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Orphan: Giant Robot Planetary Competition Book 1
Ravikanth Helio, a kidnapped orphan baby, is forced into service aboard the Golden Lady to mine asteroids with implants that make him what he is. A mining pilot. He's known nothing else except for the vids he's watched of other things in the galaxy. Vids of shows like the Giant Robot Planetary Competition. Something he enjoys watching, but would never want to enter. Hemming Stolock and Angford Allice have other plans for the boy. They put him into the competition against his wishes. He is, after all, company property. Now Ravi must fight, not only for the Allice Mining Corporation to potentially win the mineral rights to a dead planet, but he must also fight to stay alive. In the GRPC, not every pilot gets to go home.
305 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 13, 2016
Let me preface this by saying that I'm a fairly tough reviewer. I'd give this 2.5 stars but rounded up because I think some of the fixable issues described below can get it to a true 3.
This is a YA book. That was unclear to me until I started reading. Once that was apparent, I didn't have any expectations of running into any thought-provoking situations and was better able to just enjoy the story.
The main characters are enjoyable and developed in what I thought were mostly realistic ways. The secondary characters, mostly strange alien beings, added color and creativity to the story. The plot was interesting enough to keep me coming back to read each evening without dreading the prospect. The ending was a pleasant surprise - not at all what I expected.
On to the negatives. This book needs some MAJOR editing. There are a lot of homophones that evade a spell check but make no sense in context. Murdock also leans on a variety of "pet phrases" that becomes a bit distracting. The story itself is told from the shifting perspectives of the three MCs. While the chapters are clearly marked to advise the reader as to which perspective is taking over, there generally doesn't seem to be much difference between the three voices.
Overall, I did enjoy reading this book. The plot had enough going for it to make me want to find out what would happen, and the end was surprising and satisfying. Readers who enjoy a light-hearted adventure story, and who can excuse the litany of editing errors they will encounter, will enjoy Orphan. It's very much a potential diamond in the rough.
This is a YA book. That was unclear to me until I started reading. Once that was apparent, I didn't have any expectations of running into any thought-provoking situations and was better able to just enjoy the story.
The main characters are enjoyable and developed in what I thought were mostly realistic ways. The secondary characters, mostly strange alien beings, added color and creativity to the story. The plot was interesting enough to keep me coming back to read each evening without dreading the prospect. The ending was a pleasant surprise - not at all what I expected.
On to the negatives. This book needs some MAJOR editing. There are a lot of homophones that evade a spell check but make no sense in context. Murdock also leans on a variety of "pet phrases" that becomes a bit distracting. The story itself is told from the shifting perspectives of the three MCs. While the chapters are clearly marked to advise the reader as to which perspective is taking over, there generally doesn't seem to be much difference between the three voices.
Overall, I did enjoy reading this book. The plot had enough going for it to make me want to find out what would happen, and the end was surprising and satisfying. Readers who enjoy a light-hearted adventure story, and who can excuse the litany of editing errors they will encounter, will enjoy Orphan. It's very much a potential diamond in the rough.
November 19, 2016
Meh. Interesting enough to keep me reading. Not interesting enough to actually involve me in the story. Not sure why, it just didn't have any real "punch". (Pun absolutely intended.)
I never got involved in the main character to feel concern when he was threatened. And the other characters weren't interesting enough to really catch my interest.
Not a waste, but nothing thrilling.
I did, though, enjoy . That was amusing.
I never got involved in the main character to feel concern when he was threatened. And the other characters weren't interesting enough to really catch my interest.
Not a waste, but nothing thrilling.
I did, though, enjoy . That was amusing.
October 3, 2016
A great idea, but it could've done with a lot of polishing in spelling, sentence structure and overall presentation.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews