward and unnatural to me. It was not so bad that I couldn’t tolerate it, but it did highlight the rather formulaic nature of the story to the point of amusement.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#RelicsOfTomorrow #FreeAudiobookCodes #KindleUnlimited

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My Ratings Explained ...

  • [ ***** ] Amazing Read - Perfect story, exciting, engrossing, well developed complex characters, solid plot with few to no holes, descriptive environments and place settings, great mystery elements, realistic dialogue, believable reactions and behaviors; a favorite that I can re-read many times.
  • [ **** ] Great Read - Highly entertaining and enjoyable, exciting storyline, well developed characters and settings, a few discrepancies but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Some aspect of the story was new/refreshing to me and/or intriguing. Recommended for everyone.
  • [ *** ] Good Read - Solid story with a 'good' ending, or has some other redeeming feature. Limited character development and/or over reliance on tropes. Noticeable discrepancies in world building and/or dialog/behavior that were distracting. I connected enough with the characters/world to read the entire series. Most of the books I read for fun are here. Recommended for fans of the genre.
  • [ ** ] Okay Read - Suitable for a brief, afternoon escape … flat or shallow characters with little to no development. Over the top character dialog and/or behavior. Poor world building with significant issues and/or mistakes indicating poor research. Excessive use of trivial detail, info dumps and/or pontification. Any issues with the story/characters are offset by some other aspect that I enjoyed. Not very memorable. May only appeal to a niche group of readers. Recommended for some (YMMV).
  • [ * ] Bad Read - Awkward and/or confusing writing style. Poor world building and/or unbelievable (or unlikeable) characters. Victimization, gaslighting, blatant abuse, unnecessary violence, child endangerment, or any other highly objectionable behaviors by Main characters. I didn't connect with the story at all; significant aspects of this story irritated me enough that I struggled to finished it. Series was abandoned. Not recommended.