I stole this book from the library of an apartment I had stayed at this summer… It was simply painful.

Reading it on and off since August, I just finished it today. The book didn’t get good until it was halfway through… but then, it was over.

The romance factor, which played a huge part in the first half, and was the most interesting sub-plot, was non-existent in the back half. Then it was neatly packaged at the end.

The Russian in the book was poorly transliterated, all eight lines of it. If you are going to include it, then include it. If not, then don’t. You can make the same point by saying “He chided in Russian.” like you did for half the book!

This book is obsolete in it’s version of political tension. Written in the era of Glasnost, the USSR is long gone. There is still tension between modern Russia and the US, but, its not so quite… full of espionage. Its more poking at each other in the media then anything.

I really liked the technical descriptions in the book. However, since most of the description centered around a make-believe mini-sub of the future… I learned little about existing technologies and weaponry.

I’m glad I didn’t pay for this book. I will not be picking up this author again.