Oh man. This is one of the best stories that I have read on this site (or in general, actually) in a long while. Genuinely, I'm impressed.

I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to like this story when (spoilers for those who hadn't read) you revealed that Tali died, but after reading on, those worries went away. I love how you portrayed Roahn and Shepard's relationship and how it evolved as the story went along. It felt very natural and very well done. The villains were quite captivating; the whole angle of Chimera and PMC's isn't something that I've read much on in a story setting before, and I liked how you tackled it. I got some Frank Underwood/House of Cards vibes from Larsen (seasons 1-4, not those shitty last two seasons), the Legionnaire was a very intimidating threat, and your series of mini interviews with Koenig at the start of most of the chapters might be one of my favorite parts of the story. I respect and appreciate how willing you were to kill off some major characters, though some (Hackett and Wrex) were done better than others (Aria, those characters that you mentioned offhandedly), and it wasn't quite tense enough to make me think that anybody could die (at least to a Game of Thrones level). Speaking of dead, I like how you made sure that even though Tali isn't a character, she's still a force that drives both Shep and Roahn. The flashbacks are very intriguing and even though she is dead, the circumstances around her death was a really interesting plot point that kept me reading.
(end of spoiler talk)

The pacing was generally decent and the story flows very smoothly. The action is tense and the drama is appropriate. The flashbacks are integrated well in this and don't feel overwhelming or unnecessary. I do like how you integrated most of the main characters, but I would have liked it if you included more of them earlier instead of having three or four near the beginning before introducing the rest a chapter or two before the final confrontation began (although the final battle was pretty awesome, don't get me wrong). Aside from that, I don't have any critiques, other than some minor grammatical errors that I can't recall off the top of my head.

Now I guess I'll have to tune in to the next part. Well done, man.
-dogboat333

So far this is a pretty good story. The "Legionnaire" is a very interesting character.

After having sat down on a day off and read this story from start to finish in said day, I honestly do not know where to start with the feelings I have for this story. This being by Rob Sears, I was going to either totally enjoy it like I did with Postlude, Peroration, Disengaged, Reengaged, or I was going to down right hate and despise it like Rage Inherent and Irreparable. However I am unsure where the hell this story falls. So on to my personal opinion and review.

SPOILERS WILL FOLLOW, SO IF YOU ARE READING THIS AND HAVE NOT READ THE STORY, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Now back to what I was saying. Let's see what enjoyed. As usual, the writing is solid. Grammar, punctuation and all is on point. Story flows smoothy. Easy to read. Just what you would expect from the author. That aside, I did enjoy the father daughter bonding in the story and Roahn being introduced to key locations. Roahn getting to meet the Normandy crew. The PMC story line did have a little bit here and there that had my interest. Flashbacks for the most part for me were the only thing that had me even finish this story and believe me, I generally try my damndest to finish a story even when I cant stand it.

Now for what I disliked/ hated with a passion.

Adventure/Family tag with a Tali/Shep pairing, normally enough to sell me until a short way in you find out, HA HA gullible fool, Tali is "dead as dead can be" to quote Jacob Taylor. So you find yourself wanting to know what killed Tali, she was sick and it was kept very vague. Then you get a reveal that was 1000384 times disappointing than Bioware's reveal of Tali's face in game. Cancer and Shep was the cause. You have to toss any reality out of the window into a black hole for that to even make a damn bit of sense. Biggest hero in the galaxy and his wife another hero, treated by apparently the most incompetent doctors in the galaxy...yea..ok. Not sure how many times I yelled WTF, YOU CANT BE SERIOUS, but it was apparently enough to warrant my roommate coming to ask if everything was ok. Then we have the fact that that sub-story is pretty much rehash of Tali's life story. Mother gets sick, nothing can be done, dies young, leaves young daughter behind with a grieving father that is distant. Great Shep after knowing this story becomes Rael'Zorah 2.0 anyways. Just lovely. Another story where characters are straight up abused to have drama for dramas sake. While on characters, God the characters. Roahn, no lie to me was just a female quarian version of Carl from the Walking Dead TV show. Someone that thought they knew better, didnt want to listen to simple directions, and you wanted to slap silly quite a few times. Larson was just a damn blend of Udina, meets Kai Leng, meets Illusive Man. Koenig is a Vido Santiago meets Fist, and Legionaire, JESUS CHRIST, something straight out of the freaking Terminator. Of everything that Shep and Crew have faced over the years and that THING, gave them that much trouble? Able to kill Wrex on Tuchanka, like it was a walk in the damn park? I laughed out loud for a good bit over the absurdity of it all. Finally the PMC setups. With everything that happened with Cerberus, the galaxy seriously trusted these PMCs? Going around doing what they want, whenever they want, stealing what they want, and no one seems to be batting an eye?

Then you have the typical ending, team unites, stops the big bad and Shep becomes Nick Fury. Father and daughter find themselves understanding one another, reconciling etc etc, all Disney like. Joy of joys.

Final thoughts. As much as I did not like this story, I am not totally sorry that I invested the time to read it. Would never make a faves list but it is what it is and I am sure there are people that thoroughly enjoy it. I believe the story could have been better served with Tali alive, but for some reason or another indisposed. That is just me though. Morbid curiosity will most likely make me check out part two because Rob has a way with writing, credit where credit is due.

And so it ends... or begins, depending on how you look at it.

This was another excellent story, full of twists and turns that kept me guessing throughout. I'm not going to spoil anything in case a new reader decides to read a few reviews first before checking the story out, but when I finished reading this last chapter, everything felt right. A satisfying conclusion that also sets up the second part of the series, which is the best way to go, as this is also self-contained enough to work in isolation.

If I had a complaint about the last few chapters or so, it would be that there were a few too many characters. I won't say who right here because of spoilers, but I get the feeling not all of them were needed, however, given the context of the story, it still worked.

On the whole, I'm very excited to read more. The pacing means even though this story was almost 350k words, it was a joy to read. I'm sure part 2 will be much the same (and part 3 should you still want to do it after the second installment is complete).

I'll PM you about certain spoiler elements. It wouldn't do to ruin this story for anyone else!

I was going to finish this story and then review the last part of it entirely in one go, but I decided to make up for the fact I'm taking so long to finish it by reviewing this chapter on its own (no spoilers for anyone else who may be reading this) since I'm nice like that. :)

First up, great pacing. The switching of viewpoints makes the long chapters you favour much more engaging than if you were to stick with just one character for 15,000 words or so (which apparently is the combined total of three chapters of the average book) by keeping the action in a constant state of development.

Regarding the conversation at the end of this chapter... I had already guessed someone would overhear it before that was revealed, but if anything that only caused me to dread the moment itself all the more. You really enjoy putting characters through the ringer, don't you?

My only real complaint, which is only minor, is one I believe I have mentioned before. You have a tendency to use the same pronoun over and over again in relatively few words. While the pacing more than makes up for it, I think your writing would be even better if you were to mix things up a little bit. For example, you could use a character's name the first time they feature in a paragraph and then refer to them with he/she/it, what their rank or species is if its important to the proceedings, etc, and then use their name again.

Like I said, however, this is a nitpick. Your writing overall is very strong, the dialogue between characters in particular being a highlight.

I'll check out the next few chapters as soon as I can!

Wonderful ending and a grand fight in the end(I did take enjoyment in Koenig's death). Its also very nice that you've decided to continue on with this set of characters that you've created and I did loose it at the end with Taylor and her party (which must have been pretty wild.) I loved the story pacing and my main point of focus was on the development of Shepard and Roahn's relationship which was wonderfully done.

Now then you've thrown this much bigger plot together and I'll be waiting for it to blow my mine like I know you will. Also, do you do your own cover art?

Cenotaph was a masterpiece. Truly. I had so much fun reading each chapter.
I had several questions until I read you mentioning sequels in the future. Can't wait for to see how that rolls out. For sure take as much time as you need (but don't take too long)!
Will you be jumping straight into writing a sequel for Cenotaph, or will we see other developments in between?

I cannot express how...SATISFYING, it was to see Larsen die like the pig he was. Anyway, I really loved this story and honestly it’s probably one of my favorite ME stories in recent times. I really hope the next story you put out is as good as this one. Keep up the good work!

As an end to a STAND ALONE and ONE TIME story I would be disappointed as this ending would have been worse than ME3s ending in a story like that but as a ending to part 1 of a Trilogy...

IM HYPED AS HELL!

I’m not gonna lie and I’m no ass kisser. This is one of the best works I seen on this site, right up there with the Razor Edge saga, To Survive saga, Promises saga, Legacy saga and Numbered Saga (RedCenturionG).

You did great and I can’t wait to see how Roahn would face this... life ending threat? New intergalactic empire? Eh, New reaper level threat. I’m also curious about one thing.

Would she get her own crew?

Here's to the beginning of an interesting saga! Bravo, my good sir!

Side note, is there, like, a name for this sort of shared universe (you know, what with it consisting of both the Quantum Trilogy and now this)? Just curious.

this chapter played out perfectly. well done on everything you have written. can't wait for the next chapter

He was just a pawn...for who? For what? Hmmmmmm...not the ending I was expecting but I was not really thinking there would be a happy ending. Is this all or is there more? Also forgot to ask, was John and Tali there for Garrus and Kasumi's wedding?

Damn. This is getting fucking intense. Keep it up please lol.

Sorry, been a while since I read this so I forgot where I was. Really great to see most of the crew together though. Amazing job. Poor Samara and Zeed.

Wait... what just happened to Larsen and Shepard? I got the sense of victory, but I am...a bit confused.