Yeah, I called it a sci-fi blowout. Pretty much captures the whole thing.
This is the first Outlanders book I have read. I've always been intrigued by the idea of series fiction but the actual execution is often lacking (i.e. the concept is more fascinating than the books).
But I have to say, once it got past a kind of slow start, this one pieced together into a rather a fun and engagin sci-fi story.
A sci-fi blowout, to be exact. Which means this: It's got all the hardware horndog attitude of these action books (descriptions of the weaponry being carried and nice, visceral descriptions of what happens when one of these bits of weaponry gets a hold of someone). But it's got an out-of-this-world (literally) story that captures a wee bit of Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 sort of fascination mingled with the imaginative glee of Star Wars.
It seems like I picked a good starting point for trying to get into this series. Of course I can't judge how faithful this is to previous installments or how well it sticks with - or how poorly - the general continuity of the books printed up until this point.
But, while it may be no Remo Williams yarn, it is a spicy, fun chapter in a long-running sci-fi adventure series.