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

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Review: The Chimera Code

The Chimera Code The Chimera Code by Wayne Santos
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What can I say … this was a fast and fun, cyberpunk/mission impossible style story. World building was pretty much stock, but the author didn’t make any grievous mistakes throwing all of the tech jargon around (major props for that). Editing was also clean, so I never had any “WTF?” moments that sometimes interrupt the flow of the story with grammar or word choice mistakes. Characters were solid and interesting (although development was limited)… with a sub-genre combination you don’t always see: mage (check), cyborg (check), hacker/ai (check), … and it was this cross genre style that I really really enjoyed. So what drives this story? The over the top action of course (and character camaraderie and some interesting mission build-up). The only serious critique I might raise here would be the predictability of the plot … but I had so much fun watching it unfold, that was really a plus for me (sometimes I like low stress stories with happy endings … sue me). In short, this is pure escapism … perfect for a relaxing day poolside or at the beach.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#TheChimeraCode #NetGalley

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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.