I'm not sure why I picked up this book in Barnes and Noble. Probably because I've been playing too much Battletech. Anyhoo, the first bit is a little boring, and I probably would have stopped reading if it first portion didn't take place in Florida, Cape Canaveral, where I grew up. But as I keep reading, the story got better - so much so that I was eager to finish the book, to see what happened. The world building was clever and enjoyable, a little heavy on the revenge angst, but overall - a fine novel. I very much enjoyed the Mecha, thhe idea and design behind these machines. Being a Demonrider sounds awesome! In the end, I liked it enough I purchased the second and would recommend to anyone looking for a fun sci-fi read. ( )

Sort of works. ish. just about. Transformers based mil-SF. Not actually part of hte transformers universe, and definetly readable without knowing what the word means! but nevertheless the influence is strongly felt.

Matt is just a poor boy from a poor colony. But thanks to his genemod inheritance from his father (retroactive? we don't know) he has achieved that which all young boys aspire too - and invite to Mecha Corps. The Union's premier fighting force. "Biometallic" robots able to interface with a human through a neural feedback mechanism. Matt aces his initial tests and sucessfully manages the scary interface . Now he's ready to go out and do his part for the Union and at the same time seek his revenge on the HuMax (illegla genetic manipulation unlike his) who killedhs father.

And that in a nutshell tells you all the faults with the book - the somewhat unbelivable technology, the straightforward plot, and the pig boy hero who doesn't get wounded let alone killed no matter how outgunned he is. At least he doesn't have evey beautiful woman falling at his feet, although it gets close a few times. The otehr issue that really bugged me was that of scale, these things are supposed to be 10-30m tall. House sized. Yet they perform manouvers like a human. Technology can't alter physics - mass and momentum matter!

It isn't all poor. The actual writing is quite good in places. the plot zips along with plenty of action, the characters are just about sustainable enough, although a few more could do with some fleshing out - the mecha interface flashback memories don't really provide enough. Matt needs to actually talk to them. Likewise the baddies are just about clever enough, but again it isn't really clear what their motive is.

I have the 2nd in hte series as a gift so I'll be reading it, but otherwsie I doubt I'd have bothered. Probably OK if you like mil-SF but this isn't even the best in that limited genre. ( )