Release Date: 27/04/17
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
SYNOPSIS:
Not far in the future the seas have risen and the central latitudes are emptying but it’s still a good time to be rich in San Francisco where weapons drones patrol the skies to keep out the multitudinous poor. Irina isn’t rich, not quite, but she does have an artificial memory that gives her perfect recall, and lets her act as a medium between her various employers and their AIs, which are complex to the point of opacity. It’s a good gig, paying enough for the annual visits to the Mayo Clinic that keep her from ageing.
Kern has no such access; he's one of the many refugees in the sprawling drone-built favelas on the city’s periphery, where he lives like a monk, training relentlessly in martial arts, scraping by as a thief and an enforcer. Thales is from a different world entirely – the mathematically-inclined scion of a Brazilian political clan, he's fled to L.A. after the attack that left him crippled and his father dead.
A ragged stranger accosts Thales and demands to know how much he can remember. Kern flees for his life after robbing the wrong mark. Irina finds a secret in the reflection of a laptop’s screen in her employer’s eyeglasses. None are safe as they’re pushed together by subtle forces that stay just out of sight.
Vivid, tumultuous and propulsive, Void Star is Zachary Mason’s mind-bending follow-up to his bestselling debut The Lost Books of the Odyssey.
REVIEW:
Sad to say that I was expecting quite a lot out of this book and was sadly disappointed with a tale that was very cold and a bit too clean almost as if a super computer had written it and removed all warmth from within. Thats not to say its a terrible book, it was just a title that didn't gel with me purely for the fact that I couldn't find a character within that I liked or wanted to spend time around.
Whilst it will appeal to a number of readers out there, it really wasn't my bag of *micro" chips and whilst I could see some good solid writing with decent prose all round it just didn't want to keep me engaged with what was happening within. A great shame.
Release Date: 07/04/16
Publisher: Hodder
SYNOPSIS:
***SEQUEL TO THE ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD SHORTLISTED NOVEL WAY DOWN DARK***
The moment she learned the horrible truth about her life on Australia, the derelict ship overrun with violent gangs, Chan Aitch made it her mission to save everyone she could from their fate worse than death. But her efforts were in vain. Now, everyone she cares about is dead or in prison, and Chan is more alone than ever before.
As the only person to have escaped Australia's terrible crash-landing back to Earth, Chan is now living in poverty on the fringes of a huge city. She believes Mae, the little girl she once rescued on the Australia, is still alive - but she has no idea where Mae is, or how to find her. Everything on Earth is strange and new, and Chan has never felt more lost.
But she'll do whatever it takes to find Mae, even if it means going to prison herself. She's broken out of prison before. How hard could it be to do it again?
REVIEW:
Having loved the original title in the Australia series, I couldn't wait to return to see what the author would do with the not only the world but the characters that inhabit it. I shouldn't have worried as the tale continues in its own way concentrating on the principle character of the original novel.
The prose is solid, the pace fast enough to get your blood up and with dialogue to keep you glued you really get to know the people of James' work pretty well. They're not just after thought, each feels fleshed out and for me, thats the sign of a good book. Back this up with an overall arc that continues to deliver and all round I was a more than happy reader.
Release Date: 06/10/16
Publisher: Hodder
SYNOPSIS:
THE EPIC SERIES BEGAN WITH WAY DOWN DARK, SHORTLISTED FOR THE ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD.
IT CONTINUED WITH LONG DARK DUSK.
IT CONCLUDES... NOW.
There was one truth on Australia, the derelict ship on which Chan was born and raised: you fight or you die. Usually both.
But everything on Australia was a lie. Abandoned and alone, Chan was forced to live a terrible existence on the fringes of society, Australia's only survivor after a terrible crash-landing on Earth.
But Chan discovered she was not alone. Together with the unlikeliest of allies, Chan carved out a place for herself on Earth. And now the time has come: she's finally found a reason to keep going. But friends have become enemies, and enemies have become something worse. It's time for Chan to create her own truths, and discover a life beyond fighting and death.
A life beyond Australia.
REVIEW:
The final part of the Australia series and having loved the previous titles I really couldn't wait to see how the series would end. After all in the final book all bets are off as to not only survivability but also as to how the author will round up a lot of the loose threads/
What James does well is keep the characters moving forward, the events of the past having not only shaped them but aided in them becoming friends of the reader. The dialogue is crisp, the prose a joy to read as they have been throughout the series and all round, for me, I was treated to a tale that made me more than pleased I read the others not so long ago in order to help keep events fresh. All round a great series and one I'd reommend for anyone looking for not only a dystopican title but one that centres around believable characters, something that can get lost when you step into the far future. Magic.
Release Date: 10/05/16
Publisher: Tor
SYNOPSIS:
Mycroft Canner is a convict. For his crimes he is required, as is the custom of the 25th century, to wander the world being as useful as he can to all he meets. Carlyle Foster is a sensayer--a spiritual counselor in a world that has outlawed the public practice of religion, but which also knows that the inner lives of humans cannot be wished away.
The world into which Mycroft and Carlyle have been born is as strange to our 21st-century eyes as ours would be to a native of the 1500s. It is a hard-won utopia built on technologically-generated abundance, and also on complex and mandatory systems of labelling all public writing and speech. What seem to us normal gender distinctions are now distinctly taboo in most social situations. And most of the world's population is affiliated with globe-girdling clans of the like-minded, whose endless economic and cultural competion is carefully managed by central planners of inestimable subtlety. To us it seems like a mad combination of heaven and hell. To them, it seems like normal life.
And in this world, Mycroft and Carlyle have stumbled on the wild card that may destablize the system: the boy Bridger, who can effortlessly make his wishes come true. Who can, it would seem, bring inanimate objects to life...
REVIEW:
A book that is quite unlike any other out there as its not only a wlel written story but a social commentary on modern society and to be honest is a book that you really have to take your time with to make sure that you don't miss some of the details that become crucial later on.
Throw into the mix a well designed culture, a believable world and of course an overall arc that not only delivers but keeps the reader guessing all round makes this a book that whilst at times hard to read, a title that you'll be more than pleased that you completed it. Stunning.
