Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

<Spoiler alert - plot elements will be discussed> This book was pretty dismal. From a technical standpoint, it was one of the better written books I have read recently in terms of style and few errors. Pace was also quite good. The problem was the way the story evolved. Truthfully, the best part of the book was the prologue, which promised an ancient alien race returning to Earth to claim its lost world. Humans discover some alien technology left behind by the aliens which jump-starts the human ability to operate in space. Then the book took a strange turn - (major spoiler ahead!) the aliens were dinosaurs that had enslaved humans that ostensibly escaped and inhabited Earth. But the dinosaurs were expected to return, so humans had to prepare for a confrontation. The rest of the book, in its entirety, was all about training the first humans to enter space. It should have been called "Gymnasium Force". The book is written in extraordinary, nay excruciating, detail. There were paintball matches that lasted several chapters as did other obstacle course training sessions. The word "detail" just doesn't describe the exhaustive minutiae of these training sessions wherein each and every move or counter move is told. The whole book could have been summarized by a paragraph or two, and should have been. Reflecting back, the promotional materials promised: exploration, space, aliens, dinosaurs, no sex, no politics. But instead we got gym class; and to be fair, some of the training matches were in space in special space gyms, but... I can only think of classic bait-and-switch. I have no intention of reading anymore in this series, and suspect the next book will be entirely about the assembly line at the plant where they build the space ships. With a chapter or two devoted to lunchtime, maybe a chapter describing hanging street clothes in the locker, or a chapter about donning safety equipment, and so on. While the premise of the series is interesting, except for the dinosaur part, it is definitely a case where "less is more" would have been beneficial.