Description:  After the Sun is prematurely converted into a red giant as the result of an energy experiment gone awry, mankind is forced to flee the inner planets in hopes of finding refuge through the research of strange organisms living beneath the surface of Jupiter’s sixth moon, Europa.

No one could have predicted what would be discovered over the course of a journey that sees three outcasts plumbing the very nature of the universe itself.

Review 4 of 5 Stars

Blame it on Robert Heinlein that I’ve once again been remiss in my blogging duties. I got sucked into some Future History stories I hadn’t read since high school (longer ago than I care to admit here LOL) and it took me a while to break free, but I’ll post about those books together later. Anyway, on with the review.

Salt of the Earth was a really good story. I enjoyed it from start to finish and still have that happy glow that comes from good storytelling despite the few instances of bad editing, missing words and such I found along the way (not many, but some truly noticeable, stop you in the middle of the paragraph ones in a couple of places that I can think of right off-hand). Nevertheless, I really enjoy a story where I don’t know what the ending is halfway through the book and Salt of the Earth fit the bill on that quite nicely.

In my opinion, one of the signs of a good book is that you find yourself wondering what happens next when you are busy with your real life tasks. I very much wondered about it when I was busy with errands and work so it definitely kept my attention. However, there is so much going on in this story that I would have to write pages to get a synopsis down and even then none of what I wrote would probably make sense. The author does a really good job of creating the world and characters that inhabit it. I was completely drawn in. The story was fresh, the twists unexpected, the characters realistic and sometimes absolutely heart-breaking.

Overall Salt of the Earth was a very satisfying reading experience. Those who read my blog know I take off a bit for editing mistakes and as there were some that were more than noticeable I did take off for it. Despite taking off a point for those editing mistakes that completely stopped the flow of the story, Salt of the Earth still comes in at 4 stars and that should speak for how much I enjoyed the book. It was a pleasant, well-crafted surprise in the sometimes not so surprising landscape of books I receive to review and I look forward to reading more from Christopher Flowers in the years to come.