Book Review: The Legacy of Daddy
Hi, folks. It’s time for another book review,
and this time I’m stepping outside my genre to review some science fiction.
I’ve been a sci-fi fan since I was a little kid, and elements of it creep into
my paranormal fantasies. (Clifford Crane is a genetically engineered werewolf,
in case you hadn’t figured it out, yet.) So, when I saw Angus H. Day’s The Legacy of Daddy reviewed on another
blogger’s site, I couldn’t help myself. I had to check it out.
The Legacy
of Daddy
is the first of the Next You novels, of which there are currently five. Mr. Day
has cleverly created a future dystopia in which an over-crowded Earth and the planets
it has begun to colonize are at the mercy of a multi-national-planet
corporation called Next You, which has effectively gained a monopoly on
nanotechnology and its interface with newly discovered and more advanced alien
technologies.
The Legacy
of Daddy
is a delightful story, and the writing of Mr. Day is fast and furious. Let’s
take a look.
Description ----------------------------------------
From Amazon:
What happens when a Graduate student competes
for a PhD in a dystopian society by experimenting with dangerous alien
technology? Does humankind need technological help to leave Earth? These and
other questions are awkwardly dealt with in The Legacy of Daddy.
From Me (since the above warrants
elaboration):
Robert Focsile is a technologically competent
and socially incompetent graduate student living in one of the domed city
states that have sprung up on Earth following a devastating genocidal world
war. Trying to earn his PhD, and thus raise himself to a higher level in the
caste-driven society into which he’s been born, he experiments with an alien
technology and suddenly finds his mind and body inhabited with nanites
resurrected from an ancient alien being.
Guided, often against his will, by the alien
presence within, he rises in the ranks to become CEO of the giant technology
conglomerate, Next You. The world, nay, the universe, will never be the same.
My Review --------------------------------------------------
I found myself conflicted in rating and writing
a review of this book and probably wouldn’t have had I not announced ahead of
time on my blog that I was doing it. This is a great story with a five-star
premise, funny and sarcastic characters, and written in a compelling style at a
manic pace. I was drawn into Mr. Day’s dystopian future completely from page
one, eager to read more and more.
The protagonist and supporting cast are at least
four-star characters. They aren’t particularly deep or well-developed, but they
don’t need to be. This book is all story and pace, and none of the characters
take themselves too seriously.
I’ll give the author an extra technical star,
too. The Kindle version takes advantage of hyperlinks, so you can jump easily
back and forth from the chapters to the table of contents. This is a nice
touch, one I wish every author would employ.
But the book has some major flaws, all of which
could be remedied by employing a bit of editing. Mr. Day shifts point of view
and tense often, regularly in the same paragraph and sometimes in the same
sentence. Punctuation is erroneous, inconsistent, or abandoned altogether.
Sentences are run together without capitalization, periods, or commas to
separate them. It is particularly distressing in scenes where characters are
talking to themselves, communicating telepathically with others, and having
out-loud conversations at the same time, scenes which otherwise could be
delightful.
Thinking this was a condition that might have
occurred in the kindle edition of Legacy
of Daddy only, I peeked into the first chapters of several other Next You
novels and found the same thing. There’s even a good example of what I’m
talking about in the author’s bio on Amazon. It’s as if he refuses to go back
and read over what he’s written, which is a shame since its otherwise pretty
good.
So, if you’re looking for a great sci-fi story
with lots of action and an occasional laugh, and you don’t mind the regular WTF
moments where you have to re-read a paragraph or two to try and figure who’s
saying, thinking, or experiencing what, and when, give The Legacy of Daddy a try. Unfortunately, for me, those moments
were too often and, in the end, wore me out. By the last third of the book I
was tired and eager to be finished with it, which is not a good sign.
My rating? Three stars.
Other Next You Books by Angus H. Day -----------------------
---
Just a
quick footnote: A five-star rating, as you might imagine, means I thought the
book was fantastic. A four-star rating means I really liked it and would
recommend it to anyone. A three-star rating means I liked the book, but I might be on the fence about recommending it
because of some major flaw.
See y’all
next week. Until then, Happy Reading!
Oh, and if you're interested in some good paranormal fantasy, check out my books:The Draculata Nest -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Click on the link to order:
The Dragon of Doughton Park ----------------------------------------------------------
Click on the link to order:
ebook for Kindle in Paperback
ebook for Nook in Charlotte
ebook for Kobo Smashwords
ebook for Kindle in Paperback
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