DNF after 50 pages. Here’s why:
1. The story is just too convoluted. It starts out with the main character leading an evacuation, and preparing to go down with his ship to lead the enemy away from the refugees… except then, he’s attacked by the mysterious Flying Dutchman, which appears out of nowhere… except, he somehow manages to talk the ship down instead of engaging. But then, he somehow survives the actual attack, and is rescued by a mysterious person… except, they crash land on an alien world, and have to be rescued again… and it’s not at all clear who rescued him the first time, let alone the second time. And that’s just the first three chapters.
2. I don’t really have a handle on the main character. He’s supposed to be this brave and honorable freedom fighter, but he acts kind of like an idiot, too. After he gets rescued (the first time), he decides not to ask the captain who he is and what he wants, because he doesn’t want to be the first one to talk. Apparently, that would be giving the other guy too much power, or some other such arrogant nonsense. Except, both of them are following that logic, so neither of them speak a word to each other until the rescue ship crashes and they have to get rescued (again) by the aliens. But even after that, the main character doesn’t ask the guy who he is or what the hell is going on… because he’s an arrogant jackass? I really don’t follow how any of his actions make sense.
3. Honestly, I just got bored. The author tells us that this alien planet is supposed to be a land of legend, but aside from the alien equivalent of Machu Pichu where they live, it doesn’t seem all that impressive to me. Everyone talks all mysterious, like maybe he’ll get to go back to space and maybe he won’t, but I don’t know who these aliens are, what they want, or how their society works, so after it’s clear that the main character isn’t in any real danger, the story just felt too boring to continue.
Skipped to the last chapter, and yeah, it gets a lot more convoluted. Also, the thing that gets resolved in the end is the least interesting aspect of the main character’s personal conflict in the beginning. Honestly, it was so uninteresting that it almost slipped past me.
In short, this story was just too confusing for me to really get into it. But it wasn’t terrible. Just not for me.