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Robin Hood Hacker Collection (2000)

by Carolyn McCray(Favorite Author)

3.85 of 5 Votes: 2

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review 1: I loved everything about this series!! The action, the suspense, the witty comments...you name it I loved it....Ronnie and Quirk, two amazingly funny people. Their relationship made this book to me, they flowed so nicely together within the story. Quirk had my sides in stitches with his smart ass comments, got to love a gay man, haha!! All of the books in this series were written really well and the story line held a lot anticipation on what would happen next. I enjoyed the relationships that sprung from this series, I felt they all fit perfectly together. I was however extremely disappointed with what happen to one of the characters....I don't think that it needed to happen. When I get attached to my characters being a certain way it makes me sad if something goes wrong. ... moreOverall, still loved the series...lol.I truly hope that we never have to encounter anything like Ronnie and her team had to deal with regarding biological attack, that is some scary sh**!!! All those weapons that were listed in the book were insane and I hope that nothing like that appears on the radar either, lol. Who is to say some of it isn't.I have only read one other book from this author besides this series and I can say will continue to read more. I like the fact that she has a mixed up story line with her books, they aren't all the same as some authors intend to stick with. I am looking forward to jumping into my next series with her.
review 2: How is this rated so high? Did we read the same thing?Before we move on, I'd just like to disclaim that I'm not aiming to gain fans for what I'm about to say. I'm not here to insult for the sake of insult, but I'm going to try and keep it real.The Good:To start, it really wasn't THAT bad. I read the whole thing, I didn't skip any pages and I was reasonably entertained. In many regards, these books, they're a cartoon. After years of Saturday Morning Cartoons in the 80's and 90's, this is a slightly more adult, readable version. There is action, adventure, interesting machines. But it is a cartoon. If you're really into that, I'd say go for it.Comments on The Format:There are three short stories and two novels. There is plenty of content here, enough to keep you busy for quite some time. All of it the connected takes of the "Robin Hood Hacker". To be honest, the short stories feel a lot like filler. They add absolutely nothing to the over-arching plot with The Hidden Hand and the angelic script. You could simply read the two novels and walk away with pretty much the same experience (Though the first story was actually pretty decent, and introduced the characters).The issues:The first thing that bugs me, is that the characters have zero back story. In most books, there is at least one character you have some insight to, one character you get to connect with, the individual whose eyes you experience most things through (even in 3rd person narratives), but there really isn't any of that here. Like a cartoon you have the same cast of characters, who are constantly in the same time in their lives. You don't get to know any of them on any deep level.The second issue: THE POP CULTURE REFERENCES. It might seem like a good idea to put Lady Gaga and Trent Reznor in your books, and to reference Psy's internet sensation and half a dozen other things, but it doesn't provide much for the reader. If you're going to go to the trouble of putting Gaga in a book, then at least have her do something of substance, otherwise it's just name dropping and it is distracting.Third: The decline in quality. The first story and the first novel are actually pretty decent. It was like reading a "sequel" to the television show Leverage. As you went on though, it seems less passionate, and more like stuff somebody threw together quickly. (As evidenced by the 5 or 6 grammar /formatting errors in the second book).Fourth: Let's just be real, some of these machines are straight up silly. Magnet shields that shift the direction of bullets, death-rays that make people go up in a poof of smoke. This isn't even that bad of a thing, but with so many real and realistic cool things to write about some of these other things can serve as a distraction.Fifth: The second novel was pretty much the same as the first, but with even less character development. So many things repeat. Story ideas, "The Hidden Hand releases an old germ, millions of people start to die, the hacker and her crew save the day" character lines, habits. Again, it's episodic like a cartoon instead of having characters change and develop..Finally: I don't know enough about the writer to comment with authority on her writing habits, but I get the impression that McCray is churning this stuff out at a fairly quick rate. I fear that if McCray continues to focus on quantity, as opposed to perhaps slowing down and giving some focus to quality, she isn't going to find a lot of traction in the print market. If she is happy with the way things are, more power to her. In spite of my criticisms, I admire her ability to be doing something she loves, and to receive some success from it. As I said, I read it and liked it enough to finish, but this is far from being the four or five starred reviews of others. less

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