SOLARA

In Lomax and Bramlett’s SF novel, a journey to Mars leads to much more than anyone could have dreamed.

On Earth, in 2172, Leighton and her family are just making do in Miami Island. With her parents gone, Leighton and her sisters have moved in with her uncle, Marshal, who keeps them all busy with money making schemes. He sees Leighton as his next chance at a big score, and after Marshal drugs her, she wakes up in a facility, tied down, with her legs in stirrups. The doctors determine that Leighton is pregnant and she is packed up with the other women to board a ship. Not only is Leighton being forced to carry and sell a child—she’s being taken off-world to Earth’s colony on Mars. As much as Leighton tries to keep herself separate from the life growing inside her, the bigger her belly gets, the harder it is to ignore. And when the baby is born, its appearance—so different from her own and its father’s—is a shock (“she sees a tiny arm with blue fingers waving in the air, slick with wetness and an odd mass of white hair”). Soon after her release from the medical facility, Leighton connects with Leo, a security worker she saw on the journey to Mars. He helps her get a job on his next transport ship and things look like they might settle down. But life has other plans for them both: Marshal isn’t going to just give up on the money Leighton made on the sale of her baby, and Leo discovers something hidden on the planet that no one could have foreseen. The first book in a new series, this novel is a fast-paced read that will keep readers guessing. There are several month-long time-jumps in this novel that feel strangely placed, as significant events occur during these jumps that readers only find out about later. The characters lack some depth, but this is due to the authors’ focus on the plot rather than poor writing—readers will be eager to follow the story and get to know them better.

An intriguing and thrilling SF novel about a woman’s journey to, and new life on, Mars.