{"id":5183,"date":"2025-01-22T09:00:32","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T14:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/?p=5183"},"modified":"2024-11-27T10:24:45","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T15:24:45","slug":"carpathians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/22\/carpathians\/","title":{"rendered":"Carpathians"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AnBy Paul A. Dixon
\n\u00a9 September 27, 2023
\nB0CHTD3N7C
\n560 pages<\/p>\n

I was hooked on this book from the very first chapter. Not only was the story itself captivating, its worldbuilding and culture creation was quite well done, and made me want to keep reading to see what else I would find in its pages. Not all the technological advances in this version of a human future were beneficial, or even benign. Some were quite dark, and a little horrific to contemplate, but made for fascinating reading.<\/p>\n

The characters in Carpathians <\/em>aren’t perfect. All have their flaws, which makes for a more interesting and believable read. In the beginning, they are scattered, revealing bits and pieces of their story in their own time. But when they came together, their idiosyncrasies weave together to make an even more interesting dynamic. Not all their actions were predictable, and I loved being proven wrong just when I thought I had them figured out.<\/p>\n

The plot, focused around a first-contact situation, is multifaceted. Humans have come across numerous worlds, true, but the majority are holocaust worlds–so many that these “dead” worlds are old news, except for the remaining resources humans can exploit. It’s only when they find something completely unexpected and outside the boundaries of anything they’ve ever before seen that the first-contact potential becomes truly exciting for the few characters who know of it. Human nature being what it is, I could totally believe this layer of the story.<\/p>\n

I don’t think I’ve read anything else quite like Carpathians<\/em> before. The author doesn’t explain anything point-blank on the page; instead, he lays out all the clues for what is happening and gives credit to the reader’s intelligence to make out the pattern, like the character Kester does with her augmented brain. It kept my interest alive throughout the story, though I admit to confusion on one or two occasions.<\/p>\n

The author also doesn’t hand anything to the reader at the end. There is no clear revelation that is unmistakable in its meaning. Instead, he puts all the puzzle pieces on the page and leaves it to the reader to assemble the picture. I’m still chewing it over and have not yet decided what I think really happened…and why.<\/p>\n

If you enjoy a deep dive into your books, and especially hard science fiction that leaves something to the imagination, you’ll want to read Carpathians<\/em>. Definitely recommended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Paul A. Dixon \u00a9 September 27, 2023 B0CHTD3N7C 560 pages I was hooked on this book from the very first chapter. Not only was the story itself captivating, its worldbuilding and culture creation was quite well done, and made me want to keep reading to see what else I would find in its pages….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8n0kX-1lB","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6304,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/31\/deficiency\/","url_meta":{"origin":5183,"position":0},"title":"Deficiency","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"July 31, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By S.C. 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