Mixed feelings, very clinical writing

The protagonist in this book is really flat. Whether he's talking about emotional experiences or the ins and outs of his technical job, he presents the same flat, analytical affect with wooden, overly formal dialogue. At first I thought it might be a specific character choice (maybe he's just one of those people that doesn't exhibit a lot of emotion and has trouble socially relating to others), but as I kept reading I realized ALL the characters are like this. They could be having a conversation about an impending life-threatening invasion as casually as if they were talking about supply-chain logistics. The detail and description didn't have any immediacy to it, everything was described from a very detached, objective point of view even when, presumably, you'd want your reader to feel the same fear, excitement, anger, anxiety, etc. that the characters are feeling. The no-nonsense, overly formal tone of the writing was a very odd juxtaposition with the subject matter (space fantasy with wizards and spells and such).

###

