At bottom so far this is kind of a mystery story, reminding me at times of Greg Bear’s THE FORGE OF GOD in its build-up of dread towards an unknown destruction. What’s going on? Why? What can be done? Who’s at fault? I’m almost to the end of the first "part" and it’s still a mystery, which I dig a lot.

Yes, there are problems with tense shifts, but those are easily fixable and the author is in the process of working with a good editor on that. And yes, some of the governmental/constitutional stuff is a bit iffy – also fixable. What can’t be fixed is the kind of stuff that in this case does not need fixing—vivid characters with real emotional stakes in the game and some passages of truly lovely prose, and passages that are mordantly funny. These TLOV has in plenty.

The one thing I would go after were I Tejeda’s editor is the old problem of showing versus telling. I want more dialogue. That would also help a bit with other readers’ complaints about too many characters and the difficulty of differentiating between them. An omniscient narrator is tried and true and we’re all used to going into characters’ intimate thoughts and frames of mind effortlessly, but a real and lasting work like this could become would use that device more sparingly.

On the whole I’m happy to have checked this out, and yes, hooked. I see the approach of the last posted chapter—only four away today as I type this—and I want to wail. When will there be more?

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
Help us improve!  Register or log in to rate this review.