I'm honestly not sure what to say about this book. It's definitely not something that a non-Coheed and Cambria fan would enjoy unless they have very low reading standards. It's written poorly, particularly when it comes to descriptions of action or internal monologue. The dialogue is a bit better, but still cringe-worthy at times. It's hard to say how much of the book Claudio directly had a hand in. My suspicion is that he handed off the story in screenplay format and thus wrote all the dialogue but none of the prose. If that's the case then it's really sad that he couldn't have found a better co-author because Peter David's prose is pretty terrible throughout, marring what would otherwise be a very exciting and entertaining (if not particularly thought-provoking) story.

Still, as deeply flawed as it is, Claudio's singular vision shines through and makes this a poorly written, but still entertaining book, especially the last third. It was the first Coheed and Cambria fiction I've read, and it filled in a lot of holes about the world of the Amory Wars for me. I've heard the comics are way better and, after reading this, I am actually extremely excited to read them.

TLDR; Worth forcing yourself through if you're a huge Coheed and Cambria fan and want to know more about the world, or want to know the setup for the comics before reading them. If you're not a big fan, it's probably not worth your time. ( )