Jay Allan (2)

This is the audiobook review. Blood on the Stars series is epic in terms of sheer size, if not in imagination or literary style.
I would not even call it science fiction even though it is in set in space in a far, far off future. Neither would I call it military Sf for there is no tactics and strategy worth mentioning. The conflict depicted, the factions and nations embroiled in war, the character of the fighting, it all just so reminds me on WW2 merely set among the planets and stars. On top of that, much of the 5000 pages of the series is interceptor, fighter vs fighters battles, and some more. This is dangerously on the verge of getting too repetitive. Also, since I’m listening to the audiobook, I find the author’s choice of having some of the characters speaking with a strong accent, German, Russian, French, etc. rather quirky and out of place - I mean we are a 1000 years or more in the future. Be that as it may, despite that, the series of 11 books is a solid enough read.
The author is a passable storyteller and obviously the purpose of the series is simple entertainment. For that it deserves ⭐️⭐️ stars and not less.… (more)

DNF at around 16% or so.

Kind of a... Romans vs... Soviets vs... Americans... (?) in space. Seems like it could be interesting in some ways; I like that the author is trying to show how each character's world, actions, drives, etc. make sense for that character; I like the setup for a story where there isn't a simple "good vs. evil". But way too much description, background, etc. The psuedo-Latin names and titles just come off as hamfisted. Not for me.

1.5 stars rounded up to 2 stars for effort and the (probably) developing story with less-than-completely-cut-and-dried good guys vs. bad guys dynamic.… (more)