Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Sorry, this review is a bit rough. No offense intended, but I feel the need to inform other potential buyers of some aspects of this novel that I didn't care for very much. I like a good come-from-behind sf story, and I got part of that from this novel. Enough to keep me reading to the end, but just barely. Here's my litany of complaints: 1. The author indulges in too much wish-fulfillment, with a protagonist that is simultaneously a military genius (out of nowhere), a history buff (with a tossed-off explanation of "read a lot in prison"), and bad-ass hand-to-hand combat expert. 2. The novel struggles to maintain a consistent narrative arc-- themes and details disappear and reappear at odd times. The "love interest" (if you can call her that) hardly knows the protagonist exists, and though she was born apparently on a spaceship, seems to have a patriotic feeling towards the Earth-- for no reason. 3. The dialogue is pretty stilted, and almost never sounded to me like how people like this would actually talk. 4. The author seems to have the idea that "savant" scientists are a thing. Either he failed to describe an idea well enough to get it across, or he's laboring under the misconception that his readers will "just know" what he's talking about. 5. But the most egregious issue I have with the author is his frequent appropriation of imagery from popular-- and recent-- movies. I don't mean that he describes the scenes from these references; rather, he will say "surrounded them like the aliens from Aliens" or "swarmed like the aliens coming out of the wormhole in the Avengers movie". (Those aren't direct quotes, but the language is very similar.) I'd actually have less of a problem if he re-described those images in his own words, rather than evoking a scene out of someone else's work in order to tell his story. It's not writing that I enjoy, and struck me very much as a self-published, poorly-edited, undisciplined work. I will probably not buy any other novels by this author, though I am open to the possibility. People learn, and improve, and like I said-- I finished the book. So you never know.