MY ⭐️ RATING: 4.75/5
Format: Kindle Whispersync
BOOK DESCRIPTION
Courage Iro will shatter the Gates of Power to protect his fleet. Born talentless, Iro has all but resigned himself to a life of drudgery, watching his sister hop across to the massive space titan for supplies. But when the titan explodes and his sister is killed, Iro finds a new determination to take her place. He’s not about to let weakness prevent him.
When the fleet encounters a new titan, filled with powerful monsters, deadly traps, and mysterious cloaked figures, Iro is the first to spontaneously manifest a new talent. Now sent to a different ship, to train with others far beyond his strength, Iro will have to train twice as hard just to catch up.
To protect his fleet, and to uncover the mysteries of the titans, Iro won’t just open the Gates of Power. He’ll break them.
MY REVIEW
One thing Rob has always done masterfully is having a cover that grabs, because like it or not, we judge books by their covers. This beautiful work of art from Yang Mansik & STK Kreations does exactly that, it sinks it’s claws into your head and just makes you want to know what is inside! I’ve been a fan of Rob’s since I first read his Mortal Techniques series two years ago, which is easily one of my all time favorite series. While Titan Hoppers is something completely different in terms of genre, his ability to tell a captivating story and create unforgettable characters, is why I loved that series and am already in love with this series, after just one book. So to say he hit this out of the park may be an understatement.
Titan Hoppers is a captivating progression sci-fantasy adventure filled with exotic monsters straight out of your nightmares, Titans, spaceships and magic! I loved the dark tone that made it feel as if every situation that Iro and company got into was actually a dire situation, because, it was. The pacing of the story and the action was perfect, it has a somewhat slow and methodical build-up that helped get to know all the characters and the world while never feeling like the info was just being dropped. Then it would ramp up the intensity when action scenes took place, creating some truly gripping scenes that were masterfully done leaving my jaw dropped at times and actually saying “NO WAY!” I also loved the mysteriousness around their history, this was a nice touch to be able to focus more on the now and slowly integrate more information as the story goes on. It really opens your mind as to what could be going on, why is it being hidden and what will eventually be found out.
“history is as important as the future. You have to know the mistakes you’ve made in the past, so you don’t repeat them in the future.”
All the characters were fantastic, but it’s really hard not to like any of the other characters more than the main character Iro, who comes off as very relatable with his issues and the way he dealt with them. Also reading this on Mother’s Day, there was a scene with his mom where I just said, I picked the right time to read this! It was great to see that and made me like him even more. There were other many characters that Rob did such a fantastic job of building each one up and showing their flaws, while also gradually working in some development that will keep progressing as the story continues. One of the things I really like is Rob’s use of names and how they fit the characters personalities. One iteration of Iro’s name means “peace” which perfectly fits his personality, another character is Emil, his name means “one who tries to excel” and “one who rivals successfully” which I thought was a perfect fit as well, though he is a bit more angry about it. I thought this touch to the depth of the characters was spot on.
The beginning of the story almost reminded me a bit of the way Attack on Titan starts, and I thought it was very cool to see that in a different type of situation. The more I sit to think about this story, the more I feel sad that I finished it so quickly, and the reason I finished it as fast as I did was not only Rob’s incredible writing, but the narration by Michael Gallagher which was superb! The characters voices were so distinct from one another, so I always knew who was talking. Not only that, but his ability to make me feel the emotion or intensity of every single scene kept my eyes and ears glued wanting to know what would happen next. The only time I felt like there could’ve been more, was during a scene where someone was yelling and he held back. I really wanted to feel that anger from the character, and when he used his inside voice to do the yell, I was a bit sad. Aside from that one little thing, it was near perfection.
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