I am not against bad reviews but I will say the tone of these reviews leave a lot to be desired.
FotK leaves a lot to be desired.
People work hard to come up with rules, or novels and when reviewed they deserve respect for trying.
Respect for trying? This isn't grammar school and you don't get a gold star just for trying.
Using force and anger in review does not help those who read them nor the writer of the book.
Anger? Try disgust instead. Disgust and incredulous shock when someone actually enjoyed the sample.
I also gave specific examples where the so-called author failed miserably. If that doesn't help, what will?
To criticize an rpg novel because it doesn't fit your campaign view is just going to increase your stress level.
My critique had nothing to do with the so-called author's grasp of canonical trivia. I wasn't calling him for not knowing Strephon's middle name or how many toes a groat has. I called him out for writing an absolutely awful novel that exhibits no internal logic or narrative unity, an absolutely awful novel that features characters which are both morons and cardboard cut-outs, and an absolutely awful novel which depicts a space battle that completely ignores basic physics.
You want some more actual examples? How about...
- Telson is shown writing a textbook on tactics on paper. He's drawing tactical diagrams on paper too. It's the 57th Century, he's supposedly writing about and diagramming ship tactics in a three dimensional environment, and he's writing it all on paper.
- Telson mulls over having the marines in the boarding party kill everyone aboard the yacht. Why? Because the Marquis of Boughene is aboard and dealing with "royalty" can be so difficult. Telson also considers having the marines kill his new XO, Franks, at the same time. She's been difficult too it seems. He eventually decides not to because someone may talk.
The depiction of the battle between the
Kinunir, yacht, and corsair is an incoherent mess and an insult to the reader's intelligence. Among many other things, the author couldn't be bothered to remember from one paragraph to the next that vector movement is involved.
First,
Kinunir spends eight hours at 4gees reaching the location of the fight between the yacht and corsair. In those eight hours the corsair doesn't manage to do a damn thing. In that entire time, it neither knocks out the yacht or detects
Kinunir.
Next, Telson, the alleged tactical genius, doesn't fire on the corsair until after his vessel passes between the it and the yacht and begins to decelerate. He has weapons whose ranges measure in light-seconds, he's closing at a huge velocity which will limit his engagement period, and yet waits until he's zipped past his target. Once
Kinunir's attack begins, the few remaining shreds of coherence in the text goes right out the airlock as what I can only assume to be authorial Alzheimer's sets in.
Next, Telson orders
Kinunir to take a position between the corsair and yacht, this despite the huge vector built up during her eight hour 4gee dash. The corsair then somehow lays in a course towards one of the gas giant's moons, next tries to work around the
Kinunir so it can shoot at the yacht, and then tries to escape once more. During all this, the gas giant's rings are in the way whenever the author happens to remember them.
While all that is going on,
Kinunir's pinnace is launched and - surprise - somehow doesn't have the same huge vector it's parent vessel does. The pinnace is able to rendezvous with the yacht after relatively few maneuvers.
During the battle,
Kinunir apparently has to aim herself in order to aim any of her weapons. She rolls over to aim her missile battery, for example, because the launcher need to be pointed at the corsair. Missiles don't maneuver apparently. After rolling over, it's decided not to use missiles as it would be a "waste of explosives".
The gas giant's rings make an appearance again as they prevent the use of
Kinunir's particle accelerators and limit the effect of her lasers. The author remembers vector movement again too when, and unlike
Kinunir's pinnace, the corsair's missiles are adversely effected by their launching vessel's vector.
Kinunir's PAs easily destroy the corsair's missiles because, apparently, the gas giant's rings have gone away again.
If you think I'm making this all up or even exaggerating, I strongly suggest that you download the free sample and read it for yourself. The battle scene is basically incoherent.
