Book Review: Reality Check
The first book in Dave McCreery’s mech-tastic space opera Weight of the World trilogy.
There’s not enough mechs taking centre-stage in sci-fi books, and that’s a real shame because they’re awesome. I’ve gained a new appreciation for them since playing Armored Core VI last year, and I even watched some Gundam for the first time since then. Reality Check is all about mechs. A hotshot young Cyber Cycle racer turned mech pilot defending Earth against a hostile alien invasion. Great premise. That, its timeliness, and the fantastic looking cover are what initially drew me to it and prompted me to get the entire Weight of the World trilogy in paperback. Reality Check is the first book in the trilogy, so let’s get into the review.
Blurb
Ryan Fall’s recklessness is his own worst enemy. Pushing the limits in every Cyber Cycle race, his risky manoeuvres bring the authorities down on him for underage racing. His only option is to join the advanced mech program—and learn to fight for what really matters.
Under the command of a distant captain, Ryan joins a special-purpose squad and he’s shocked to discover what they’re being trained for. A huge alien armada is bearing down on Earth, and it’ll take every pilot they’ve got to have a chance of survival.
With nowhere to run, every decision the rookie pilot makes could be the difference between the destruction of everything he loves and saving humanity. Can the wildcard mech pilot focus his skills and end an extra-terrestrial nightmare?
Review
I enjoyed Reality Check. It read like more of a young adult (or perhaps the term is new adult?) sci-fi than I’ve been used to but the plot and story was solid. An alien invasion force is coming to Earth, more advanced than humanity, and standard military tactics aren’t working. They need skilled people who can think outside the box and do the unexpected to have a hope of overcoming this existential threat. So they turn to the Cyber Cycle racers, people who have experience in simulation technology—especially those who use unorthodox methods to give themselves an upper hand. Ryan Fall, being an underage racer (in his early twenties—I’ll come back to this) is one such person. The book is honestly great fun with good humour and introspective moments, and the pacing is right on point. Also, the Cyber Cycle racing was awesome. Just the sims in general were a cool concept taken to a logical extreme.
I wouldn’t necessarily say there was anything stand-out about the prose style in the book. It’s good, clear, and gets the job done. Not overly florid or wordy, and the book is well-written. I don’t have anything negative to say about it. The pacing is good. I enjoyed a lot of the training and character development stuff so I don’t feel like it sagged in the middle, though there was a moment following Ryan’s first mission that slowed it down somewhat.
I enjoyed the setting, and the worldbuilding is great. We join the story long after humanity has rebuilt following the Earth being ravaged by a nuclear World War Three, and the lessons learned enabled society to progress further into a high-tech, optimistic future. Jump gates and spaceships, holograms, advanced simulators and safety systems. Plus the societal changes in the wake of the war, such as raising the age at which society considers someone an adult into their twenties. It means that, though Ryan and his friends and colleagues are older, they’re still considered (and behave) young, which is why the book felt more on the YA side.
There were a number of scientific inaccuracies and terminology errors related to the worldbuilding which took me out of the story a bit, but that’s not really the focus of the book—just me being pedantic.
I connected well with many of the characters: Ryan, Zack, Wisp, Jackson, Captain Ryder and General Matthews were well-written and enjoyable. I didn’t feel like I connected with the rest of Ryan’s squad very much, though. I’d have liked to have seen a lot more of them and gotten to know them better.
Overall Reality Check was a cracking read that I would recommend to fans of YA or New Adult sci-fi, and I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the trilogy, Recall Order.
