Category: Sci-Fi

Book Review: Spire Climbers (Titan Hoppers #2) – Rob J. Hayes

On By Rowena AndrewsIn Fantasy, Sci-Fi1 Comment

Hello!

Today I am back with another belated review, this time for Spire Climbers by Rob J. Hayes the second book in the Titan Hoppers series and oh my gods I loved this book. Titan Hoppers was a blast, but Spire Climbers was something else and this has been a challenging review to write (and rewrite post laptop fall of death), because I wanted to do it justice and don’t think I came close.

You can find my review for book one here.

Disclaimer – I received a copy in exchange for an honest review, all thoughts are my own.

Book Summary:

Iro and Emil have opened their first Gates, unlocked new talents, and proved the fleet’s Hoppers aren’t stalled. Despite leaving the rank of trainee, they find their training is just beginning.

Thrown into a new squad with an explosive Mage, a cursed Surveyor, and a Vanguard with shady motives, Iro and Emil will delve deeper into the titan than ever before. There are bizarre things in the depths; pitch black oceans, nests of swarming monsters, and Spires that rip through the hull of the titan.

But what purpose do the Spires serve and can Iro and Emil reach the top in time?

Continue reading “Book Review: Spire Climbers (Titan Hoppers #2) – Rob J. Hayes” →

Blog Tour (Book Review): If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come – Jen St. Jude

On By Rowena AndrewsIn Book Spotlights, LGBTQIA, Romance, Sci-Fi, YA1 Comment

Hello!

Today I am joining the Write Reads Ultimate Blog tour for If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come by Jen St. Jude, with a book spotlight and a look at what some of the other bloggers on the tour have been saying about this apocalyptic YA romance.

Disclaimer – I received a copy in exchange for an honest review, all thoughts are my own.

Book Summary:

Avery Byrne has secrets. She’s queer; she’s in love with her best friend, Cass; and she’s suffering from undiagnosed clinical depression. But on the morning Avery plans to jump into the river near her college campus, the world discovers there are only nine days left to an asteroid is headed for Earth, and no one can stop it.

Trying to spare her family and Cass additional pain, Avery does her best to make it through just nine more days. As time runs out and secrets slowly come to light, Avery would do anything to save the ones she loves. But most importantly, she learns to save herself. Speak her truth. Seek the support she needs. Find hope again in the tomorrows she has left.

Continue reading “Blog Tour (Book Review): If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come – Jen St. Jude” →

Cover Reveal: Stargun Messenger – Darby Harn

On By Rowena AndrewsIn Cover Reveal, Sci-FiLeave a comment

Hello!

Today it is my pleasure to be helping out with theEscapist tours Cover Reveal for Stargun Messenger by Darby Harn. It’s available for preorder now (see links below), and will be released on the 5th May.

Book Summary:

To save the stars, Astra Idari must outrun her own shadow.

Astra Idari is a mess.

She drinks too much, remembers too little, and barely pays for it all as a Stargun Messenger. She hunts down thieves who steal filamentium, the fuel that allows for faster-than-light travel. When Idari meets Gen Emera, she meets the girl of her dreams and the last living star. There’s just one problem.

Filamentium is only found in the blood of living stars.

Everyone wields knives and justifications for butchering the living stars to get around, but once Idari knows the truth, she faces a stark choice. Either she turns Emera over to her employers who control the filamentium monopoly, or risks everything to help Emera fulfill her quest to save her people.

The choice should be simple, but it’s not losing her life that terrifies Idari. It’s finally living. Idari knows she’s human despite outwardly appearing to be an android with a failing memory stitched together by her ship’s irascible AI, CR-UX. She’s been just getting by for longer than she remembers, assured in her humanity, but not enough to risk it.

Idari has lived her entire life in darkness. The dark comforts and shields. The dark preserves in its cold, and Idari may not be able to keep her star out of her shadow.

“If James Joyce had grown up reading X-Men comics and obsessively playing Destiny, he would have written this. A breathtakingly imaginative, star-spanning romp that is equal parts swashbuckling galactic adventure and lyrical introspection about love and identity.”

– Wayne Santos, author of The Chimera Code

Continue reading “Cover Reveal: Stargun Messenger – Darby Harn” →

Cover Reveal: Orphan Planet (Odyssey Earth Series #1) – Rex Burke

On By Rowena AndrewsIn Cover Reveal, Sci-FiLeave a comment

Hello!

Today it is my pleasure to be helping out with the cover reveal for Orphan Planet by Rex Burke. This is the first book in the Odyssey Earth series and is available for preorder now (see links below), and will be released on the 18th April.

Book Summary:

With Earth in crisis, humans are travelling deep into space. But humanity’s future just took a wrong turn.

A seventeen-year colony-ship voyage – a straight shot to a new planet. Handpicked, single-minded crew, and a thousand settlers in hypersleep. No children, no families, no fuss.

That was the plan, anyway.

Captain Juno Washington commands a ship of loners and oddballs. The teenagers of the Odyssey Earth didn’t ask to be born, and face an uncertain future. And Jordan Booth really didn’t want to be woken up early.

After an unexpected change of course, relationships are tested like never before. If they listen to advice, pull together and stop squabbling, they might just make it.

Yeah, right. Good luck with that.

Continue reading “Cover Reveal: Orphan Planet (Odyssey Earth Series #1) – Rex Burke” →

Book Review: The Last Whale – Chris Vick

On By Rowena AndrewsIn Childrens, Sci-Fi, YALeave a comment

Hello!

I’m beginning to clear through my poor neglected Netgalley shelf, and kicking it off with a review of The Last Whale by Chris Vick.

Disclaimer – I received a copy in exchange for an honest review, all thoughts are my own.

Book Summary:

From killers to conservationists, Carnegie-shortlisted Chris Vick tells the story of three generations of the Kristensen family, their history as whale hunters and later their mission to save the great whales and our planet.

Summer, the Present

Fiery and fierce, computer geek and eco-activist, Abi is holidaying with her grandmother on an island off the Norwegian coast. Having developed and befriended an AI device, Moonlight, she hopes to organise a global protest. On the island, she learns her great-grandfather rejected the family’s whaling livelihood, instead creating the first whale song recording. Inspired by him, Abi and Moonlight translate the whales’ songs and discover their stories. Whales are under threat, their numbers rapidly dwindling. Abi is determined to help.

Autumn, 30 years later

The world’s ecosystems are collapsing. There is no sight or sound of whales. Abi, her daughter, Tonje, and a now almost conscious Moonlight live on an isolated island in the Atlantic. They search for any sign of whales, but so far there is only silence.

Winter, the Future

Tonje’s search was not in vain. Despite climate crisis and the threat of extinction, there is always hope for the future, as nature and technology combine in a captivating, action-packed adventure with a powerful environmental call to arms.

Continue reading “Book Review: The Last Whale – Chris Vick” →

Book Review: Burrowed – Mary Baader Kaley

On By Rowena AndrewsIn Review, Sci-FiLeave a comment

Hello!

A little belated due to some havoc on the trainline last night, but today it is my pleasure to be joining the blog tour for Burrowed by Mary Baader Kaley which was released by Angry Robot Books on the 10th January 2023.

Please check out the other blogs involved in the tour.

Disclaimer – I received a copy in exchange for an honest review, all thoughts are my own.

Book Summary:

If you had to endure a debilitating condition of body or mind, which would you choose? In this world, everyone suffers.

In the far-future aftermath of a genetic plague that separated human society into two different groups – sickly yet super-intelligent Subterraneans and healthy but weak-minded Omniterraneans – a brilliant Subter girl is tasked with fixing the broken genetic code to reunite the two groups in the next generation.

But when a newer plague turns fatal for the surface-dwelling Omnits, the only group able to reproduce (giving birth to both Subter and Omnit children), Zuzan must find a cure or humanity won’t simply remain divided, it will become extinct.

But there’s more conflict at hand than a broken genetic code. The fragile connection between Subters and Omnits has frayed to the point of breaking – to the point of war – and it will take more than genius to repair; it will take heart.

Continue reading “Book Review: Burrowed – Mary Baader Kaley” →

Blog Tour (Guest Post): Jonathan Nevair ‘Escapist Thriller vs. Space Opera’

On By Rowena AndrewsIn Guest Post, Sci-Fi, ThrillerLeave a comment

Hello!

Today I am delighted to be joining the Escapists Tours blog tour for Stellar Instinct, the new spy-fi thriller by Jonathan Nevair the author of the Wind Tide trilogy (Goodbye to the Sun, Jati’s Wager, No Song But Silence). This is a fantastic book and you can check out my review HERE, and I can’t recommend it highly enough! I would also like to thank Jonathan for the fantastic post that I’m featuring today.

There is also a chance to win a copy of the book for yourself, so check out the giveaway details at the end of the post.

Please check out the rest of the stops on the tour.

****

Book Summary:

A secret agent. A gaming mastermind. Two players in a dangerous competition blurring the boundaries of entertainment and reality.

Mysterious signals pulse from an icy planet in a remote star system. GAM-OPs wants answers. Enter Lilline Renault, secret agent extraordinaire. To ordinary citizens she’s Keely Larkin, an adventure company guide with a flair for the daring and a penchant for writing trite poetry. Lilline’s at the top of the spy game, but publishing her literary work is proving harder than saving the galaxy.

When the mission uncovers a dastardly plan threatening billions of lives, Lilline leaps into action. Verses flow as she rockets through space, dons cunning disguises, and infiltrates enemy territory with an arsenal of secret gadgets. But to prevent the whims of a self-obsessed entrepreneur from turning the galaxy into a deadly playground means beating him at his own game. Lilline will need her best weapon to stand a fighting chance: her instinct.

STELLAR INSTINCT: A spy-fi thriller set in space.

Continue reading “Blog Tour (Guest Post): Jonathan Nevair ‘Escapist Thriller vs. Space Opera’” →

Book Review: Stellar Instinct – Jonathan Nevair

On By Rowena AndrewsIn Review, Sci-Fi, Self-Published, Thriller1 Comment

Hello!

Today I am delighted to be reviewing an ARC of Stellar Instinct by Jonathan Nevair, which is out in the world on the 1st of December (so there is still time to sneak in that pre-order!).

Disclaimer – I received a copy in exchange for an honest review, all thoughts are my own.

Book Summary:

A secret agent. A gaming mastermind. Two players in a dangerous competition blurring the boundaries of entertainment and reality.

Mysterious signals pulse from an icy planet in a remote star system. GAM-OPs wants answers. Enter Lilline Renault, secret agent extraordinaire. To ordinary citizens she’s Keely Larkin, an adventure company guide with a flair for the daring and a penchant for writing trite poetry. Lilline’s at the top of the spy game, but publishing her literary work is proving harder than saving the galaxy.

When the mission uncovers a dastardly plan threatening billions of lives, Lilline leaps into action. Verses flow as she rockets through space, dons cunning disguises, and infiltrates enemy territory with an arsenal of secret gadgets. But to prevent the whims of a self-obsessed entrepreneur from turning the galaxy into a deadly playground means beating him at his own game. Lilline will need her best weapon to stand a fighting chance: her instinct.

STELLAR INSTINCT: A spy-fi thriller set in space.

Continue reading “Book Review: Stellar Instinct – Jonathan Nevair” →

Book Review: Blackthorne – Clayton W. Snyder

On By Rowena AndrewsIn Fantasy, Review, Sci-Fi, Self-Published1 Comment

Hello!

Today I am delighted to be reviewing an arc of Blackthorne by Clayton W. Snyder which is out in the world TODAY!! Blackthorne is a bloody fantastic book that I have been chewing over for the last few weeks, and despite the length of this review, I still don’t feel I have done it justice. All I can say is that you should absolutely pick this one up and give it a go, because it really is an experience!

Disclaimer – I received a copy in exchange for an honest review, all thoughts are my own.

Book Summary:

Orphan. Conman. Conscript. Inmate. Haunted by the ghosts of his past, Mattias Temple, a failed cadre necromancer, is mauled by fate. When a rogue military squad kidnaps the governor and threatens the city with a magical plague, he has a shot to redeem a lifetime of mistakes and be the one thing he never thought possible: A hero.

Freed from prison, paired with Bridget, a Blackthorne operative, he sets out to right the one crime that truly haunts him.

As the body count rises Mattias finds himself neck-deep in trouble and drowning in ghosts. Hunted by the mercenary company he betrayed and facing the horrors of feral witchcraft, the question remains: who is Mattias Temple, and what does he want? Revenge, or something more?

Continue reading “Book Review: Blackthorne – Clayton W. Snyder” →

Book Review: Titan Hoppers – Rob J. Hayes

On By Rowena AndrewsIn Fantasy, Sci-Fi3 Comments

Hello!

Today I am delighted to be reviewing Titan Hoppers, the amazing new book from Rob J. Hayes which is out in the world today!! I had so much fun reading this book, and it’s hard to do it justice in a review.

Disclaimer – I received a copy in exchange for an honest review, all thoughts are my own.

Book Summary:

Courage Iro will shatter the Gates of Power to protect his fleet.

Born talentless, Iro has all but resigned himself to a life of drudgery, watching his sister hop across to the massive space titan for supplies. But when the titan explodes and his sister is killed, Iro finds a new determination to take her place. He’s not about to let weakness prevent him.

When the fleet encounters a new titan, filled with powerful monsters, deadly traps, and mysterious cloaked figures, Iro is the first to spontaneously manifest a new talent. Now sent to a different ship, to train with others far beyond his strength, Iro will have to train twice as hard just to catch up.

To protect his fleet, and to uncover the mysteries of the titans, Iro won’t just open the Gates of Power. He’ll break them.

Continue reading “Book Review: Titan Hoppers – Rob J. Hayes” →