Mike's Book Reviews’s review of The Mercy of Gods (The Captive's War, #1) > Likes and Comments
140 likes · Like
Honestly, I'm somewhat relieved that you didn't like it. Since, you were lukewarm on Children of Time, and I was exceptionally high on it, so hopefully it works for me.
I'm struggling hard with this one, despite thinking the premise is really cool. To me the issue is the main characters are just bland and don't feel like they develop or even experience much emotion after some pretty big events happening to them. They just keep plodding on through the plot. At one point I realized they're treating what should be a horrific and terrifying experience like its some sort of summer camp where they see interesting people and do science experiments.
Chris wrote: "I'm struggling hard with this one, despite thinking the premise is really cool. To me the issue is the main characters are just bland and don't feel like they develop or even experience much emotio..."
100 percent. Felt like blank avatars.
The comment about the characters going through extreme trauma with barely any reaction is spot on. They just keep working on their research project. Felt weird.
Thanks for the review, Mike! I'm going to hold off on this one and stick to Sun Eater!
That's too bad. I am not too surprised, as I remember you were very underwhelmed by Children of Time, and I knew from what they had said about the new series in advance that this would be in this tradition of SF. I struggled more with the first third myself, but I got more into it after that. I still have to finish it.
I think it was sadly really overhyped in early reviews by Expanse "superfans" (like they do with everything about that great franchise) and a fair percentage of JSAC fans were a little taken aback by the complete shift of sub-genre. They were really not expecting from this duo a more cerebral sci-fi, not character driven, and fairly static and their hope to meet a new Amos or a new Avasarala or Bobbie were quite dashed. The disappointment is very understandable, though it's really not a bad novel for readers who likes this style of science-fiction. In their defence, they did forewarn people that this new series would be very different in tone, and draw from the tradition of Ursula Le Guin, Octavia Butler, and Frank Herbert (they didn't say loud enough that they meant the "weird" Frank Herbert of books like Destination: Void, The Whipping Star, the Jesus Incident and not quite the Frank Herbert of Dune. It made many expect a lot of factions and a big scope and they rather meant the writings of Frank about weird human-alien interactions).
I'm neither disappointed nor blown-away by it. It's a good effort in its vein, though for having read a lot in this sub-genre and about similar themes, it's not as "fresh" or original I hoped it would be. They didn't succeed at "revamping" this subgenre the way they did with "blue collar space opera" with the Expanse. This one is rather an honest effort that probably won't stand out the way the previous series did (it comes 30-50 years too late for that), though the next books could still completely change that.
My vibe coming off TMoG was just... "This only got published because of the Corey name." It was really disappointing, and I think it's a bad sign that a lot of the more positive reviews appear to think it's an Expanse stealth sequel.
They still do? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Ty and Dan repeatedly confirmed it's set in its own fictional universe with no connection whatsoever to the Expanse's.
It's a bummer you didn't like it, but I'm not surprised based on my probably inaccurate assumptions about your taste. It doesn't have the excitement of The Expanse or the cozy relationships. It also gets bogged down in forgettable details. Makes me think these two guys sat down and tried to write a sci-fi that was the opposite of what they've done before. Personally, I enjoyed it, but I occasionally like a story that has a host of unlikeable characters, as long as you throw them into a premise that makes my imagination run wild.
ngl, the way you said about this book...kinda makes wanna read even more 😂
I’m about halfway through and I feel the same way. I just keep hoping it will get interesting
It was the same for me. A big miss unfortunately. Just empty shells for characters and just cracking lame jokes as they are going through tremendous trauma was just weird. “It’s a no from me Dog!”
I was really hopeful that it would be something like the "Expanse" series. I definitely agree with your review. Been waiting for over a year to read it just to be disappointed
I feel exactly the same. It was so dull. Very little of what makes The Expanse so good made it into this book.
I guess I'll start with The Expanse instead of this one:)
Couldn’t agree more! I’m heartbroken. I felt this book was all shock, no content.
I loved both The Expanse books and The Mercy of Gods, though they are quite different.
I was also disappointed. You're not alone.
I don’t usually read sci-fi, so I thought maybe this just wasn’t my jam. I’m about 55% through and I absolutely feel the same way! No world building, no character development and a lot of scientific terms that mean absolutely nothing … just an ongoing pissing contest and a lot of lame wisecracks. I won’t DNF it (yet), I still have some hope (and I’m stubborn lol) - but I’m struggling.
This was also my reaction. I was so disappointed. I don't have a reason to care about any of these people.
Don't worry, Mikey. You have your public approval so you can give us your real opinion.
I was excited to get into this after reading/listening to the entire Expanse series a few times over. After waiting nearly a year for this I struggled to get through it. Overall disappointed and no interest in a sequel.
Michael C Nichols wrote: "I was excited to get into this after reading/listening to the entire Expanse series a few times over. After waiting nearly a year for this I struggled to get through it. Overall disappointed and no..."
Yeah, I'm starting to see maybe I didn't have such an unpopular opinion after all.
Well, you definitely set my expectations low for this, but I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed reading this book.
I am struggling to get into this book. Between trying to keep track of a huge number of weird fantasy named characters and not catching any exciting information, I think I’m done before chapter 6. I’m a huge expanse fan btw.
back to top
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Cooper
(new)
Aug 14, 2024 07:19AM
Honestly, I'm somewhat relieved that you didn't like it. Since, you were lukewarm on Children of Time, and I was exceptionally high on it, so hopefully it works for me.
reply
|
flag
I'm struggling hard with this one, despite thinking the premise is really cool. To me the issue is the main characters are just bland and don't feel like they develop or even experience much emotion after some pretty big events happening to them. They just keep plodding on through the plot. At one point I realized they're treating what should be a horrific and terrifying experience like its some sort of summer camp where they see interesting people and do science experiments.
Chris wrote: "I'm struggling hard with this one, despite thinking the premise is really cool. To me the issue is the main characters are just bland and don't feel like they develop or even experience much emotio..."100 percent. Felt like blank avatars.
The comment about the characters going through extreme trauma with barely any reaction is spot on. They just keep working on their research project. Felt weird.
Thanks for the review, Mike! I'm going to hold off on this one and stick to Sun Eater!
That's too bad. I am not too surprised, as I remember you were very underwhelmed by Children of Time, and I knew from what they had said about the new series in advance that this would be in this tradition of SF. I struggled more with the first third myself, but I got more into it after that. I still have to finish it. I think it was sadly really overhyped in early reviews by Expanse "superfans" (like they do with everything about that great franchise) and a fair percentage of JSAC fans were a little taken aback by the complete shift of sub-genre. They were really not expecting from this duo a more cerebral sci-fi, not character driven, and fairly static and their hope to meet a new Amos or a new Avasarala or Bobbie were quite dashed. The disappointment is very understandable, though it's really not a bad novel for readers who likes this style of science-fiction. In their defence, they did forewarn people that this new series would be very different in tone, and draw from the tradition of Ursula Le Guin, Octavia Butler, and Frank Herbert (they didn't say loud enough that they meant the "weird" Frank Herbert of books like Destination: Void, The Whipping Star, the Jesus Incident and not quite the Frank Herbert of Dune. It made many expect a lot of factions and a big scope and they rather meant the writings of Frank about weird human-alien interactions).
I'm neither disappointed nor blown-away by it. It's a good effort in its vein, though for having read a lot in this sub-genre and about similar themes, it's not as "fresh" or original I hoped it would be. They didn't succeed at "revamping" this subgenre the way they did with "blue collar space opera" with the Expanse. This one is rather an honest effort that probably won't stand out the way the previous series did (it comes 30-50 years too late for that), though the next books could still completely change that.
My vibe coming off TMoG was just... "This only got published because of the Corey name." It was really disappointing, and I think it's a bad sign that a lot of the more positive reviews appear to think it's an Expanse stealth sequel.
They still do? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Ty and Dan repeatedly confirmed it's set in its own fictional universe with no connection whatsoever to the Expanse's.
It's a bummer you didn't like it, but I'm not surprised based on my probably inaccurate assumptions about your taste. It doesn't have the excitement of The Expanse or the cozy relationships. It also gets bogged down in forgettable details. Makes me think these two guys sat down and tried to write a sci-fi that was the opposite of what they've done before. Personally, I enjoyed it, but I occasionally like a story that has a host of unlikeable characters, as long as you throw them into a premise that makes my imagination run wild.
ngl, the way you said about this book...kinda makes wanna read even more 😂
I’m about halfway through and I feel the same way. I just keep hoping it will get interesting
It was the same for me. A big miss unfortunately. Just empty shells for characters and just cracking lame jokes as they are going through tremendous trauma was just weird. “It’s a no from me Dog!”
I was really hopeful that it would be something like the "Expanse" series. I definitely agree with your review. Been waiting for over a year to read it just to be disappointed
I feel exactly the same. It was so dull. Very little of what makes The Expanse so good made it into this book.
I guess I'll start with The Expanse instead of this one:)
Couldn’t agree more! I’m heartbroken. I felt this book was all shock, no content.
I loved both The Expanse books and The Mercy of Gods, though they are quite different.
I was also disappointed. You're not alone.
I don’t usually read sci-fi, so I thought maybe this just wasn’t my jam. I’m about 55% through and I absolutely feel the same way! No world building, no character development and a lot of scientific terms that mean absolutely nothing … just an ongoing pissing contest and a lot of lame wisecracks. I won’t DNF it (yet), I still have some hope (and I’m stubborn lol) - but I’m struggling.
This was also my reaction. I was so disappointed. I don't have a reason to care about any of these people.
Don't worry, Mikey. You have your public approval so you can give us your real opinion.
I was excited to get into this after reading/listening to the entire Expanse series a few times over. After waiting nearly a year for this I struggled to get through it. Overall disappointed and no interest in a sequel.
Michael C Nichols wrote: "I was excited to get into this after reading/listening to the entire Expanse series a few times over. After waiting nearly a year for this I struggled to get through it. Overall disappointed and no..."Yeah, I'm starting to see maybe I didn't have such an unpopular opinion after all.
Well, you definitely set my expectations low for this, but I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed reading this book.
I am struggling to get into this book. Between trying to keep track of a huge number of weird fantasy named characters and not catching any exciting information, I think I’m done before chapter 6. I’m a huge expanse fan btw.
