Read Online BETRAYAL THE 1000 REVOLUTION Volume 1 Pippa DaCosta Books
Read Online BETRAYAL THE 1000 REVOLUTION Volume 1 Pippa DaCosta Books
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BETRAYAL THE 1000 REVOLUTION Volume 1 Pippa DaCosta Books Reviews
- I feel awkward reviewing this because it's not an entire story. It's the beginning of the story. It does have a nice arc - for which I'm thankful - but it's so clearly just the start that I almost want to wait until I've read the next 2 books (which should finish it out, I hope) before I review and grade it. The ending can make a huge difference in how I feel about the earlier sections. However, this part of the story still made a really big impression on me and I have to talk about it.
One of my best friends recommended this book to me - in all CAPS - and we usually are on the same exact page when it comes to awesome books. So I immediately bought this one, and the second one from . (Sidenote $2.99 for under 200 pages? Not cool. I'm going to end up paying around $11 for a full-length novel. Ugh. Do not like. Anyway.)
I flew through it. Read most of it on my lunch, and then did some sneak-reading because I just couldn't stop.
The world is interesting, but a fairly light background to the story and characters. It's a prop for them to play in front of. And I'm okay with that here. I would like to see it further explored, and see the implications of the characters' actions dig deep into that world, but that's for the second, third, and fourth parts to live up to, I think.
What really shines here are the characters - which is kind of ironic, because none of the characters are what you would consider "good" people. Caleb (I love this name, I hate when it's shortened to Cale) is our "hero." And I use that term incredibly loosely. He's a womanizer, smuggler, a-hole. He thinks with his dick, and has little regard for consequences. He also has a TON of guilt and self-recrimination (justly and rightly so).
Fran, Caleb's second-in-command (and only crewmate, so the title confused me a bit) fascinated me. She's Caleb in a female body. Everything I hate about him, I hate about her. They have little regard for anyone, including themselves. They're destructive and a-holes. But...I love them. They're the kind of characters that I want to see - not redeemed exactly, but whole. I want to see them have the contentment they deserve, whatever that may entail. I want to see them stop hating themselves.
#1001 was a mystery for most of the book, though I began to guess about a third of the way in, so I don't want to spoil too much. Suffice it to say that I'm most interested in her. She has a heck of a story, and I'm really, really, really looking forward to seeing how Pippa DaCosta brings it all together.
The plot doesn't seem like much of anything until you get near the end - which is why I say that this is a starter story. It doesn't finish much of anything. What it does do is pull you in, sit you down, tie you up and demand that you finish. It builds beautifully, and upon finishing I immediately grabbed part two. I'm already lamenting the fact that the third part isn't available until December 2015 - with the fourth (and final) to be available in Spring 2016 - Pippa DaCosta is an author who operates on pure talent! I've been working my way through one of her other series and I put that reading on pause. It's too good and the book hangover when I finish the latest novel will be all too real!
This series here is about a seemingly down on his luck, foul mouthed space trader who hauls legal (and primarily illegal) cargo back and forth between space ports. Right off the bat you will see that it's gritty, amusing, foul and fantastic. He sounds simple enough but there's a lot going on behind the scenes and in his past. Parts of the truth come forward as you progress and it's almost predictable in a mildly tangible way but it's not something that you will be disappointed with. You can't help but feel bad for him and all of his bad luck.
Usually I am not a fan of books written from a first person male perspective. But the fact that Pippa is a female and a talented wordsmith, she gives you the best of both worlds. You get the sense of Caleb's distinct bad boy maleness, but because of the first person pov, you also get to see when he's hurt, when he's angry, etc and it makes you feel for him. Instead of him seeming like an ignorant @ss hat, you get to see the three dimensional character.
I like Fran a lot. She doesn't put up with Caleb's sh!t at all. Not a single ounce.
Within this story is fun sexual innuendo, fast paced violence, twists of betrayal, and a heart-aching story that needs to be told.
If you like soiled heroes and gritty plots that take place in outer space, look no further! - What I liked
For 43K, the author has certainly packed a huge punch into this space opera novella. It had the depth of world building, character development and necessary back story without info dumping that I'd normally only expect from a longer work. And the action did not stop - there wasn't a slow moment in it. As a huge fan of androids/artificial humans, I was fascinated by 1001 and the theory and technology involved in their creation. I would have loved the entire story told solely in her POV. *possible spoiler follows* Francesca had me intrigued, though I figured her out before the revelation.
What I didn't like
In a word, Caleb. Sorry, but I do not like jerks, and he has to be the biggest a-hole I've ever encountered in my reading history that is supposed to be the 'good' guy. I can tolerate one for a chapter or two if he's redeemed or shows signs of being redeemable but by the time the story showed any indication of it happening for him, I couldn't care less, regardless of what had driven him to be like that. I think his intention of letting a certain character *no spoilers* die was the final straw. Because of him, I'm not sure I'd read the next in the series. I also wasn't too happy with the cliff hanger ending because it makes the story feel incomplete and left me feeling somewhat cheated. I would expect this to therefore have been listed as first book in a serial rather than book one of a series.
In conclusion
The author has packed a hell of a lot of action, character and world development into an explosive, often violent and sexually charged 43K. I would probably read more by her, but Caleb has potentially put me off reading the rest of this particular series even though I'd have loved to reach the end of 1001's story - if it had been told solely from her point of view, I would definitely kept reading. Sadly Caleb was not the 'hero' for me. If you like your space opera along the lines of Firefly and Farscape, with a hint of Bladerunner (and foul language, sexually explicit threats and casual violence don't put you off), this could be the space opera series for you. Not for the easily offended.
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