Vera, member of the ruling Matsumoto family, and her bodyguard, Roman, live in a futuristic world of space travel and colonised planets, and are connected by the computers in their heads. They can silently co-ordinate and comment on the world around them. The downside? They’re on an impossible mission set by a vengeful emperor who would prefer to see them both dead. Not many sixteen-year-olds have to fight an entire empire for survival – and not many would be so good at it. This is a great story. A really good read for anyone who enjoys YA Sci Fi. It's also not too young; the protagonist is a very mature 16 yr old. Characters are complex and well drawn, plot is strong, concept and world building are excellent and the pacing moves along, keeping you invested, so why only 3 stars? Editing. It needs a copy edit or at least a proof read by someone who knows what they're doing. It's an indication of how good the story is that I actually finished it, because the missing … [Read more...]
Dystopian review: The Amplified by Lauren M. Flauding
BUY NOW This young adult dystopian novel has all the elements you would expect from the genre: an advanced society with different classes of citizens, limited education, a highly regulated and tightly controlled life style with limited personal freedom, and a protagonist who begins to discover that what they thought was a pretty good life is not as it seems. The world of The Amplified is one where at a certain age people have the right to become Amplified by a small plate fixed to their brain behind their ear. When they give it instructions, this device amplifies their abilities making them almost super-human, but, as in any good dystopian novel, amplification comes at a price. There is a device that overrides individual instructions and makes the person follow orders that are supposedly only used when the protection of the realm requires a co-ordinated effort that is beyond what could be taught and perfected in the time available. It sounds like a valid reason, but it makes our … [Read more...]
News from AIA Publishing
Pop over to the new AIA Publishing website and see the news about Richard Bunning's Spiderworld. Cover design by Rose at http://velvetwingsdesign.com and at a very reasonable price. … [Read more...]
Unpretentious, charming and well-written: The Endurance Series by Amy Spahn.
Book one: Enduring Endurance. I took a look at the sample of this one and kept reading. That says it all, really. It's well written and engaging, with an interesting bunch of characters in an interesting situation. It's got humour amongst the drama, a good balance of elements and pacing that keeps you reading without gasping from over exertion. It's also movie length. Read it in one night and go to bed satisfied. Highly recommended for anyone who wants an entertaining and well-written read. Book Two: Under Cover. Amy Spahn has written a series of short novels about a bunch of misfit characters on a space ship called the Endurance. Each book focuses on a different character and this follows Viktor, the first mate, a large man with large guns who loves to read. He’s been called in to help solve a murder and his investigation leads him and Areva, another Endurance shipmate, to a space station in the outer solar system in search or the culprit where, after an exhilarating hover car … [Read more...]
Philosophically Intriguing: ‘I Am The Other’ by Phillipe de Vosjoli – Review
I Am The Other by Phillipe de Vosjoli is a bold, irreverent book that is likely to offend some as it excites others. (It excited me) Set in a future extrapolated from the technological advances of our age—primarily the world wide web and cyber-realities like Second World—it's science fiction and metaphysical fiction with ideas at its core. The philosophically inclined will most appreciate it, but fundamentalist Christians are likely to be offended by the portrayal of their kind, and others may find the combination of sex and spiritually difficult bedfellows. I suspect that, as with ‘Season of the Serpent’ by David Nova, in general, the baby boomer generation will be most likely to appreciate it. The book is a disjointed series of snippets from news items, a radio talk show and scenes from the lives of various individuals as they react to a series of communications that appear all over the world at the same time and in all electronic devices from an unknown entity that calls … [Read more...]
Fascinating Dystioian fiction: ‘Future Prometheus: Emergence & Evolution’ by J.M Erickson
Future Prometheus: Emergence & Evolution by J.M Erickson is a fascinating dystopian story about a world after a virus has sent all sexually active men on a violent rampage that ends up with most of them, and a large proportion of the female and child population, dead. The events in the book occur 140 years after this event and follow Melendez, a soldier, who, along with some APs (androids) wishes to re-establish a society based on the values of the old USA. He's been in stasis in a cyrogenic tank since the disaster, though he was supposed to be under for only four months. A group of androids find him and bring him back. They become his friends, and he develops a program to bring them to sentience and eventually to sapience. He finds himself in a matriarchal, lesbian society. The women keep their boy children only long enough to harvest their sperm when they reach maturity, after which the women take them outside their megastate and kill them. Some girls are also discarded - the … [Read more...]
An interesting metaphysical premise: ‘The Problem with God’ by Evan Geller.
The Problem with God takes an interesting premise: what if we could prove the existence of an afterlife. Should we share it with everyone? If you think about the ramifications for our world—as the book stimulates you to—you may come to the conclusion, as characters in this book have, that things are better left as they are. When someone does try to share such proof with the world, certain people from the Catholic Church and the Mormans take notice and make moves to intervene. The story revolves around a Jesuit priest, who rescues a woman from the river after she fell/was pushed off a bridge, and the woman, Grace, who has returned to earth after death to try to destroy the evidence. She must find a way to die again so that she returns to the same realm she was in, not a random one as is possible. In order to do this she needs to pass through a physical gateway and when someone bricks up the one she was planning to use, she has to go to New York to find another. The priest, Julius, … [Read more...]
Want something really different? Sequela by Cleland Smith
Sequela by Cleland Smith is a strange book, creepy, thought-provoking and potent. It has a unique premise and makes an insightful and scathing comment on the power plays of the business world. In a nutshell, it's about a scientist literally prostituting himself for big business. The author creates a world where the city centre is separated from the rest of London. The city is the playpen for the ambitious, the power hungry and the wannabes who are willing to trade sexual favours for advancement. In this world, that is the norm rather than the exception, and wearing (showing) sexually transmitted viruses indicates that you have ambition. Scabs supposedly makes you desirable. The plot had me guessing, not knowing where it would go next. It wandered a little early on, but strengthened when the viral terrorism began. Though the world is different, the behaviours and motivations of the people are the same as those we see around us every day. Power, money, religion, prestige, fame and … [Read more...]
Lovely & very different: Lifeform Three by Roz Morris
I love different books and this certainly is one. I love great prose, and this book has it, and I love a book that's sleek and focused, just as this one is. It's a five star delight, a balm for a three-book-per-week reviewer on a reading diet peppered with failed look-likes. The best thing about the new publishing is that readers get to read books like this, books that are too creative for the mainstream. Before ebooks and print on demand, this would probably never have made it onto the market because it doesn't fit neatly into an established genre. It's about androids, so it is science fiction, but it's not like any other science fiction I've ever read. It's set on earth far in the future after the sea levels have risen, eaten up large tracts of land and vastly changed society, so it is post-apocalyptic, but it's not like any other post-apocalyptic novel I've ever read. The society the central character lives in is highly regulated with no personal freedom, so it's dystopian, but … [Read more...]
Top science fiction with a light touch: ‘Have Wormhole, Will Travel’ by Tony McFadden
Mr McFadden knows how to tell a jolly good story, and he does it with skill and a light touch that is most refreshing. Have Wormhole, Will Travel is the story of two aliens stationed on earth to make sure that we don't develop the scientific expertise to travel to their planet and cause a problem. Callum and Jason have been here for two hundred years and were responsible for discrediting the cold fusion experiments to prevent humans going down that path. Since then, every time they've popped home via wormhole, they have nothing to tell. The humans are plodding along at a slow pace, nothing to worry about - until Callum discovers that Sam, a research scientist and tutor at Sydney University, has discovered the same technology as they use to skip back to their planet. Okay, the alien bosses say, time to evacuate, we have to blast earth with gamma radiation, burn everyone to a crisp and set life on the planet back a billion years. Jason gets ready to depart, but Callum likes Manly beach … [Read more...]
