Review by David
Oct 12, 2019Evolution is the third book in The Belt trilogy, written by Gerald M. Kilby. It describes the adventure of space ship captain Scott McNabbs, as he tries to rescue his maybe-maybe not girlfriend, and save the solar system from another war. It is set 2,5 years after the second book in the series.
The writing and the narrator were exactly the same as with the previous book, and given that they were published back to back, I assume they were written and recorded in one long go. Thus my general comments and critique is essentially the same as for the first two books in the trilogy, and I refer to my review of the first two books which gives a deeper insight into the shortcomings and positives (Book 1: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2947935379 + Book 2: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2947939962). The following sections will assume you’ve read/listened to the first two books.
The third book is a little bit of a deviation from the previous two, as the entire story takes place in the same location, and is not so much space science fiction, but more post apocalyptic science fiction. While the change of setting was nice, I would have liked the story to have diverged a little bit more, as the plot was highly predictable, and very a run of the mill story.
My biggest problem was the ending though, as it was extremely short and forced, and it would REALLY have made it so much better, if there was a proper resolution. It did feel as if the entire third act of the book was missing!
And we still got info dumps, and we get yet another breaking of the fourth wall by a character. The author REALLY should stop doing this! Show, don’t tell the reader, and don’t have your characters inform the reader that you are now telling them something!
The overall story arc over all three books was quite coherent, and the overall adventures of Scott McNabb felt like it had come to an end, which was nice. There’s also plenty of room to develop the universe more, in case the author feels like it. I just hope he uses the opportunity to really dig into the universes political problems he’s been hinting at throughout the books.
As with the second book, I have no idea what the titel of the book refers to? I assume it was just a catchy title, similar to the second book.
In the end, if you enjoyed the first two books, you’ll also enjoy this one for sure. If you disliked the first one, then this will not make up for anything. If the author continues the universe with more books, I hope he takes more time to add background and descriptions, as the writing, universe and overall plot was fairly okay. There’s the potential for much more, so I hope he grips that chance!
I will also add here, that I really liked all three covers visually. They had nothing to do with the actual stories, but they sure were pretty! :)
I received this audiobook for free in return for a review. I have no affiliation with the author, the narrator, the publisher, or their pets (Although I am sure the latter are quite nice!).
Evolution is the third book in The Belt trilogy, written by Gerald M. Kilby. It describes the adventure of space ship captain Scott McNabbs, as he tries to rescue his maybe-maybe not girlfriend, and save the solar system from another war. It is set 2,5 years after the second book in the series.
The writing and the narrator were exactly the same as with the previous book, and given that they were published back to back, I assume they were written and recorded in one long go. Thus my general comments and critique is essentially the same as for the first two books in the trilogy, and I refer to my review of the first two books which gives a deeper insight into the shortcomings and positives (Book 1: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2947935379 + Book 2: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2947939962). The following sections will assume you’ve read/listened to the first two books.
The third book is a little bit of a deviation from the previous two, as the entire story takes place in the same location, and is not so much space science fiction, but more post apocalyptic science fiction. While the change of setting was nice, I would have liked the story to have diverged a little bit more, as the plot was highly predictable, and very a run of the mill story.
My biggest problem was the ending though, as it was extremely short and forced, and it would REALLY have made it so much better, if there was a proper resolution. It did feel as if the entire third act of the book was missing!
And we still got info dumps, and we get yet another breaking of the fourth wall by a character. The author REALLY should stop doing this! Show, don’t tell the reader, and don’t have your characters inform the reader that you are now telling them something!
The overall story arc over all three books was quite coherent, and the overall adventures of Scott McNabb felt like it had come to an end, which was nice. There’s also plenty of room to develop the universe more, in case the author feels like it. I just hope he uses the opportunity to really dig into the universes political problems he’s been hinting at throughout the books.
As with the second book, I have no idea what the titel of the book refers to? I assume it was just a catchy title, similar to the second book.
In the end, if you enjoyed the first two books, you’ll also enjoy this one for sure. If you disliked the first one, then this will not make up for anything. If the author continues the universe with more books, I hope he takes more time to add background and descriptions, as the writing, universe and overall plot was fairly okay. There’s the potential for much more, so I hope he grips that chance!
I will also add here, that I really liked all three covers visually. They had nothing to do with the actual stories, but they sure were pretty! :)
I received this audiobook for free in return for a review. I have no affiliation with the author, the narrator, the publisher, or their pets (Although I am sure the latter are quite nice!).
