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Shadow Unit / by various authors (R)
May. 6th, 2014 05:29 pmTime for another entry under the Reviewing Canon tag, but for this one, I really have to use the term Canon loosely because this was so clearly a Criminal Minds fanfic - the serial numbers were rather transparently filed off (and there are other clear influences too - sometimes it's like a game of spot the fandom).
Title: Shadow Unit series
Authors: Emma Bull, Elizabeth Bear, Sarah Monette, Amanda Downum, Stephen Shipman
Summary: Shadow Unit is a science fictional story about a group of unrealistically sexy FBI agents struggling to protect humanity from the worst monsters imaginable. Except some of our heroes may be on the road to becoming monsters themselves....
-OR-
"The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit hunts humanity's worst nightmares. But there are nightmares humanity doesn't dream are real.
The BAU sends those cases down the hall. There, Stephen Reyes and his team pursue criminals transformed by a mysterious force: the anomaly.
Welcome to Shadow Unit.
The Shadow Unit series was created by award-winning authors Emma Bull and Elizabeth Bear."
Review:
I gave this one a try on a rec from the keeper of another rec list who was pretty excited about it, but frankly, having tried it for 3.5 "episodes" in the first book, I'm honestly not sure why. Or why it has 4 stars on Good Reads. Does it get loads better? Am I supposed to stick it out for however long and by book 14 (keeping in mind that book 1 alone is 751 pages long) it will be fantastic?
Where I'm at with this one now... It might have made my recs list just barely if the serial numbers hadn't been filed off at all because, for a Criminal Minds fic, it would have been a creative AU (as an original concept, my standard for creativity is a lot higher because you don't have to write it to earn every break from canon) but the quality of the writing so far has been mediocre - spelling and grammar is fine and formatting is correct, but the storytelling craft just isn't there. I'm just not seeing the allure here. Unless someone tells me it's going to turn amazing right around the corner, I doubt I'll stick with it.
Sorry to it's award-winning authors and all Shadow Unit superfans, but I really have to give this one just 2 out of 10. Ouch.
Title: Shadow Unit series
Authors: Emma Bull, Elizabeth Bear, Sarah Monette, Amanda Downum, Stephen Shipman
Summary: Shadow Unit is a science fictional story about a group of unrealistically sexy FBI agents struggling to protect humanity from the worst monsters imaginable. Except some of our heroes may be on the road to becoming monsters themselves....
-OR-
"The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit hunts humanity's worst nightmares. But there are nightmares humanity doesn't dream are real.
The BAU sends those cases down the hall. There, Stephen Reyes and his team pursue criminals transformed by a mysterious force: the anomaly.
Welcome to Shadow Unit.
The Shadow Unit series was created by award-winning authors Emma Bull and Elizabeth Bear."
Review:
I gave this one a try on a rec from the keeper of another rec list who was pretty excited about it, but frankly, having tried it for 3.5 "episodes" in the first book, I'm honestly not sure why. Or why it has 4 stars on Good Reads. Does it get loads better? Am I supposed to stick it out for however long and by book 14 (keeping in mind that book 1 alone is 751 pages long) it will be fantastic?
Where I'm at with this one now... It might have made my recs list just barely if the serial numbers hadn't been filed off at all because, for a Criminal Minds fic, it would have been a creative AU (as an original concept, my standard for creativity is a lot higher because you don't have to write it to earn every break from canon) but the quality of the writing so far has been mediocre - spelling and grammar is fine and formatting is correct, but the storytelling craft just isn't there. I'm just not seeing the allure here. Unless someone tells me it's going to turn amazing right around the corner, I doubt I'll stick with it.
Sorry to it's award-winning authors and all Shadow Unit superfans, but I really have to give this one just 2 out of 10. Ouch.