First Contact

All posts tagged First Contact

The Deep Link (The Ascendancy Trilogy Book One) by Veronica Sicoe

Posted by tjhapney on June 22, 2015
Posted in: Book Review, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

DeepLinkDescription/Blurb:

When and unstoppable warlord meets and unyielding rebel, their link becomes a new force of nature.

Taryn’s dream of forging an alliance with a powerful alien race has become a nightmare. She is linked to a ruthless warlord, an alien killing machine who could destroy humanity on a whim.

Taryn will go down fighting before she surrenders to the monster invading her mind.

But in her struggle to regain control, she finds her tormentor has irreversibly changed her, and she has in turn changed him. The link is turning her into a weapon, drawing strength from the world-slayer who had no regard for another’s life—until now.

As death and destruction erupt around them, they carve their way out of their old lives with a single common purpose: unite their forces and change the future.

Review 5 of 5 Stars

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. When I receive a new book I generally read a few pages to see how soon I plan to read it (honestly). This book caught my attention right out of the gate, which means I didn’t manage to put it down until I’d finished it. I loved the story. The characters were people that you could believe in, whether they garnered your trust or suspicion. The author managed to put an interesting spin on this book and I was happy to follow Taryn throughout her adventures.

The alien races are done well. The story is one of overcoming insurmountable odds while making unexpected allies and friends. Parts of this book are a little dark. I don’t know if my mind worked overtime, but it seemed to me that there were some pretty gruesome wound descriptions. I’m not talking about gratuitous violence as these scenes were integral to the story and what was happening, but some of the descriptions were pretty graphic.

There’s a lot going on in this story, including an alien invasion, rebellions on several fronts and various other people with their own agendas that throw a wrench in the works from time to time for Taryn as she does her best to cope with the connection between her and the alien she becomes linked to. As first contact stories go, I found this one very entertaining. The characters were complex and had a good deal of depth. I enjoyed the book right up to the ending when I started wishing that the next one was out so I could see where this interesting new joining of souls goes next.

Echo (An Alex Benedict Novel) by Jack McDevitt

Posted by tjhapney on January 22, 2014
Posted in: Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

EchoDescription/Book Blurb:

Sunset Tuttle spent a lifetime looking for alien species. Twenty-five years after Tuttle’s death, Alex Benedict discovers a stone tablet inscribed with cryptic symbols, now in the possession of Tuttle’s one- time lover Rachel Bannister. Benedict is determined to decipher its secret-one Bannister doesn’t want revealed. Could it be that Tuttle’s obsessive quest was successful?

Review 5 of 5 Stars

I really enjoyed this book from start to finish and find that I very much like the Alex Benedict novels as a whole.  It was a true mystery/thriller science fiction story and I loved it.  I’m a big fan of mystery/thrillers and to have it all bound up in a science fiction story is almost more than I can ask for if it comes to getting everything you want out of a reading experience.  Echo was very much my type of book.  It was smart, suspenseful, had that gritty quality that allows you to suspend your disbelief and really get into a story.  Both Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath are fantastic companions to take on your adventure.  They are smart, resourceful people who like getting at the answers.  I hate to say too much and give away the ending which really makes the whole journey worth it.  The intrigue and mystery will lead you upon an interesting path that takes you to an unexpected conclusion.

Reading this book has set me on a path of adventures with Alex Benedict and I hope you enjoy this book as well as others in the series as much as I did this one.  I fully recommend it.

Little Green Men by Peter Cawdron

Posted by tjhapney on November 26, 2013
Posted in: Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

A LGMDescription: 

Little Green Men is a tribute to the works of Philip K. Dick, hailing back to classic science fiction stories of the 1950s.

The crew of the Dei Gratia set down on a frozen planet and are attacked by little green men. Chief Science Officer David Michaels struggles with the impossible situation unfolding around him as the crew are murdered one by one. With the engines offline and power fading, he races against time to understand this mysterious threat and escape the planet alive.

 

5 of 5 Stars

Little Green Men by Peter Cawdron was a great ride.  I enjoyed it very much and sped right through it, never finding myself bored or distracted by outside factors.  The crew of the Dei Gratia have a unique experience during their exploration of a possible mining site.  They must conquer themselves and work together to understand the mystery that is presented to them in the hope of getting away alive.

This was a good first contact story of the old style variety.  The writing was excellent as was the storytelling.  I felt like I was there and that’s what I’m looking for from a story.  Any time you find yourself physically cringing in your chair as the characters go to peek around a corner there is no doubt that the author has done their job.  One of the things I really enjoy about Peter Cawdron’s stories is that he seems like the kind of person who sits around in the evening fully exploring the what-if scenarios before him, waiting patiently until he finds just the scenario he is seeking.  This generally leads to some kind of interesting and intelligent twist away from what you were expecting as a reader.  I like to be surprised so this is a very appealing quality for me in fiction.  All in all it was a fun read and I really enjoyed it.  I hope you will too.  Once again, Peter Cawdron has given us a tale with something to think about when we head to the stars.

Xenophobia by Peter Cawdron

Posted by tjhapney on June 28, 2013
Posted in: Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

xenophobia-smallDescription:  Xenophobia is set in Malawi, Africa, with US soldiers acting as peacekeepers to stop a civil war erupting. When an alien spacecraft arrives in orbit, America is thrown into turmoil and US troops are withdrawn from hotspots around the globe to provide support at home. Malawi descends into chaos.

Xenophobia follows a band of US Rangers that stay behind to get doctors and patients from an outlying field hospital to safety. When hundreds of alien spacecraft begin flying overhead, the dynamics of war take on an entirely new dimension.

Review 5 of 5 Stars

This was a great first contact story, I really enjoyed it and it was accurately named. It was gritty, sweaty, realistic and moved at a good pace.  I mentioned in another review recently that I like a story that can be introspective without sacrificing excitement and action and was glad to see that this story had managed to do just that. I also like a story that requires you to think and I wasn’t disappointed in that area either.  Xenophobia certainly delivered by investigating not only our fears of strange or alien things from outside our galaxy, but also how we fear and treat one another due to those same irrational fears of things and persons unknown though we may only be from different countries rather than different planets.

There are several characters in this book, but Bower, a doctor who stays behind to care for her patients that need to be transported, and Elvis (nickname, not a resurrection lol), one of a group of US soldiers that volunteers to stay behind to protect them, are the mains for most of the story and they were both interesting travel companions.  I thought the aliens were really cool and well thought out and I loved the journey as a whole. It was nice to get away from the Hollywood action movie clichés about what first contact will be where the aliens are generally hell-bent on eating, killing or in some other way making us subservient. I also liked that the book looked at how we treat one another and what types of behavior might be expected given a first contact situation on Earth.

Peter Cawdron has a great perspective on the world and it definitely comes through in his stories like a fresh gust of air.  Each story I’ve read by Mr. Cawdron has been better than the last both technically and in overall storytelling. I’m just glad I got to take this trip through reading rather than stomping the road these characters traveled. Though that last part would have been pretty wonderful, but I dare not say too much. If you like a smart story that challenges you to look beyond what we see everyday then I think you would enjoy this one as much as I did.