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Of Men and Dragons: Jack's Landing
Jack was having a very bad day. He'd been scouting the edges of the known galaxy when he'd crashed onto a planet at the beginning of its iron age. What was worse, the natives are seven-foot-tall carnivores who are faster, stronger, and every bit as clever as himself. The only saving grace was that they seemed too afraid to get close to his ship for some reason. Hopefully, that would hold true long enough for him to repair his ship and get home...
S'haar was having a very bad day. First, she'd gotten herself kicked out of the guard, then the hunters, and finally, she'd rejected the village lord's son. Now it was early winter, and she'd been tied to a stake to appease the new dragon that had made a fiery appearance last night. If she managed to avoid being eaten alive or freezing to death, someone was going to pay...
S'haar was having a very bad day. First, she'd gotten herself kicked out of the guard, then the hunters, and finally, she'd rejected the village lord's son. Now it was early winter, and she'd been tied to a stake to appease the new dragon that had made a fiery appearance last night. If she managed to avoid being eaten alive or freezing to death, someone was going to pay...
- GenresScience Fiction
590 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 9, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 7, 2022
Won this as a Goodreads giveaway and found it intriguing. Taking the bones of the Gossett / Quaid movie ENEMY MINE, I was committed to all 590 pages. Likelihood of a sequel is high.
Not sure if my version was an ARC...if not, highly recommend spellcheck (2 incidents of typos) and an honest edit. Most definitely see the opportunity to bring this down 450+ pages which still makes for an entertaining read.
Not sure if my version was an ARC...if not, highly recommend spellcheck (2 incidents of typos) and an honest edit. Most definitely see the opportunity to bring this down 450+ pages which still makes for an entertaining read.
August 16, 2022
Loved this book!
Loved this story, it was well thought out. Family is more than just blood, you can choose who to accept in to your family unit. And bring there for them and them be there for you. Human, AI, aliens (although when you crash land on another world, you are really the alien) learning to live together.
Loved this story, it was well thought out. Family is more than just blood, you can choose who to accept in to your family unit. And bring there for them and them be there for you. Human, AI, aliens (although when you crash land on another world, you are really the alien) learning to live together.
January 5, 2022
Good read. A little overdramatic on a few things
Good read, there are things that lets me want more in this other than the characters in this book. Overdramatic on some issues for describing Jacks actions. Everyone else was great.
Good read, there are things that lets me want more in this other than the characters in this book. Overdramatic on some issues for describing Jacks actions. Everyone else was great.
April 16, 2022
Very good book
This is a fine sci Fi fantasy adventure novel. It is well written and edited. Embrel and the old guard are my particular favorites. I anxiously await the sequel.
This is a fine sci Fi fantasy adventure novel. It is well written and edited. Embrel and the old guard are my particular favorites. I anxiously await the sequel.
February 17, 2023
Well written story.
It’s well written and has interesting concepts. But I should mention, that the target audience is most likely female.
The male Protagonist (Jack) as few traditionally masculine traits. The only woman to give him any real compliments is his sister (Angela), and that was ONLY to another person without him around. He is described as gifted, but fails to consider relatively simple things. The author puts a great deal into the importance of treating women with respect, but at the same time, allows his female characters to shower the Jack with insults. He is constantly told he is weak, vulnerable, incompetent, careless, and inept. And to be fair, he does display these characteristics, despite being initially described as “brave, of gifted intelligence, and noble.” It is a weird contrast that is a bit troublesome. It seems like Jack is surreptitiously given the traits and skills needed only for them to disappear later. For example, despite never shooting a gun at someone, he is able to accurately (with a handgun I might add) take down targets moving at speeds far greater than humans can travel, at such extreme distances that he is able to take out over half a dozen targets before they reach him, yet skills he is SUPPOSED to reasonably posses, like surviving on a unknown planet. He is clueless about.
The female protagonist (S’haar) has few traditionally feminine characteristics. She has found herself in her position because she has demanded respect from men. Which when originally reading, is noble, and particularly badass in how she goes about it. However she offers little if any to Jack for a great majority of the novel. This is further exacerbated when she asks a man, the only man in her village that treated her well by the way, to apologize for being male. It was weird, like she didn’t grow up in the culture she was raised in at all, just merely planted there. Not that her views on how women should be treated are wrong.
To put the whole thing in perspective. Jack is described as being a brilliant and capable explorer of worlds, yet by the end of the book he is relegated to a self described “cowardly advisor” to an alien in the Iron Age. He is inept, unintelligent, and disinteresting yet he somehow wins S’haar’s heart still by being noble, and by noble I mean, being kind to the point of letting everyone walk all over him.
My only other gripe would be how seamlessly their languages translate concepts. Despite them being alien to each other they are similar, markedly so. In fact I’d say one would have a more alien experience and culture clash if they were a modern American visiting twelfth century France.
All of that being said. This book still gets four stars, because even though I don’t necessarily agree with the message, the book is still entertaining and well written. And Em’brel is endearing.
It’s well written and has interesting concepts. But I should mention, that the target audience is most likely female.
The male Protagonist (Jack) as few traditionally masculine traits. The only woman to give him any real compliments is his sister (Angela), and that was ONLY to another person without him around. He is described as gifted, but fails to consider relatively simple things. The author puts a great deal into the importance of treating women with respect, but at the same time, allows his female characters to shower the Jack with insults. He is constantly told he is weak, vulnerable, incompetent, careless, and inept. And to be fair, he does display these characteristics, despite being initially described as “brave, of gifted intelligence, and noble.” It is a weird contrast that is a bit troublesome. It seems like Jack is surreptitiously given the traits and skills needed only for them to disappear later. For example, despite never shooting a gun at someone, he is able to accurately (with a handgun I might add) take down targets moving at speeds far greater than humans can travel, at such extreme distances that he is able to take out over half a dozen targets before they reach him, yet skills he is SUPPOSED to reasonably posses, like surviving on a unknown planet. He is clueless about.
The female protagonist (S’haar) has few traditionally feminine characteristics. She has found herself in her position because she has demanded respect from men. Which when originally reading, is noble, and particularly badass in how she goes about it. However she offers little if any to Jack for a great majority of the novel. This is further exacerbated when she asks a man, the only man in her village that treated her well by the way, to apologize for being male. It was weird, like she didn’t grow up in the culture she was raised in at all, just merely planted there. Not that her views on how women should be treated are wrong.
To put the whole thing in perspective. Jack is described as being a brilliant and capable explorer of worlds, yet by the end of the book he is relegated to a self described “cowardly advisor” to an alien in the Iron Age. He is inept, unintelligent, and disinteresting yet he somehow wins S’haar’s heart still by being noble, and by noble I mean, being kind to the point of letting everyone walk all over him.
My only other gripe would be how seamlessly their languages translate concepts. Despite them being alien to each other they are similar, markedly so. In fact I’d say one would have a more alien experience and culture clash if they were a modern American visiting twelfth century France.
All of that being said. This book still gets four stars, because even though I don’t necessarily agree with the message, the book is still entertaining and well written. And Em’brel is endearing.
May 26, 2022
Good book, but lots of emotion and not enough sf
This is a good read, but it goes a bit all over the place. It focuses on creating good family feelings but in the next scene you suddenly have fights with horrific consequences. It’s not what you expect after reading a funny scene. Also, where is the sf here ? You’ve got a spaceship in a mountain but no way for the AI to move about - what about a robot or a drone for the AI ? it makes no sense to not have this. Most of the technology seems to be 20th century max: where are all the future marvels ? Bone replacement, armour implants? Good, but could have been better.
This is a good read, but it goes a bit all over the place. It focuses on creating good family feelings but in the next scene you suddenly have fights with horrific consequences. It’s not what you expect after reading a funny scene. Also, where is the sf here ? You’ve got a spaceship in a mountain but no way for the AI to move about - what about a robot or a drone for the AI ? it makes no sense to not have this. Most of the technology seems to be 20th century max: where are all the future marvels ? Bone replacement, armour implants? Good, but could have been better.
June 8, 2022
Interesting read
I felt like I was watching some kind or realist leader guiding beings in their medieval time kind of anime. The building and forging made it feel almost like a dog strategy anime. The action was decent and I felt like it should have been boring but it kept entertaining me. Definitely not for everyone but it has a nice feel to it for me. Enjoyed it and would read the next book.
I felt like I was watching some kind or realist leader guiding beings in their medieval time kind of anime. The building and forging made it feel almost like a dog strategy anime. The action was decent and I felt like it should have been boring but it kept entertaining me. Definitely not for everyone but it has a nice feel to it for me. Enjoyed it and would read the next book.
December 29, 2023
Excellent, inventive sci fi adventure
There may be a hint of fantasy, also, if Jack's visitations aren't hallucinations... The worldbuilding is interesting, Jack and his sister are great characters with a terrible backstory, and the story is well-written and believable. Jack isn't superhuman, and the author seems to enjoy causing him all the damage a human would suffer trying to do heroic deeds. Jack and Angela's growing family is fun. There is graphic violence.
There may be a hint of fantasy, also, if Jack's visitations aren't hallucinations... The worldbuilding is interesting, Jack and his sister are great characters with a terrible backstory, and the story is well-written and believable. Jack isn't superhuman, and the author seems to enjoy causing him all the damage a human would suffer trying to do heroic deeds. Jack and Angela's growing family is fun. There is graphic violence.
May 4, 2022
Fascinating and imaginative
I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway
This book doesn't cleanly for in any one genre. It is sci-fi, romance, action\thriller, etc. Some things happen way too easily but others with the expected complexities. This is also a great study in ethics that the early colonizers should have read before taking over worlds that were not their own.
I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway
This book doesn't cleanly for in any one genre. It is sci-fi, romance, action\thriller, etc. Some things happen way too easily but others with the expected complexities. This is also a great study in ethics that the early colonizers should have read before taking over worlds that were not their own.
April 25, 2022
Fun
Decent read. A few spots are a bit to obvious with plot armor and the healing is a bit strange in the time it seems to take... but other than that is was fun and had a ton of cute moments.
Decent read. A few spots are a bit to obvious with plot armor and the healing is a bit strange in the time it seems to take... but other than that is was fun and had a ton of cute moments.
June 19, 2022
Like it
You have a story. But the main character does not learn. Keeps making the same mistake time after time. The mission is to get power to the ship. Then he can help people. The ship will run out of power long before they help people.
You have a story. But the main character does not learn. Keeps making the same mistake time after time. The mission is to get power to the ship. Then he can help people. The ship will run out of power long before they help people.
September 18, 2022
Excellent work, gets my vote for most original SciFi story of the year. Superbly detailed and logically consistent.
Shelved as 'dnf'
June 15, 2023DNF @ 3% I received a copy of this ebook in a Goodreads giveaway.
Not my type of sci-if, the story just didn’t grab me.
Not my type of sci-if, the story just didn’t grab me.
July 29, 2022
Enjoyed this, a LOT !
Much appreciated work from a new author, love the character development, real world ethos and conflict. Keep it up, I'm waiting for the next episode
Much appreciated work from a new author, love the character development, real world ethos and conflict. Keep it up, I'm waiting for the next episode
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews