- The prologue gives an eerie feel of the ghost ship Impris, so we're primed and ready for Chapter 1 (pg 15), which begins, "Renwald Legroeder's eyes darted frantically--" Wait, what?
"Legroeder"? "Renwald"? That's getting a little close to Renfield for comfort.
Worse, on page 306, the actual love interest (after a couple of false starts), insists on using his first name, cooing through their implants "I like Renwald, I like the way it rolls off my tongue..."
Is this a parody or serious SF?
- Still shaken from the name our hero is saddled with, we find that Legrover is making his daring escape from pirate activity, making a dangerous flight through flak and fire, when, on page pg 18, "he heard a voice softly, distantly, in his mind. You must keep your center . . . stay calm. Legroeder, you'll find the way through." Use the Force, Renwald? He's actually just thinking of an old friend, whom we never meet, and is never mentioned again in this novel. Again, is this parody or serious SF?
- The very next page, we find that Legrider was able to effect his daring escape "when a Flux capacitor in the main docking room blew." Srsly? Flux capacitor? Now, to be fair, the first three books in Carver's Star Rigger universe pre-date Marty McFly, but the damage is done. Only Marty and Doc Emmett Brown can say "flux capacitor" with a straight face, and even then it's in the service of comedy.
But this isn't comedy; it's deadly serious SF. I actually do like the way the starship riggers work in concert to pilot a ship, and the book is most effective when describing the riggers' experiences as they move through the Flux, but it's otherwise a very average SF book, and at 555 pages, I couldn't wait to reach Eternity's End.
You saved the worst insult for last..."flux capacitor" UGH!!! Perhaps I am a bit extreme, but this alone is enough for me to hate this book.
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