Andy Bundy
Even the translation is good
When I read the preface to The Screw on the moon I was worried it would be unreadable having been translated by ai. But it wasn't.
It goes to show that good, no sorry EXcellent, writing will always shine through and certainly the story was good too!
What I liked was that the content was easy to digest. There was no heavy duty science to work through so if you're not a sci-fi fan you can still give the series a try.
After all, it's the world which we enjoy from such a book, and getting to know the people who live there. Not unlike moving into a new housw.
Bring on the invisible....huh?
I would confess to having struggled a little With the previous book, though in hindsight I felt empowered to dive straight into this without even taking a breath.
Were it not for Kindle Unlimited I suspect I would have happily bought both books.
To readers new to Peter's books, don't be afraid to take a chance. With 27 titles and counting there's something for everyone, regardless of your particular preference in science fiction.
To Peter, I'm sorry that I won't go out and buy a hard copy version, it took me years to eventually divest myself of the hundreds on books I once owned.
That said, I'm going to invest in a couple of co2 extinguish - because you never can be too careful!
A surprising ending
I read this book with maybe the same level of excitement as the crew in the story. Very few parts of the tale seemed obvious, and maybe at times the plot seemed to be moving very slowly.
But that too made sense at the end. I've always considered the reality imposed by near light speed travel to be fascinating, the connection between objective and subjective time, but this kind of turned that paradigm on its head, and the tale was all the better for it.
For other readers, give this book your full attention, and don't give up if you find it slow going. That's surely the point!
The best for a while
The story is unusual for Kindle Unlimited in that it is very much a in-flight novel rather than quickly written novellas written to formulae that we normally see.
It made an interesting usage of both the fear of bodysnatcher stories combined with the more conventional ufo ideas.
It all works. There are some howlers, the order to launch F22s off an aircraft carrier stood out, for one example. Such things can be quickly fixed (hint subtract 4 for f18).
Next stop book 2.
Not your regular conspiracy novel
Whenever you find aliens in a book, you're going to drop into a rabbit hole full of Roswell-related conspiracies. Not (quite) so in this book, to its credit.
What we have is a well paced look through a non-conventional version of the future, learning more and more about past and present as we go.
The characters are quite well rounded and plausible, and the writing clear of any confusion.
Spoiler alert, all good books series' have a climactic ending - so the author needs to did down and get scribbling!
ooh! Like juggling a squadron of space cats
Loved the book in general, but found that unless I was very careful, someone else would change sides, and burst out of someone's chest (Alien style).
on balance I'd say that the end was rather predictable even if all the bits beforehand kept one guessing.
Looking forward to starting book two.
Somewhat unexpected - much more please!
I've been reading quite a lot recently, given a long-covid slow down period. This book for into my “might be interesting” category - and indeed it was.
Admittedly it is set within the upper reaches of ‘young adult' books, so there were the usual ‘single hero, left alone, becomes superhero and gets the girl' elements - but character building was good, universe design excellent even With the Alarian version of Battlestar Galactica.
If you like sci-fi without bad language - you won't be disappointed. If you like bad language you'll still be happy.
Definitely worth your time
I'm perhaps getting to my short-term tolerance for apocalyptic fiction, but this book shone out With an unusual plot twist, and I found it quite.exciting - and have yet again spent half the night devouring it.
The characters are well developed and believable, and the story is quite robust with some surprising twists and turns right to the end.
Unlike many of the templated post-apocalypse books out there, this is an exceptional story. It's a shame that a sequel seems unlikely - but I'm following the author.
Well, that was different!
I've been giving a few 5 star ratings recently, but not without cause. This book too deserves 5 stars. The start is perhaps a little simplistic in terms of the narrative, and the whole but about winning the lottery and making upwards of £150 million was a bit of a challenge even With divine intervention.
However, to any reading this, take heart. The story pace does pick up, and becomes more believable and considered. The zombies, and their behaviour, are unusually interesting, and certainly do not stick to the standard zombie template.
I'm looking out for the sequel now. Give this book a whirl, and travel at nigjht!
It's weird knowing the ending before you start...
The unusual way these books were written leaves you with the minor irritation of knowing how the story ends. But... This proved not to be an issue because it turns out the second book does not follow the first - it very cleverly follows a similar timeline with some clever character exchanges part way.
I generally find the while TEOTWAWKI genre to be a little boring, but even knowing that the world does end (sorry!) there are still surprised to the very end.
I'm looking forward to book three,.which does actually follow both initial books. I hope...
Is that it? Talk about cliffhanger...
Again, an excellent sequel to operation thunderchild, named for the valiant, but doomed, ironclad features in the War of the Worlds. Lots of threads came together, and twists and turns continued to the end.
Read both books! They're not exactly difficult to follow, they're very exciting, and well worth the investment of time and money.
Excellent, quintessentially British, fast moving Science Fiction
Recovering from covid-19 has seen me reading a lot once more, and I've ‘re-discovered' Nick Cook. I've read a couple of the Earth Cry books which I found slow going - but in Thunder Child I found a story which literally kept me going for a non-stop reading session.
The novel would have benefited from a glossary of terms and acronyms as extensive use was made of these, but their usage tended to lend a degree of authenticity to a fast moving tale.
I look forward to the sequel - but will start reading that one earlier!
Accessible version of the Three Body Problem
I recall slogging through Cixin Liu's rather longer book, regretting that it could have been shorter and easier to digest. I never went back for seconds, though I've regretted that.
Here comes ‘New Eden ‘ which captures.a similar.theme about the essence of individuality and being human, and builds a stunning story around it. I think the title is perfect, the end result a literal ‘Garden of Eden' provided we accept the price.
Bring on the sequel!!
I do so hate giving 5 stars!
As a rule I never give perfect scores. However, despite the characters almost always being a little too perfect, the pace of the story, the overall development of the story, and the attention to detail still out this at the top of the range for this type of fiction.
One could wish the books were longer, but this kind of production is what the Amazon unlimited scheme is about.
I am glad to see another author working, and doing, well.
To anyone contemplating the series, you won't be wasting your time.
The hits keep on coming
Well, I'm very pleased to see my previous comments didn't tempt fate (unlike some comments by the characters which always seem to court disaster. The narrative.works well, though there is still a degree of “we're perfect” on the part of the characters which seems a common feature of this kind of fiction (I remember the Space Force series suffered from this).
Sometimes the good guys can be imperfect??
That said, I'm criticising a small element as that's the worst I can find.
If you're still reading this then you should be downloading this book!!
Second instalment fails to disappoint!
I have to say that I'm very impressed so far. This second book felt a little shorter than the first but didn't lose any of the quality of writing from the first. I remain impressed by the characters found here, and there are lots of little details dropped in here and then that tend to stand out.
That said, some of the dialogue could be improved, especially in the aviation bits. I'm not an expert, but grammatically speaking it was unclear who was speaking with each call (the order of words used). It is a little picky of me BUT given the attention to detail elsewhere it stood out.
Looking forward to the next book.
Wow! Nice to find something new to enjoy
I've been an unlimited customer on Kindle for a long while,many have.come to accept the high volume, lesser quality, model which characterises this market. That is not to say that ‘free' books are not good books, but high volume output has its downside.
I spotted this book yesterday, and enjoyed devouring it. I really enjoy the characterisation and details interspersed here. The author clearly knows something of what he speaks and this tends to show in strange ways.
One jarring detail, for example, which highlights this skill was in the description of the veterans being recruited. There was a mention of ‘raised tables' in a bar which was interesting. Such things are rarely found in the real world (as I know myself as a 6'3” powered wheelchair user) . Few authors would use such a detail to build our a characterisation, especially in such an indirect manner.
There are many other similar details along the.same trend.
I have great hopes for the series, and fingers crossed the same level of detail will follow.
Good quality story telling with some unusual twists and turns
I picked up this book based on the description - and will admit it was a little slow at the outset, but that the pace soon picked up.
As With any good sci-fi story, the plot unfolds gradually as the story unfolds, and the story-telling does not fail to deliver new ideas and concepts at every turn.
I found the tale to be quite similar.to Cixin Liu's “Three Body Problem”.
I will add the author to my list.
Oh my, what a ride, phasers on cliche
I'm always hesitant to try out new collaborations or combinations of authors, and I struggled a little bit at the start but investment of time is quickly rewarded. While some of the themes are oft-repeated, this book managed to stand above the others. My definite favourite will be the AI Android raised on a diet of 80's action movies.
More or the same - maybe better
I will confess that I was surprised by some of the plot twists, actually quite a few of them. The plot still draws on far too many memes, even the Axler-like weapons envy bit where our pilot here turns out to be a survivalist and weapons specialist too!
Plot still sounds a bit Clancy-esque - depopulation to save the climate/world, but oh so much better than the ‘reds are invading' as earlier mentions of Asian people hinted at.
Glad to see that is British are still alive and kicking.
Better than expected by far!!
My experience with post apocalyptic fiction varies considerably. From the gritty weapons-death-action excesses of Axler's Deathlands and Outlanders (yes I know he's.not real) to Stephen King's The Stand they all represent varying perspectives and degrees of realism.
This book was, definitely, better than expected. It nearly travels along a breakneck speed, dropping hint and clues, building characters and situations well.
That it ended quickly was initially annoying - but it led me to definitely download the next instalment. Being it on!!
Is the author telepathic or something?
The fact that I'm able to write a second review of the evening on this, the third book in the series says much of the word count. I enjoyed the building excitement, with an expectation of some kind of major event happening to the ship and crew - but then suddenly we arrive at the end.
Again we've got insight into existing and new characters, but just in the Nick of time, our latest ‘detailed' character is killed.
This series could be described as novellas rather than books. In fairness the quality of writing from a grammatical and indeed editorial perspective is much better.
Given Amazon's ‘unlimited' deal this author has struck a good balance of detail vs quantity, but I feel he could cast his eyes at other writers in this particular genre, such as Michael Anderle at al, who have been producing equally good fiction, starting out with similar characters.
Despite all of this, our dashing Lieutenant will, I'm sure, continue to defy all expectations and overcome all enemies, foreign and domestic!