by D. Nolan Clark ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 6, 2016
Does anyone need to read this? No. Will anyone want to? Shrug. Maybe on the beach.
First, juiceless, installment of a space opera trilogy from Clark, a pseudonym for David Wellington (The Cyclops Initiative, 2015, etc.), author of zombie, vampire, werewolf, and action thriller series.
Star Wars meets The Seven Samurai in this far-future galaxy where only Earth maintains a space navy and the space lanes are riven by wars between interstellar corporations, or “polys”—none of which have any interest in the barely habitable, backwater planet Niraya. So when it’s brutally attacked by insensate machines from who knows where, the religious, contemplative inhabitants send representatives Roan and Elder McRae to the Hexus space station to plead for help. Luckily, 300-year-old ex–space navy pilot Aleister Lanoe has pursued his quarry, the young murderer Thom, there. Lanoe rescues the naïve Nirayans from the clutches of treacherous ex-navy conman Auster Maggs and agrees to help their cause. Both Thom (extenuating, if not exonerating, circumstances) and Maggs (no choice—he’s a deserter) sign up. Also joining the venture will be Lanoe’s ex-shipmates Caroline Ehta (her guilty secret is she has PTSD and can’t fly), Bettina Zhang (Lanoe’s wannabe flame), and legendary hero Tannis Valk, severely injured fighting on the opposite side to Lanoe in the last corporate conflict and now working space traffic control. The usual complications, heroics, and surprises ensue, all professionally packaged and produced and entirely unmemorable.
Does anyone need to read this? No. Will anyone want to? Shrug. Maybe on the beach.Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-35569-8
Page Count: 608
Publisher: Orbit/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
Share your opinion of this book
More In The Series
by Blake Crouch ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 26, 2016
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.
A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.
Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
Share your opinion of this book
More by Blake Crouch
BOOK REVIEW
by Blake Crouch
BOOK REVIEW
by Blake Crouch
BOOK REVIEW
by Blake Crouch
More About This Book
PROFILES
BOOK TO SCREEN
by Ernest Cline ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 16, 2011
Too much puzzle-solving, not enough suspense.
Video-game players embrace the quest of a lifetime in a virtual world; screenwriter Cline’s first novel is old wine in new bottles.
The real world, in 2045, is the usual dystopian horror story. So who can blame Wade, our narrator, if he spends most of his time in a virtual world? The 18-year-old, orphaned at 11, has no friends in his vertical trailer park in Oklahoma City, while the OASIS has captivating bells and whistles, and it’s free. Its creator, the legendary billionaire James Halliday, left a curious will. He had devised an elaborate online game, a hunt for a hidden Easter egg. The finder would inherit his estate. Old-fashioned riddles lead to three keys and three gates. Wade, or rather his avatar Parzival, is the first gunter (egg-hunter) to win the Copper Key, first of three. Halliday was obsessed with the pop culture of the 1980s, primarily the arcade games, so the novel is as much retro as futurist. Parzival’s great strength is that he has absorbed all Halliday’s obsessions; he knows by heart three essential movies, crossing the line from geek to freak. His most formidable competitors are the Sixers, contract gunters working for the evil conglomerate IOI, whose goal is to acquire the OASIS. Cline’s narrative is straightforward but loaded with exposition. It takes a while to reach a scene that crackles with excitement: the meeting between Parzival (now world famous as the lead contender) and Sorrento, the head of IOI. The latter tries to recruit Parzival; when he fails, he issues and executes a death threat. Wade’s trailer is demolished, his relatives killed; luckily Wade was not at home. Too bad this is the dramatic high point. Parzival threads his way between more ’80s games and movies to gain the other keys; it’s clever but not exciting. Even a romance with another avatar and the ultimate “epic throwdown” fail to stir the blood.
Too much puzzle-solving, not enough suspense.Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-307-88743-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
Share your opinion of this book
More by Ernest Cline
BOOK REVIEW
by Ernest Cline
More About This Book
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.