Ten Thousand Thunders by Brian Trent

Ten Thousand Thunders by Brian Trent

Expected publication date 6^th October 2018

In a future time, the world is run by industrial factions and for 300 years there has been peace of sorts. Now war is upon civilisation once again, this time there seems to be something else at play. An

unexplained explosion on the Moon and the destruction of a space craft within seconds of the explosion seem at first unrelated but it is soon realised they are related.

In the aftermath, Gethin Bryce is tasked with finding out what went wrong and what forces are at play. He is joined by a Wastelander and two operatives from an opposite industrial faction. This disperate quartet aim to get to the truth about what is going on and try to halt the total annihilation of all life in the solar system as war would surely bring the end of everything.

I found the plot facsinating but somehow, reading the book left me deflated. The characters seemed flat, I did not like them or hate them. The writing is well paced and kept the story moving along nicely. What world building there is, is quite sparce. I like good world building in SF, sadly this left me wanting more.

Overall, a good solid read, hopefully more and better to come as I will be looking out the next episode as I understand the author is already working on it.

My thanks to Flame Tree Press, Brian Trent & Netgalley for the eARC copy in return for an honest and fair review.

Coffin Road by Peter May

A man washes up on the shore and does not know who or where he is.
A young girl becomes rebellious with her mother after her fathers apparent suicide two years ago. Then discovers he is almost certainly still alive.

A detective is brought in to discover just who the murdered man is whos body is discovered by holiday makers.

DS George Gunn (of the Lewis trilogy) returns in this story where almost nothing appears what it seems to be.

To start with the man washed ashore seems to remember nothing about who he is, yet has fractional memories returning to him as he gets back to a house that he is apparently renting.
This part of the story goes on rather long and it is a great relief when we finally meet some of the other characters.

Firstly we meet Karan, a rebellious young girl who is slowly going off the rails until she discovers her presumed dead father might actually be still alive.
DS Gunn is frustrated that he is getting nowhere with his investigation as his main suspect has no memory of who he is or what he is doing on the island.

This mishmash of single strands is bought together nicely with an eco twist in the tale, one that is very relevant today.
Another really good story with the Highlands scenery once again taking centre stage in another Hebrides tale from Peter May

Dead Simple by Peter James

Roy Grace is a thirty-something inspector who is trying to come to terms with his new desk promotion when he finds himself getting involved in a missing persons case. On a stag night, four young men are killed in a road accident and the fifth, the groom, is missing.

His business partner and his fiance both become suspects as Grace feels there is something not quite right with their statements or behaviour.

As the search for the missing man becomes more urgent as the days go by, Grace becomes more involved in the case.

I really enjoyed this book. The plot is entralling, there are plenty of twists and turns as one minute you feel that Grace has it covered, the next it seems as if all hope has gone. Another book that kept me awake till the small hours as I just had to know what would happen.

Highly recommend this one.

The Katharina Code by Jørn Lier Horst

As this is the twelfth book of the Wisting series I was a bit worried that I would be missing a lot of the characters history. I have to admit that this was not the case.

Wisting is a Cheif Inspector in the Norwegian Police Service. Every year for the past twenty four years he has reread the files of a cold case as it has played on his mind that som,ething was missed at the time.

Adrian Stiller, from Police HQ has been assigned to go through the files of another cold case that is two years older, Stiller thinks that both cases are linked.

I soon settled into this book, the characters are well rounded, as you would expect. The story telling has a brilliant pace, starting off gently and building steadily to where Wisting finds himself in a life threatening situation. I found myself having to slow my reading pace as I was rushing through it. I like to savour books when I read them but this one really started to get me racing!

I notice some of the earlier Wisting books have been translated into English. I will definitely be searching them out.

I would like to thank the publishers Penguin UK/Michael Joseph, Jørn Lier Horst and Netgalley for inviting me to read this book and give an honest review.

Earth Abides by George R Stewart

Earth Abides by George R Stewart

Ish finds himself one of just a few survivors after a mysterious virus pretty much wipes out humanity. He travels across America looking for survivors but ends up back at his family home on his own. Over time he does find a few survivors and a small community is founded.

They have to deal with the slow loss of utilities as they fall down but more survivors arrive and the community grows.

Children are born as they face more hardships but generally the community thrives under these new conditions.

This book has dated badly in places, a lot of things are very much stuck in the late forties but the main thrust of the story, the survival and the building of a new lifestyle shine through strongly. Although this book starts of as a disaster novel, it ends up with a surprising amount of hope for the future

When Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer

When Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer

It is discovered that a couple of rogue planets are coming into our sloar system and after further research, one will collide and destroy our planet. After the initial hysteria, most lives go back to some sort of temporary normality whilst a select group of scientists attempt to build rockets that will hopefully take a handful of people to the second planet. It is hoped that by the time this second planet

is in orbit around our sun, life will be possible.

We get to read about what natural disasters afflict the planet as the rogue planets get closer, earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic activity across the planet. The personal story concerns a sort of anti-hero who has no special skills to offer but gets onto the scientific team anyway. Of course (being the 30’s) there is a romantic involvment with the lead scientists daughter and our hero but it’s more hero worship on our heros part. He simply worships her for her imense knowledge and understanding. He sort of gets the girl in the end but this is the first of three, so no guarantees (unless you’ve read After Worlds Collide).

There are some themes in this book which are very much of their time, the world political view being very dated but a reflection of how they were.
I recommend this especially if you enjoy SF from very close to it’s earliest days.

Violent Skies by T.J. Lockwood

Violent Skies by T.J. Lockwood

Teresa is a courier and she delivers packages throughout North America. Thing is North America is pretty much a wasteland with most dwelling in ground based cities or small, renegade settlements.

There are also the 12 floating cities that seem to have most of the wealth and latest technology. City Eleven was attacked and crashed to the ground. It has become a no-go area for everyone apart from those born in the city and have been allowed to leave the city to go wandering.

Teresa’s latest job is to deliver a package, a man, to City Eleven.

There is a lot of good writing and imagination in this debut novel. Sadly the author seems to get lost in her writing sometimes to the detriment of the story. Overall this was a quick, light read where it could have been so much more. As Debut’s go it was satisfactory but I will look out for more by this author.

Thanks to Netgalley& Mecha Panda Publishing for this review copy.