Reviews

Death or Glory by Sandy Mitchell

tumandro's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

rsafari's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

rsafari's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

thomase123's review

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2.0

I finished my fourth Ciaphas Cain novel. And ... I still don't like this series at all.

I had initially bought the first Omnibus because the premise sounded so promising: in a universe filled to the brim with super soldiers willing to sacrifice their lives virtually any second there's a commisar who's apparently a bit of a coward and selfish and tries to save his ass more than do his duty. That sounded refreshing and fun.

However, I have two big issues with the series. The first one is simply technical.

The author is repeating patterns over and over and over again. Literally cut any (of the first four) Ciaphas Cain novels into 20 page chunks. They'd be structurally identical and also full of repeated patterns.

Example: Virtually every time Jurgen is mentioned in the story (of any entry in the series) there's a remark about his bad body odor. I get that it's a running joke but if you were to write a book would you repeat the same joke 20 to 40 times in a 350 page book? Or would you maybe make that joke 4 times, or 6 times, or something like that? I read the first three books as paperback and this fourth novel was an audio book edition so I can't easily count it myself. But anyone with an ebook: Go ahead, search for Jurgen or odor, or stink, or smell and count the occurrences.

Another example: Cain says something like "If I knew what kind of consequences that action would lead to, I'd have run away/hidden myself" with tiny variations in the wording something like a dozen times. How does the author, or the editor for that matter, not notice the sheer repetitiveness?

The other issue I have is that Cain is by no matter a coward or a selfish person. Yes, he would rather not die but whenever it's necessary to be courageous he absolutely is. At least to me that takes the whole premise away. He's very much a brave commisar, just doesn't have a death wish.

But enough about the series. This book here is okayish. I'd rate it 3 out of 5 stars if the repetitive nature didn't unnerve me as much as it did. As it is, I can only rate it 2 out of 5 stars.

paulraised's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

deadredjuju's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

3.0

qwerqsar's review against another edition

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adventurous funny tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Good Cain book. there is not much more to say. Military action with a lot of humor (especially in Amberly's notes). Good read!

woody4595's review

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adventurous funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

alex1vo's review

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3.0

A prequel to the first 3 books in the series. Sandy Mitchell is a master of unreliable narrator. The whole thing becomes meta, with the juxtaposition of three narrators. The plot and characters are bit weak on this one.

samphope's review against another edition

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adventurous funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5