DNF

Just not competitive with similar titles in fantasy fiction, the writing was not great, from copy through structural this book was just not qualitatively competitive.

Gut reaction: I love, love, LOVED the amount of detail and dedication that was obvious in this work! Unfortunately, I feel it needed some paring down to really get the point across, be a more enjoyable read, and elevate it to an excellent novel and introduction to the series.

Lucky, I have a technical and scientific background, so while I really enjoyed that aspect of this book, I feel that it will bog down most readers and will really detract from the story. Oftentimes I feel that world building is lacking, or just plainly unfeasible, and while in this book that is clearly not the case, it was really over-corrected to the extreme. I appreciate that it seems like there was a ton of real world planning and research that went into substantiating the world creation, but at some point we have to remember that people read primarily for pleasure. You can be technical and supportive of your creations without sounding like you're trying to prove your thesis. Readers expect some suspension of disbelief - if you don't want to take advantage of that, that's fine, but I don't think this was the way to do it. I understand that this was a project worked on, and edited, y many people, but in the end it seems like everyone wanted their technical bits to be in there, so you had 30 specialists and researchers with a final say. There needed to be one editor in the end who edited with the reader in mind, and that doesn't looks to have happened.

That said, I liked the story and I enjoyed the characters. I just feel like it's a real diamond in the rough situation for most people though. The cliffhanger at the end was slightly annoying (I don't mind overarching plot cliffhangers, but I think that each book sound be complete in and of itself as well), but I will probably continue the series, just skin the tech, since I do enough of that while at work.

This series is an interesting take on a post apocalyptic world, however, much like 20000 Leagues Under The Sea, some of the intricate technical details made it hard for me to get into the story.

I found it hard to buy that the underground survivors would live a life of luxury and plenty. There are extensive parts of the books that are some sort of virtual reality hallucinations or virtual reality training, or virtual reality fighting, which I found boring as heck. I tried to read some of them but ended up skimming, The parts about the plague, the research to find a cure or an antidote were the most interesting, as I find threat from deadly plague more compelling than some behind the doors scheming between powerful people. The goods and the bads average each other out, and I forgot much of the book shortly after reading it. It wasn't the kind of book I was eager to go back to when I put it down.

In this book, transhumans have been forced to live underground due to Reassortment, a disease that can kill you almost instantly. We follow the POV of several characters such as Broden, a scientist working to end Reassortment and bring transhumanity back to the surface and Johann, whose father, founder of the resistance, has been captured. We, then, follow Johann and his younger brother, Connor, in their search for their father, and Broden, in his surface trials.
This book had some interesting new concepts but, sometimes, I felt that it was executed poorly. Whilst reading the book, I often felt that the plot, in general, was nothing out of the ordinary and, when I finished it, I still felt the same way. There was suspense but the outcome was easily predicted. Still, I was able to enjoy the book. The characters were well executed and all the new concepts and worldbuilding kept me intrigued.
I will keep reading the series, which seems promising, but will only give 3 stars to this first book. The ending opened an interesting path for the sequel, that I will read eventually.

UPDATE:
I started reading the second book of the series but lost interest. I expected it to get better but it was almost the same, if not worse. I will not read more of this series.

A great one for the fans of epic stories. I just couldn't keep focused long enough to really engage with the world.

A tour de force in the writing. A tour de force in the reading. But worth the effort. This series touches so much, it is amazing to see how all the threads actually weave into coherent and enjoyable whole. There is an apocalypse saga, an environmental saga, a war saga, a generational saga, love stories, friendships forged in the crucible of battle, aliens across the galaxy, telepathy, time travel, genetic manipulation of man and beast, All that and still, it is a partial list. Makes a reader wonder what the author can pull out for his next go, and I intend to be waiting. A caution: be patient. This is a big read, for me, was worth it.