I was fairly excited for this book. Finally, a series tie in that didn’t pretend to be a story. It was even called a prologue! And who doesn’t love a little hard sci-fi?

Ultimately, my enthusiasm felt misplaced. Hard sci-fi is a delicate balancing act between the present day and the future.  Star Force didn’t have that. The terminology and dialogue felt far too modern day. They weren’t bad, they just didn’t feel futuristic. Which pulled me out of the setting, and made me feel disconnected from the story.

This being a prologue, I shouldn’t complain about lack of story, but when the set piece doesn’t set the piece, I’m forced to look for my enjoyment elsewhere. The description of the space station was lacking, though the jumpship was a cool bit of concept. But one cool description does not make up for lackluster characters or a lack of action. Even the space battle happened outside the ship, and wasn’t in any danger of affecting the nameless protagonists.

Overall, I mainly felt locked out of the world. Nameless protags and the lack of any sort of stakes  meant the story had no oomph. Add to that dialogue that didn’t feel right for a sci-fi story, and nope.

The rest of the series might be great. I saw a lot of positive reviews for it. But this particular prologue didn’t entice me to find out.