I have a rule that if a book cannot interest and engage me within 4 chapters, it's probably not going to, and I stop reading and find something else that can get my attention in 4 chapters. Any book that I 4 chapter rule gets 1 star by default. In my book 1 star means virtually unreadable, and a book that can't grab my attention within 4 whole chapters is virtually unreadable to me. You've got 4 chapters to make me care about your story. It's not hard. I have a book collection that numbers in th

[And then, the supposed protagonist tries his hand at Olympic diving from the top of the Hancock building... uh... goodbye then... it was such a meaningful relationship... hate to see you go... what was your name again...? (hide spoiler)

I have a rule that if a book cannot interest and engage me within 4 chapters, it's probably not going to, and I stop reading and find something else that can get my attention in 4 chapters. Any book that I 4 chapter rule gets 1 star by default. In my book 1 star means virtually unreadable, and a book that can't grab my attention within 4 whole chapters is virtually unreadable to me. You've got 4 chapters to make me care about your story. It's not hard. I have a book collection that numbers in the thousands and an entire room of my home devoted to nothing but bookshelves and being a comfortable, well lit place to read them in. This book was recommended to me by Brandon Sanderson, and the last book he recommended me was The Shadow of What was Lost by James Islington, which was AWESOME!!! This one... not so much. It's like the author owns a copy of The Nitpicker's Guide to Bad Writing and Storytelling, and followed it to the letter.So let me break this down by chapter and show you what this author did wrong. Um... some of these might be out of order, it all sort of blurred into one big, boring, confusing, badly paced and written mess in my head after I put the book down. This is what goes through my head while I'm reading something.Chapter 1 : Starts with boring dialog about egotists throughout the ages. Who cares? Not me. You've pretty much already lost me at this point, because this is subject matter that is so utterly boring and inconsequential that I would honestly get about as much entertainment value by going outside and watching grass grow. Finishing up the rest of the first 4 chapters is just a formality at this point, because the author chose such an uninteresting topic of conversation to begin this book with. Literally ANYTHING else would have been preferable to me. L I T E R A L L Y A N Y O T H E R S U B J E C T I N T H E E N T I R E W O R L D W O U L D B E M O R E E N T E R T A I N I N G T H A N R E A D I N G A B O U T E G O T I S T S T H R O U G H O U T T H E A G E S D U M B A S S W R I T E R! Sorry, I felt the need to spell it out, because it's so obvious that no one would give a fuck about the subject, or find it entertaining in any way shape or form, that I can't believe the author actually thought it was the perfect note to start this thing out with. And I think one of the people speaking is either on a radio with the other, or a voice in his head, because no one else can see or hear him, but it's not apparent which. Then it moves on to an action scene. All right. Who are these people? What are they doing? Why are they doing it? What purpose will it serve? What is at stake if they fail? Where are they? When are they? What is happening and why should I care?There is absolutely no context given for this action scene. It's just a scene of actiony things happening with me wondering if I maybe accidentally missed a prologue or something that tells me who these people are and why they're doing anything. I don't know what's going on. I don't know which side is good, and which side is bad. I know absolutely nothing except that actiony things are going on, and the author, for some reason, thinks I should, somehow, be excited by it. Here's the thing, though. An action scene is meaningless without the context. If I don't know what's going on and why, I don't care. It's pointless, irrelevant, and a complete waste of space. Exposition is a thing that authors usually have to walk a very fine line on. Too much and people feel like you're lecturing and infodumping. Too little and people are confused and have no idea what's going on or why. This one had WAY too little. (view spoiler) Chapter 2: An alien, I assume, the author never says one way or the other, runs from his dead host body trying to find another, all while thinking about "the war". Okay... What war? Who is fighting whom, and what are they fighting for? Where are they fighting? How are they fighting? When are they fighting? Which side am I, the reader, supposed to be rooting for? Is this alien, or whatever, a good guy, or is he a bad guy? I don't know, because the author, again, HAS GIVEN ME ABSOLUTELY NO CONTEXT AT ALL!!!Again, how am I supposed to care, if the author refuses to tell me anything about anything that is going on, except that it is going on? You can write a book that takes place in, say, World War 2, and assume your readers are going to know what you're talking about, because pretty much every kid in every civilized nation in the world learns about that war in school. But if you're making up your own war that exists only in your imagination, you kind of need to supply some details and exposition, rather than simply assuming that your readers know what you're talking about. And, okay, I have lived in Chicago. I have cruised these very same streets that the author names and at the same time of the evening that this is supposedly taking place. Never once in my life have I seen these streets even close as to empty as he describes, even in the most hideous of blizzards there are still people roaming these streets until late into the night. And, uh, I can count the number of times I've seen a stray dog roaming the streets of downtown Chicago on the fingers of an amputee. That just sort of set my bullshit alarm ringing the moment I read it. It is VERY clear, to someone who used to be a resident of Chicago, that this author has never set foot in the city in his life. You know, I get why you would set the events of your story in Chicago, it being one of the world's largest and most populated cities and all... but dude, if you know nothing about it, maybe you should, you know, try writing about a city that you're a little more familiar with.Chapter 3: Secret meeting in a secret underground base where things that have absolutely no context within the story are discussed. Okay... Who are these people? What are they plotting? Why? Which side are they on? Are they the good guys? Are they the bad guys? What is happening and why should I care about it?Again, zero exposition given, making this entire scene completely irrelevant and utterly pointless. What is happening here? Who is fighting whom, which side am I supposed to be rooting for, and why do I care about any of it? Come on, author, tell me. Throw me a bone. Give me ANYTHING to put any of this crap into some sort of context within the story, will ya?Chapter 4: Assumed alien dood and his newly possessed host make a phone call. Things are said that have no meaning to me as the reader, because, again, THEY STILL HAVE NO CONTEXT WITHIN THE FREAKING STORY!!! Who is he talking to? Why are they short on time? What is the point of any of this? What is this war they keep talking about? What side are these guys on? Is that side good or bad? What are they fighting over and what is at stake if they fail? What has the author told us about any of this? NOTHING!!!! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!!By this point, I'm starting to get fucking bored with the book. I have a bunch of confusing things happening, where I'm not being told any relevant details about any of it. I have action scenes between people I know nothing about and don't even know who I'm supposed to be rooting for to come out on top. I have people talking about wars and crap, without giving any details. I have opening conversations so boring and irrelevant that I honestly would rather walk outside and watch the grass in my front yard grow than read them. What is happening in this book, and why should I care? Can you give me that much? That's really all I want out of a story, to know what's going on, and why I should care about it. When you can't do something SO SIMPLE then why are you even bothering writing a book? You've wasted my time and you've wasted yours. My suggestion to this author would be to go back to high school English Class, and learn some of the basics of storytelling before writing any more books, because good GOD, I don't even know what the hell I just read, because the author doesn't know the first thing about story structure and exposition.And you have to wade through ALL OF THAT CRAP before the protagonist of the story, you know, the guy it's supposed to be about, the central figure around which the events of the story unfold, even makes an appearance. EPIC FAIL!!! Hey author, here's an idea, cut off that entire beginning because it's terrible and has nothing to do with anything, and just start the book on the first chapter from your protagonist's point of view. You don't need all this flashy stuff to get my interest. You don't need to set things up first before introducing the protagonist, and you did a piss poor job of it anyway. Just start the book with the person the story is about, so I know who I'm supposed to care about and why, THEN you can bring me into everything else.So yeah, returned this one for a refund. I think, maybe, if this book had been written by a more experienced writer, I might have enjoyed it, but Wesley Chu just made far too many amateur mistakes for me to be able to enjoy it, or even find the desire to continue reading. I can seen what likely happened here, because I've made, and learned from making, some of the same mistakes in my own writing. It looks as though the author wasn't confident enough in his own story and decided to toss in a big action scene at the beginning to draw readers in. It's a gimmick that's often used in movies, and usually works better in film than in the written word. As the beginning of a book, I would say that it would work as the beginning of a SECOND volume where I already know the characters and what's happening. As the very beginning of the series, it fails to engage, or even interest me, because I have no idea who these people are, what's at stake, and what they're even doing or why. And the other mistake he made was that he likely outlined and revised, and thought about this story for YEARS before getting it all finished up. He knows what all is going on like the back of his hand, and just sort of assumed that we do too. These are mistakes that I see a lot in amateur writing, and, in fact, have made myself, like I said. But you see, amateur writers are not being paid to produce. I write to amuse myself, not usually for anyone else to read. He's not. He's being paid to produce a product, and I'm not paying for a product that is clearly written by an amateur, wrapped in the guise of a professional. Sad to say, but it's true. This one just didn't do it for me. I found it too confusing and, frankly, boring. The author clearly has no clue what he's doing as a writer, and I just don't care to continue.