Official Review: Millennium by Alex Steinberg
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Official Review: Millennium by Alex Steinberg
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Millennium" by Alex Steinberg.]
1 out of 4 stars
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Millenium, by Alex Steinberg, is story following the adventures of Keane Blaze recovers from being in stasis for 1000 years just in time to try and save humanity from aliens. Blaze survives an attack on his spaceship as he is fleeing a human colony about to be overrun by aliens; unfortunately he crashes while he is in cryo-sleep. He is awoken 1000 years later and rapidly meets some of the locals, named Txuasentshai, who are fleeing the destruction of their main city from mysterious robotic enemies.
With the help of the AI who watched over him as he was in cryo-sleep and a mysterious ally, Blaze helps the Txuasentshai survive, and is then called on by the human military to help fight off the alien invaders who had threatened his colony 1000 years ago. With the help of new allies, old friends, and new technology, Blaze is put into a situation where humanity and its allies have one roll of the dice to win the war.
There are issues with Millenium that make it difficult to enjoy. The most problematic in my mind are the characters in the story. They simply don't react to situations the way people do, and it makes it hard to take them seriously. In one instance, high treason is forgiven and forgotten with just a few words. A banquet hall of dignitaries are slaughtered, and two children who were there are, moments later, mostly concerned with appearing tough and getting food – while still standing among the bodies, which must include their parents. Heroic characters utter movie-scene dialogue in the middle of combat, and the enemies just stand there and let them finish. Pretty much everybody in the book, and I'm including both the AI and a robot who switched sides in the war, behaves like a Hollywood version of an angst-filled 16-year old. There is simply too much posing and dominance games between characters in completely inappropriate situations for any of them to feel real, so connecting to them is very hard.
The combat scenes could use more, and better description. Actually, several things could be be better described. I'm still unsure what the difference in appearance is between two of the main races introduced in the book. Were they both different kinds of cat people? I never could tell. I also don't understand what a lunar energy cannon could possibly be.
There are aspects to Blaze's situation that the author mentions in passing, then glosses over, which would have been interesting to explore. He's been out of society for 1000 years. He should have tremendous difficulty in understanding the society. For some reason, there have been no real appreciable improvements or changes in anything. When Blaze gets pulled into the modern army, he has no problem understanding how to use the weaponry, there have been no apparent changes in tactics, he more than fits in. He understands that he's out of time, but except for a couple of short scenes, it doesn't seem to impact him at all.
Millenium is a book that promises adventure it eventually doesn't really deliver due mostly to the lack of depth to the characters. I would rate this book 1 out of 4 stars.
******
Millennium
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on Smashwords
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1 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Millenium, by Alex Steinberg, is story following the adventures of Keane Blaze recovers from being in stasis for 1000 years just in time to try and save humanity from aliens. Blaze survives an attack on his spaceship as he is fleeing a human colony about to be overrun by aliens; unfortunately he crashes while he is in cryo-sleep. He is awoken 1000 years later and rapidly meets some of the locals, named Txuasentshai, who are fleeing the destruction of their main city from mysterious robotic enemies.
With the help of the AI who watched over him as he was in cryo-sleep and a mysterious ally, Blaze helps the Txuasentshai survive, and is then called on by the human military to help fight off the alien invaders who had threatened his colony 1000 years ago. With the help of new allies, old friends, and new technology, Blaze is put into a situation where humanity and its allies have one roll of the dice to win the war.
There are issues with Millenium that make it difficult to enjoy. The most problematic in my mind are the characters in the story. They simply don't react to situations the way people do, and it makes it hard to take them seriously. In one instance, high treason is forgiven and forgotten with just a few words. A banquet hall of dignitaries are slaughtered, and two children who were there are, moments later, mostly concerned with appearing tough and getting food – while still standing among the bodies, which must include their parents. Heroic characters utter movie-scene dialogue in the middle of combat, and the enemies just stand there and let them finish. Pretty much everybody in the book, and I'm including both the AI and a robot who switched sides in the war, behaves like a Hollywood version of an angst-filled 16-year old. There is simply too much posing and dominance games between characters in completely inappropriate situations for any of them to feel real, so connecting to them is very hard.
The combat scenes could use more, and better description. Actually, several things could be be better described. I'm still unsure what the difference in appearance is between two of the main races introduced in the book. Were they both different kinds of cat people? I never could tell. I also don't understand what a lunar energy cannon could possibly be.
There are aspects to Blaze's situation that the author mentions in passing, then glosses over, which would have been interesting to explore. He's been out of society for 1000 years. He should have tremendous difficulty in understanding the society. For some reason, there have been no real appreciable improvements or changes in anything. When Blaze gets pulled into the modern army, he has no problem understanding how to use the weaponry, there have been no apparent changes in tactics, he more than fits in. He understands that he's out of time, but except for a couple of short scenes, it doesn't seem to impact him at all.
Millenium is a book that promises adventure it eventually doesn't really deliver due mostly to the lack of depth to the characters. I would rate this book 1 out of 4 stars.
******
Millennium
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on Smashwords
Like Braktooth's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: Skills of the Warramunga by Greg Kater
