Review by Ojaydee -- Masters and Bastards
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Ojaydee
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- Latest Review: Masters and Bastards by Christopher J. Penington
Review by Ojaydee -- Masters and Bastards
[Following is a volunteer review of "Masters and Bastards" by Christopher J. Penington.]
In this story set in futuristic times, the earth is history, and the human race now occupies three habitable planets: Poltervaut and the systems of twin planets Gideon and Rubicon. The explosive cultural diversity associated with humans appears to have thinned out in the process of time, merging into a handful of nations with three in dominance: The Iberians, currently ruling in Poltervaut; the Arpathians—a once-independent nation now colonized mercilessly and reduced to squalor by the Iberians; and the Scythians who occupy much of the twin-planet system, and a few smaller factions and tribes.
The story begins with Andreas Marset (an Arpathian and a soldier under Iberian command) arriving at the Imperium in response to a summons for interrogation concerning his last assignment. As questions and answers go back and forth between Andreas and his interrogator, he learns several things, chief among them being that he is a psionpath (an individual with telepathic ability) of enviable capacity; and that the imperium has set its sights on him.
His interrogator dismisses him with promises that he will be back at the imperium to face a trial for unproven allegations. Andreas returns to his unit and lives in fear of the fulfillment of this promise, and his fears are heightened when two weeks after, an imperial police squad arrives in their hovercraft with another summons—this one signed by the Emperor himself.
Arriving at the Imperium with a storm of questions and a grim foreboding as to what grievous fate awaits him, Andreas is surprised to meet a situation far-flung from what he had anticipated, and before he can fully grasp what’s going on, he finds himself at dinner with the Royal family itself!
But the surprise has just begun as Andreas learns the purpose for his summons: he is to mate with Isabella, the Emperor’s bastard daughter, and plant a child in her that could be named legal heir to the throne!
And so Andreas Marset’s adventures begin. Being only sixteen-years-old, Andreas experiences many things for the first time— love, war, rivalry, and betrayal. Andreas grows in rank, in power and ability, but he realizes that he is a pawn in a political game with his hands tied firmly behind him.
He also learns something vital about himself; all he wants is to live in peace and happiness. But with a war with alien forces looming, with responsibilities thrust on him, and greedy, power-hungry individuals and groups of the imperium trying to either use him to fulfill their selfish ambitions—or eliminate him before he becomes a threat to them, this seems mere wishful thinking. Will his desire become reality, or will Andreas be forced out of his innocence by the constant scheming surrounding him and the endless power (both political and telepathic alike) so readily available—and easily accessible—to him?
The concept of this story is just fantastic! It is rich with all the elements that make a story come alive. With Masters and Bastards, Cristopher J. Pennington presents us with the good, the bad and the ugly of humanity: even as technology advances and the standard of living steadily improves, the heart of mankind remains the same; constantly scheming and plotting, filled with a never-ending thirst for power and dominance.
The events of the story unfolded in a manner that kept me curious and engaged all through the book. The plot fabric was masterfully weaved (with an agreeable flow and exciting twists), the characters were real, interesting and relatable, settings well established and scenes vividly depicted, and so on. The author mentioned that he spent up to ten years working on this book, and the richness of the story validates this claim.
I was however dissatisfied with the narrative's recurring vagueness with details that were vital to the story. Sometimes the plot's pace was too fast, and some moments were described with too little emotion. It felt like watching a dog on a leash taking a walk with its master, hurried along against its will from where it would have liked to dwell on a piece of fascination or sniff out potential treasure. There were too many aspects and issues deprived of a thorough explanation. They were simply glossed over; this left me spending time trying to put things together.
If I were to offer a suggestion, I would recommend that the author split this book into a series of two parts—and thoroughly flesh out every vague detail, allowing the enjoyment that this masterfully crafted story ought to have. I feel that he tried to compress the length of the book to prevent it from being "too long". But in doing so, he unwittingly rushed the narrative in many places, leaving more to be desired.
The author did mention that his initial intention was to create a series. I encourage him to revisit that line of thought; a story this full deserves to be given its space in the bookshelves—in more parts than one. I also encountered numerous errors in the course of reading, mostly typographical, such as “I heard every words of it”, “Did you threaten to shot Vincenti?”, "...Andreas was soon being driving backward", to highlight a few. The book still needs professional editing and proofreading.
All in all, Masters and Bastards was a great read, and I rate it 3 out of 4 stars because there is still room for improvement. A final polish to it from a professional editor and proof-reader will earn the book its remaining star. Kudos to its brilliant author!
Whoever is a lover of sci-fi, fantasy, and love-and-war genres will want to give this book a read. It does contain a great deal of foul language that will certainly not be palatable to anyone devoted to religious/moral standards.
******
Masters and Bastards
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
In this story set in futuristic times, the earth is history, and the human race now occupies three habitable planets: Poltervaut and the systems of twin planets Gideon and Rubicon. The explosive cultural diversity associated with humans appears to have thinned out in the process of time, merging into a handful of nations with three in dominance: The Iberians, currently ruling in Poltervaut; the Arpathians—a once-independent nation now colonized mercilessly and reduced to squalor by the Iberians; and the Scythians who occupy much of the twin-planet system, and a few smaller factions and tribes.
The story begins with Andreas Marset (an Arpathian and a soldier under Iberian command) arriving at the Imperium in response to a summons for interrogation concerning his last assignment. As questions and answers go back and forth between Andreas and his interrogator, he learns several things, chief among them being that he is a psionpath (an individual with telepathic ability) of enviable capacity; and that the imperium has set its sights on him.
His interrogator dismisses him with promises that he will be back at the imperium to face a trial for unproven allegations. Andreas returns to his unit and lives in fear of the fulfillment of this promise, and his fears are heightened when two weeks after, an imperial police squad arrives in their hovercraft with another summons—this one signed by the Emperor himself.
Arriving at the Imperium with a storm of questions and a grim foreboding as to what grievous fate awaits him, Andreas is surprised to meet a situation far-flung from what he had anticipated, and before he can fully grasp what’s going on, he finds himself at dinner with the Royal family itself!
But the surprise has just begun as Andreas learns the purpose for his summons: he is to mate with Isabella, the Emperor’s bastard daughter, and plant a child in her that could be named legal heir to the throne!
And so Andreas Marset’s adventures begin. Being only sixteen-years-old, Andreas experiences many things for the first time— love, war, rivalry, and betrayal. Andreas grows in rank, in power and ability, but he realizes that he is a pawn in a political game with his hands tied firmly behind him.
He also learns something vital about himself; all he wants is to live in peace and happiness. But with a war with alien forces looming, with responsibilities thrust on him, and greedy, power-hungry individuals and groups of the imperium trying to either use him to fulfill their selfish ambitions—or eliminate him before he becomes a threat to them, this seems mere wishful thinking. Will his desire become reality, or will Andreas be forced out of his innocence by the constant scheming surrounding him and the endless power (both political and telepathic alike) so readily available—and easily accessible—to him?
The concept of this story is just fantastic! It is rich with all the elements that make a story come alive. With Masters and Bastards, Cristopher J. Pennington presents us with the good, the bad and the ugly of humanity: even as technology advances and the standard of living steadily improves, the heart of mankind remains the same; constantly scheming and plotting, filled with a never-ending thirst for power and dominance.
The events of the story unfolded in a manner that kept me curious and engaged all through the book. The plot fabric was masterfully weaved (with an agreeable flow and exciting twists), the characters were real, interesting and relatable, settings well established and scenes vividly depicted, and so on. The author mentioned that he spent up to ten years working on this book, and the richness of the story validates this claim.
I was however dissatisfied with the narrative's recurring vagueness with details that were vital to the story. Sometimes the plot's pace was too fast, and some moments were described with too little emotion. It felt like watching a dog on a leash taking a walk with its master, hurried along against its will from where it would have liked to dwell on a piece of fascination or sniff out potential treasure. There were too many aspects and issues deprived of a thorough explanation. They were simply glossed over; this left me spending time trying to put things together.
If I were to offer a suggestion, I would recommend that the author split this book into a series of two parts—and thoroughly flesh out every vague detail, allowing the enjoyment that this masterfully crafted story ought to have. I feel that he tried to compress the length of the book to prevent it from being "too long". But in doing so, he unwittingly rushed the narrative in many places, leaving more to be desired.
The author did mention that his initial intention was to create a series. I encourage him to revisit that line of thought; a story this full deserves to be given its space in the bookshelves—in more parts than one. I also encountered numerous errors in the course of reading, mostly typographical, such as “I heard every words of it”, “Did you threaten to shot Vincenti?”, "...Andreas was soon being driving backward", to highlight a few. The book still needs professional editing and proofreading.
All in all, Masters and Bastards was a great read, and I rate it 3 out of 4 stars because there is still room for improvement. A final polish to it from a professional editor and proof-reader will earn the book its remaining star. Kudos to its brilliant author!
Whoever is a lover of sci-fi, fantasy, and love-and-war genres will want to give this book a read. It does contain a great deal of foul language that will certainly not be palatable to anyone devoted to religious/moral standards.
******
Masters and Bastards
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Masters and Bastards by Christopher J. Penington
