BASILISK – by Scott Bradley

I have mixed feelings about this book. Though the intensity of the Sci-Fi action combined with a political bent coupled with various formidable foes hit the mark, there are aspects of the characters’ interactions, the description of certain scenes—including that of the Basilisk—that feel off, thus pulling me out of the story.

I look forward to reading what Bradley comes up with next!

Thank you, NetGalley and Scott Bradley, for providing me with an eBook of BASILISK at the request of an honest review.

Unfortunately, this book was a DNF for me. Although I loved the premise and was super excited to get into it, I found the writing style very lacking in detail, extremely fast paced with little to no world building, almost zero character descriptions (I thought Skylar had blonde hair until 18% in) or expressions when talking to each other so the tone of the conversation was very hard to interpret in my mind, and I found myself very confused with the setting and environment in many cases.

I didn’t get far into this book, as I think it’s fair to not finish a book that you aren’t enjoying and honestly seems unedited or proofread by anyone.

The interactions between characters was very he said she said, she laughed he laughed, she frowned he frowned, with no expansion on how they were feeling or acting or holding their bodies in many cases.

In the part that I read, I could feel things building up to a revelation for both the FMC and reader about the leaders of the Marines and also the Basilisks, but because I already was struggling to grasp the concept of the plot, the universe and the relationship between characters, I wasn’t sucked in enough to invest more reading time to discover the secret later on in the book.

When reading a book, you can sometimes feel very spoonfed with information that makes it difficult to stay engaged in the actual story, however with this book I felt the complete opposite. I was trying my hardest to grasp at information that wasn’t available to me. I desperately wanted to enjoy this book but I couldn’t continue reading something that I could not picture and imagine in my mind due to lack or description.

I feel like the author needs to work on putting more effort into building his universe into a believable world that the reader can easily imagine with their own interpretation, describe his characters more thoroughly so their image is easily conjured in our heads when they are talked about, and also depict their actions much more clearly so we can understand the tone of voice, expressions and body language they are using with other characters in order to portray their relationships and character in a more accurately.

I mean no offence to the author in publishing this review, however I do think it is important to give honest feedback so they can better their writing in the future.

I usually love military scifi but this felt like it needed way more editing. The whole story involving the romance fell flat for me, the other elements of the other worlds and the space travel and the action scenes were written really well so I enjoyed most of the book but due to the formentioned subpar romance I can only give this three stars. Probably better for the people who enjoy more romance in their books. Just not me.

Skylar is a corporal in the Karian Marines, she wants to be a leader, a captain like her father, but has doubts she can manage it. She gets thrown into a battle that ultimately has her taking command.
Early on I found it difficult to read due to Skylar's passivity and allowing her fears to rule her. Later on, it was unbelievable that she made some miraculous change in character.
Though I enjoyed the battle scenes they weren't as well written as I expected. I've read many Space Opera books and this one just missed the mark. I also found the ending completely unbelievable. Overall, it's poorly written and not very enjoyable.

This book perfectly balances the elements of a true fantasy romance. It's a delightful mix of cozy romance and thrilling adventure, topped with a generous sprinkle of spicy scenes.

Basilisk came across my NetGalley dashboard and I was intrigued enough by the concept to request it. I was hoping for some high-octane military SF with weird monsters and a strange conspiracy. And that's technically what I got, but unfortunately it was a failure to launch that I ultimately didn't finish reading.

The issues with Basilisk don't take their time to materialise. The prose is desperately in need of a second set of eyes on it. This reads like unedited first draft, and it wouldn't surprise me to learn that this is the first novel the author has written (not to be confused with the first novel published, which for most authors is the result of multiple failed manuscripts as they learn their craft). Take the action scene that the book starts with, which reads as little more than a list of events taking place:

"The first squad went down the passageway towards the hatch. Two marines had their guns pointed, and the other two had grenades. When they got to the hatch, a marine with a grenade managed to throw it inside before a blinding storm of blue streaks cut his arm off. Another marine with a grenade overexposed his body and got hit several times. The grenade fell beside him. Another marine saw the loose grenade, dropped his gun, and scrambled to reach it. He grabbed it and threw it just before being battered with streaks of blue.

The first grenade exploded, and then the other."

It's not compelling or thrilling in any way. This wants to be Starship Troopers-esque action, but it's entirely lacking.

Speaking of Starship Troopers, there was a moment early on when I wondered whether this is attempting to satirise military fetishism and right wing nationalism in the same way as the Starship Troppers movie. Unfortunately it seems like Basilisk may have more in common with Heinlein's novel. Our main character delivers several lectures about how important it is for a nation to have overwhelming military might in order to defend the freedom of its people, and how it was her patriotic duty to drop out of school and join the military to fight in a war she doesn't understand. As I read more of these diatribes it became clear that this viewpoint is not satirical but is in fact very sincere. Perhaps if I'd managed to finish the book I would have found this view challenged later in the narrative. Alas, I didn't, so I'll never know.

Part of my reason for not finishing is to do with this thread of conservatism that runs throughout every facet of the book. Take Skylar's characterisation. There's an attempt to deliver a romance sub-plot, but the only way I can describe it is as being deeply weird. In an early chapter we learn that Skylar has a crush on a man she's never met. There's nothing wrong with that, of course. but the weirdness comes as she explores this crush.

"Skylar spent much of her time wishing the man of her dreams would swoop her up into his arms and carry her away, or if that was too much to ask, at least notice she was alive. Men surrounded her, but she only had eyes for one. He was a corporal like her, slightly junior, but she was senior to all the corporals. Well, maybe not all, not Jackson, but most of them. Her man stood half a head taller than her, had a clean crew cut— like almost every other man on the ship— and familiar icy-blue eyes that captured every nerve in her body. His muscles were firm like a gladiator, but he was a true gentleman. She wasn’t sure about the last attribute because she’d never spoken to him. She couldn’t. Every time she got anywhere near him, she started to shake, and she knew if he ever talked to her, she’d melt and make a complete fool of herself, so she kept her distance."

While she's crushing on this nameless man, her friend Trudi is described as a "slut". We aren't told why this is, but we're also told that Skylar feels it would be a "mistake to trust her with her secret. No one could ever know. No one". Her secret, of course, is that she has a crush on someone. Later we're treated to a scene of a cartoon villain drug dealer attempting to "[set Skylar up] to be an addict". It's a weirdly juvenile view of drugs and drug users that made me laugh aloud when I read it, though it's clearly not meant to be funny and is instead deeply sincere.

Ultimately it was the constant thread of weird misogyny and the real "men write women" edge to the narrative combined with the 'action' sequences that get bogged down in listing the minutiae of every action taking place that made me give up.

In more capable hands I think this could have been interesting. The idea of massive mythological creatures existing in deep space is compelling, but the attempts to build some sense of mystery around them are ham-handed at best. The narrative itself is unfocused, punctuated by weird scenes that don't serve any purpose - a date with the mysterious man Skylar has a crush on who think she's her "slut" best friend, the scene with a drug dealer attempting to get her hooked on a free first hit - and jumping between point of view characters in a way that feels random rather than structured or intentional.

When it comes down to it, this just wasn't interesting or compelling enough for me to overlook its flaws.