The Trilisk Ruins, by Michael McCloskey

Title:  The Trilisk  Ruins
Written By:  Michael McCloskey
Publisher and Copyright:  Michel NcCloskey © 2016 (By
Price:  $11.99
Cathbad’s Rating: 3.5 of 10


A Review by, Cathbad


The Trilisk Ruins


          The prologue screamed Danger!  Danger! At me from the first sentence.

          Couldn’t the author find some more adjectives to use?  I’m sure there’s a few more he missed… isn’t there? 

          Chapter one:  Continual usage of superfluous words and descriptions.  Getting bored fast.  Will I be able to finish this tome?

          And Mike?  We get it – she has an internal computer link. Please stop harping on it.

Ok, let’s get the set-up down.  Telisa is a xenoarchaeologist. (Another superfluous word, since the xeno part isn’t necessary.)  She gets hired by Parker Interstellar Travels for a mission to hunt for Trilisk artifacts. 

Interestingly, both Telisa and the two company partners (Jack and Thomas) are (according to the dialog and omniscient narration) quite mistrustful, for fear of the UNSF (the military), whom they both have skirted the rules of.  Yet, within just a few pages, far more is revealed to each other than best friends might learn of the other’s foibles in years.  

And Jack told her the company secrets (they smuggle artifacts) moments after meeting her – despite knowing she was the daughter of a USNF Captain’s daughter!

The obvious (such as the military advisor’s disinterest in the business aspects of the trip) is too often pointed out.

An excerpt:

“Excellent. That may help you out with your agility and balance, which are important for many types of combat.”
  
          Are we kidding?  Who talks like that?  This was said after Telisa revealed she had been a “slide dance champion” in school.

          ~shakes head sadly~

Mike?  When Jack stepped up to Magnus and spoke, we already knew it was him speaking.  No need for the “Jack Said” at the end. And this goes for the umpteen number of times you use the word “said”.

Just saying.

There’s really not much to like about this book.  The characters are one-dimensional, the storyline’s been done and overdone.

Okay, here’s one:  It seems well edited; I could find few spelling or grammatical mistakes.

Some of the situations and creatures are quite unbelievable.  An environment that follows you around??  Automated vehicles so stupid that they run over and kill your boyfriend?  Because Category 3 Hurricanes are coming, you have to take vitamins?

It also seems the author couldn’t decide if he wanted Telisa to be a strong female character, or just another of the myriad of weak females needing a man (Magnus) to survive.
         A military Captain letting a ship escape, even knowing the alien they want may be inside,
         A weapons targeting system that doesn’t work… because of sound?  In space?

Sad to say, even the ending loses.  It was rather… boring.

Oddly, after the epilogue, the author states that the story continues in The Trilisk AI.  Hmm.  If that’s true, then he also failed to use the ending – or at least the epilogue – to set up the next part.

I actually hate giving bad reviews, but with all the advertising the author has done, he must expect reviews?



I give this novel a rating of 3.5 out of 10.










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