THIS book gave me all the anime futuristic vibes I wanted while also having an amazing storyline! It was well written and I enjoyed it very much

Book as whole - interesting (I'm rarely reading sci-fi novels). Plot -good, characters - need a bit more background story I think, generally ok. I'm curious who or what Rubin Penniel really is? Overall good young adult sci-fi novel.

📡 REVIEW: The Penniel Effect by Michael Bar Daniel 📡

Genre: YA Sci-fi 🧪
Rating: 3/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Summary:
An alien species called the Nails go to war with the planet of Edom, thrusting young star mech pilot Raine Learsi and her fellow classmates into a battle they never thought they’d have to fight.

Likes:
•the uniqueness of each character
•cool! mech suits!
•cool villain concept

Dislikes:
•I needed more world-building than what we got
•too many characters (thought we’d only focus on one, being Raine), so it felt all over the place and some characters felt unnecessary
•confused on how the mech suits actually worked
•needed more of Raine’s backstory earlier
•was confused about one of the creations made by one of the characters and how it factored into the story

I had high expectations for this one! It was my first mech suit based sci-fi and I was hoping to enjoy it, but it fell pretty flat for me. It was a bit confusing and all over the place. I feel like it has a lot of potential, but it needs to be reorganized and planned out again. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-ARC!

I really thought I was going to love this one. I mean, it's giant robots piloted by teenagers with major mental traumas fighting against angel-like beings from outer space in a world ruled by a super shady corporation. And if that brings to mind a very, very famous anime that basically redefined the genre with how well they did it, then you can see why I ended up not enjoying this poor book. There is not a single idea or plot point that I would consider original, let alone well crafted enough to fully own it.
Maybe I would have liked it more if it was the first time I encountered the idea, but, man, was it just a major case of I've seen better deja vu.

Thanks to NetGalley and Holy Lance Productions, LLC for the chance to read in exchange for an honest review.

This was an extremely difficult book to get into. There was no character introductions and nothing about the setting, just a complicated action scene where it wasn’t immediately obvious it’s simulated. If it hadn’t been for the back copy text, I wouldn’t have known where the book was set or what was the purpose of the action.

The narrative didn’t improve after the initial scene. A bunch of characters were thrown at the reader with no introductions, with dramas that clearly had been going on for some time already, but with nothing that would tell the reader why they should care for any of them. I had to check several times to make sure that this is the first book.

Raine, presumably the main character, even though the narrative didn’t stay on her even during her own scenes, was a surly person who had an agenda I only knew about because of the back copy, though not the cause of it. Apparently she was in her teens, but early or late teens, I have no idea. Rubin, a lab technician, was introduced as being the same age as her, but it wasn’t until chapter five that we learn he’s Penniel of the title. He seemed to be pulling some kind of simulation that maybe wasn’t, but without any background, it made no sense. The rest of the characters were a blur of names. There was some teen drama of boy not liking a girl, but I didn’t know who these people were, so I didn’t care.

I cannot say anything about the setting, because it wasn’t sufficiently described. A school, but a special one or something everyone went to, I couldn’t tell. High tech, solely human world, maybe. Not on earth, according to the back copy. That’s it.

I persevered for the first six or so chapters to see if the book started to make sense and if the characters were properly introduced to make them more relatable, but it didn’t or wasn’t. So I gave up, and won’t pick the book up later.

This book will be a great one to recommend to my readers who enjoy war era stories but are looking for something more set in the future. It reminded me of elements of The Matrix, and while the characters weren't as well developed as I would like, the story moved along at a fast pace and had dramatic elements that I appreciated. I don't know how likely I would be to stick with the rest of the series, but I would offer this first title to my teens and tweens.

It was a decent sci-fi but I was never truly pulled in. It was a bit confusing and the characters a little flat. Nonetheless I did enjoy it.

I feel like I should have loved this book, but sadly I didn’t. The sci-fi elements are super interesting and the writing is good, but it just didn’t really draw me in. I spent a good chunk of the book being a little confused, and every time I thought I understood what was going on and where the book was going, the author threw in another bit of worldbuilding that changed things. Which would have been fun if it hadn’t confused me so much. Apart from that my biggest problem was with the characters. There seemed to be too many for a book this short, and by the end of it, I didn’t really feel connected to any of them, which meant that I really didn’t care anymore what happened to them.
Apart from those two points, it was an interesting book though, and I’d recommend it to fans of sci-fi that reads a bit more like fantasy and will keep you guessing as to what is actually going on for quite a while.

This one I think there was lacking a little because it beginning I felt like you already should know what's going on, and just get lost in the process since you don't really know.

And it was so slow burning that it was super hard to actually look forward to anything because of that it was like the hell it's going on and why the interesting part doesn't seem to be getting nowhere.

I’m not sure if it’s because of the edition that Netgalley had given me but the map of the world wasn’t until the very end of the ebook. I’m saying this because there was a lack of world building that I think as a reader would have been helpful. The author spent a lot of time telling instead of showing. Some of that might be the length of the book it was quite short so I felt like I didn’t get a meat of the world before we were expected to be involved with what was happening. Additionally right from go the action scenes were hard to follow. Other than that though the book had some interesting plot lines and characters.

Thanks Netgalley for an arc of this book.

Space and action meld into an exciting adventure with high-tech and tons of bravery.

This is a read, which is driven by action-packed scenes and determined characters. At first, I thought it'd fall into the graphic novel category (not sure why I got that into my head), but it's not. This is a full-fledged novel, which starts out rough and jets through with grit and the drive never to give up.

The characters each have their own tale and goals, and it's easy to root for Raine as she finds her way and heads from one situation to the next. While there is heart and a bit of emotion, it's never a sink into this direction, but rather, gives just enough to keep the characters interesting. The tale is woven with enough intrigue and surprises to keep it interesting. It's really the action scenes which work well in this one as they are pretty clear and understandable...never muddled down. The tech end adds a nice touch and gives this a wonderful flair.

It's a good read for those who don't want depth or descriptions, but rather simply want an easy-to-read, fun tale with tension, exciting scenes, and danger. I received an ARC through Netgalley and am giving this one a 3.5-stars while rounding up.

Thank you Publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Okay, here's the thing. This book is objectively good: solid writing and creative storylines with a nice use of time frames.

However - and maybe that's just because its aimed at a different audience than the one I belong to - it didn't do it for me. I just couldn't connect to the characters and the storyline or bring myself to actually care and be curious about what would happen next. I didn't have fun reading, which is something I value. I also did not care at all about Raine, our main character - which made for a difficult read.

Ovearall: 3.5 stars.

The Penniel Effect (Gospel of Raine, #1) by Michael Bar Daniel was a great science fiction novel, Entertaining and kept me on the edge of my seat.

I could hardly put this book don, which led to many late nights and tired day times. The authors writing style was smooth and easy to follow, while their descriptions were clean and not bogged down with too many words. Even while describing combat, which I know a lot of writers find hard, these were easy to follow to the point were you knew where everyone was and what they were doing.

I loved the story, the characters, and by the end I was hooked and am now waiting for book two! A Must read for any scifi fantasy book fan.

Hm, i thought I had written a review for this book already? I guess I haven’t. So, First, just a quick thought that this was a comic book. But it’s not. This is an interesting read and I probably won’t read this again. This makes you think, I just sort of wish this book wasn’t to god loving or religious feeling. Not, that I don’t mind. but i guess it’s just religion is a personal reason and I don’t want to push it down someone’s face if they are not same religion as the author. it’s ok.

Raine is such a awesome character. She’s strong and does what she wants. I love her. This whole story was so captivating and I need more. I love how it was different points of time( 10 minutes ago, 6 months, etc.)

Its a very good book, I'm surprised that I liked this book very much, it was quick and fun read for me, I'm not an expert reviewer so I'm gonna just say I had a really god time reading this one.

The Penniel Effect

[Blurb goes here]

This is one book that started out in the most promising way possible. Two story lines. One interesting enough to keep on reading about it, and the second one which was amazing. Unfortunately, as the book progresses the first story line-Raine's-takes point and the second one, turns stagnant and also a bit incongruous.

The main character, Raine, is not very likable. She's an angsty youngster all through out the book, there's no evolution there. Yes, she gets better at what she does, but I didn't care for her.

This adventure reminded me of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which was something in itself, interesting enough to keep me going.

Thank you for the free copy!