I can't say I'm as happy with it as everyone else seems to be. Wish I was, because I was looking forward to it.
Here's some things I've found wrong with it so far:
The very first paragraph of actual text, not counting those quotes, there is this line:
For the first time in decades, this new leader was from a species other than juman.
Anyone else see that? Now, I can understand how that typing error occurred. J and H are beside each other on the keyboard. What I don't understand is how it wasn't caught by who ever wrote it, whoever reviewed and whoever editted it.
I shrugged. Just a typo, which happens a lot in Palladium books. This may be the first time it showed up so early in a book, but again, this isn't in and of itself unusual for Palladium. And this thought I was having, forgiving Palladium for this, is itself, an unfortunate commentary on the company.
Okay, so I was willing to let it slide. Just a minor quibble. (But not the only typo in the book!) Because just a little bit later in that same paragraph we're learning how this leader is going to change the CCW with their platform of common sense. I love common sense! So what is one of the first things this new leader does? They order an investigation of Naruni Enterprises and the Thundercloud Development Company. The first is a multi-dimensional, trans-galactic company and the other is a galactic level colonial organization. Okay, so far so good. I approve.
So how many agents does this leader who is lauded for their common sense send? This leader, who is responsible for a civilization that is found in three galaxies and is responsible for
trillions of sentients? One. Just one. My brain choked on that one. The follow up of
hundreds is no better when put into proper scale.
This is a very, very bad first impression for a book to be making.
Other things I didn't like about the book.
The CCW, once the shining contrast to the TGE is now breaking it's own rules, oops, I mean reinterpreting them and basically becoming the bag guys while the TGE becomes the good guys.
Heavy handed comparisons to African colonism. We even have African animals as aliens now (I will admit to liking the Thunder Duck). But yeah, we get it already. Colonialism = evil.
It's not all bad though. Here are some of the books redeeming qualities.
The only alien race I like out of this book is the Whetu. Finally, an alien that
looks like an alien. Good job there.
The section in the back with the 101 adventure ideas also has a lot of usable material in it. Content wise, these 20 or so pages prevent it from being a total wash.
The art in the book, I must say, is excellent. A lot of art that Palladium puts into its books is not. But to be honest, I'd rather have excellent content and slipshod art then the other way around.
Overall, I give this book a four out of ten.
I will end this by saying that I don't think that Braden Cambell is a bad writer. I've enjoyed everything else Palladium has published with his name on it. You can't please all of the people, all of the time. And I don't know how much of what I disliked was from him or another source. I do hope to see more from him in the future, and hopefully the material will live up to past expectations.
Good day.
I was raised to beleive if you can't say something nice about a person, say nothing at all. This has led to living a very quiet life.
Someone who tells you what to think is trying to control you. Someone who teaches you how to think is trying to free you.
WWVLD?