Helyna L. Clove

And I’m here with the last 5 books on my roster as part of Team Space Girls for SPSFC5 Round 1, and what I voted for them going forward into Round 2. To see the first 20 and my opinions, click here and here, and you can read more about SPSFC, The Self-Published Science Fiction Competition, over here!

(Note: me voting yes or no for a book does not mean its ultimate fate in the competition, as there are four others in my team who will influence the outcome!)

William C. Tracy: The Seeds of Dissolution (read up to 29%)

Reclusive Sam van Oen has the worst afternoon of his life when the sun seems to disappear and curious cold wraps up his city. Panicked, grieving as his aunt dies beside him, the boy somehow manages to open a portal to escape to an unfamiliar world, the Nether, where he is immediately swept up in the turmoil of many different races and their own urgent problems and needs. Voids, or Drains, like the one he’s experienced are popping up on different planets, and rumors speak about the return of a hostile, mysterious shapeshifting species. Sam has to figure out his own powers, fight his all-encompassing anxiety and make friends, find community, to figure out what happened to his home and how to get back to it.

The Seeds of Dissolution starts in a really intense way, that immediately pulled me into the story. Arriving to the Nether, there’s a lot of things to learn and digest, but we get it through very interesting characters, while the presence of Sam grounded me into an emotional state that was quite relatable. The Nether itself is a fascinating setting, and the sort of music-based magic that is introduced as well. Events slow down a bit as Sam starts his apprenticeship with the somewhat outsider Kirian majus, Origon, who alone thinks the Drains might be more important than the jumping-at-shadows, slightly xenophobic mood that starts to overwhelm The Assembly of Species. There’s a lot to take in, and my feeling is that there’s also a lot in store as the different threads will start to converge. I was certainly very intrigued by the colorful, chaotic, somewhat apocalyptic nature of the story, and there’s a solid science fantasy feel to it: there’s magic, but there’s also different planets, aliens, and space travel. It’s a definite YES from me!

Goodreads

Angela White: The Survivors (read up to 24%)

The USA is in shambles: nuclear attacks devastated the land, infrastructure and government collapsed, a plague is decimating the population, and violent scavengers terrorize the remaining survivors. On top of that, the people with special powers, magic, are hunted and persecuted even more, blamed for all that had happened. Among the chaos, a safe haven is forming under the leadership of one of these powered, following what seems to be prophetic dreams. Somewhere else, a mother, Angela, is trying to get back to her son, recruiting the help of her “one who got away”. In another place, a goverment scientist with the ability to predict storms is escaping the terror of a pair of cruel brothers, walking the devastated underground tunnels of NORAD, searching for a way to go on.

What The Survivors does well is the depiction of the absolute hopelessness and cruelty of a society pummelled into the ground. There are no rules, no laws, and no help. It’s deeply disturbing to imagine such an environment and how a simple, normal person could hope to survive under those circumstances (especially in Our Current Times). At the same time, this all-encompassing darkness felt just a bit too relentless, or more like repetitive to me in the book. The introduction of the many, many characters and the magical powers are somewhat whirlwind, and I can’t say I got a good enough foundation for any of them so that I could appreciate their journey later. I was also overwhelmed by the number of horrible men taking advantage on women in these troubled times, but at the same time I felt like violent, military men were also just around, accepted and counted on as heroes, as if that was normal. The writing felt a bit raw and unfocused a lot of the time as well, which did not help me to stay immersed. I voted NO for this novel to progress in the competition.

Goodreads

John Triptych: Visitor (read up to 30%)

The world was amazed and mystified by the appearance of an interstellar object, Oumuamua, a couple of years ago. Now its bigger sibling is on the way, and many researchers now think with a good reason that neither visitors are purely natural phenomena. They might have been sent, and created, by beings far beyond. To study the new object, a billionaire is devising an ambitious plan for a new type of manned spacecraft. A disgraced astronaut is a perfect candidate to travel. And the object’s controversial discoverer will also ask for his piece of the pie when the time comes.

The main topic of Visitor is undeniably interesting. Oumuamua was, and is, a real interstellar visitor that shook up the scientific community and is interesting even without the chance of it being artificial, but I loved the twist that there is another one, and that humanity in the book is inclined to go and check it out face to face! Cassie’s story also started interesting, as we see her tragedy during a routine delivery to the ISS when some wayward space debris forces her to go against orders and the misadventure ends in her losing another astronaut close to her. I was less invested in the billionaire space science genius, Toby, and his struggles and business machinations (and his competitors’ business machinations) as he tries to invest in a new endeavour to build and send his own mission to the visitor. And as an astronomer myself, I had some admittedly personal bones to pick with Charlie Hudson, the somewhat goofy research assistant committing smaller and larger crimes to prove his discovery. In the end, I felt like many of the plot threads and character stories remained too rough for me, with strange emotional arcs, reactions, and progression, often comical in a way that felt unintended and not enough to call it a true comedy, while the scientific mystery was forced into the background. For these reasons, a NO from me for now, but I certainly feel like this might be interesting for the right people.

Goodreads

Elise Carlson: Walking the Knife’s Edge (read up to 29%)

When Rarkin is admitted into Sythe School, he finally feels like his life might turn out for the better. Living on the wrong side of town with an abusive, alcoholic father hasn’t allowed him much joy in life, but now he has the chance to spend his days somewhere else and perhaps, as he passes exams after exams, use his physical prowess in grappling with monsters, keeping his home country safe. But to truly heal and find community, he must first face his traumatic memories and (even while working a job fighting crime) break the cycle of violence in his family.

I really, really appreciated the depiction of trauma, cPTSD, and especially the type of “fight” response (as opposed to the other f’s, freeze, fawn, or flight) to the abuse in Rarkin’s life. His plight is simple to sympathize with, and his encounters with his father and mother are heartbreaking. I also really liked the whole system of monster and crime fighting and the lore of the school, although I did have a lot of questions remaining even at the end of the 30%. And this is probably what ended up bothering me a bit: exposition and world-building is a bit uneven at the beginning of the book. The intro of the circle of characters around Rarkin (Des, Glenn, Cam, his uncle Alan) was fast and spotty, and I didn’t get a good sense of them, even if I enjoyed him meeting with Miona and later Merin. I also felt (even though society is beyond a Nuclear Age, there are guns, and electric public transport) the setting was more fantasy than sci-fi. This novel could be definitely interesting for YA-lovers who love characters grappling with trauma and fighting cool monsters, but for now, I voted NO for its progression in the competition.

Goodreads

Sophie Maddon: Your Knowledge or Your Life? (read up to 30%)

After a botched chemistry class prank, rich kid Jason feels like he’s popped up in a different world: his adoring friends ignore him, the teachers that should be eating out of his hand due to his parents’ generous patronage don’t give him the time of day, everyone seems to be very into studying, and consequently everyone is suddenly best friends with the bookworm Eva who has been the class pariah so far. And when his parents try to force him to write homework and he cannot find his favourite action movies on his device, he is sure: somehow he slipped into a parallel dimension. And the only person who can help him get out of it is Eva. Except she doesn’t have any reason to like, or even trust him.

The setup of the story is certainly interesting, and I have to admit I had fun imagining a world where instead of financial means, the measure of character and opportunities is knowledge. Where everyone likes to read and concert halls have introvert rooms for people to get a break from the crowds. I liked how one protagonist, Eva, had the time of her life in this new world, while the other, Jason, was seriously in trouble: this could give a good direction for both their characters to evolve in, and there is also the forming of their friendship to look forward to…hopefully. At the same time, around the 30% mark I didn’t feel the contrast of the two worlds was sharp enough for me, or that the knowledge-based world was developed enough. The time skips were also unexpected as I was hoping for more development in Jason’s and Eva’s relationship. There were a couple of things that will probably start different plot threads as the two of them try to solve what happened and how, which were interesting, but I found myself not well-invested in the two main characters’ personalities. This is typically the book where I’m certainly interested enough to finish reading the whole story at some point, however, the things I mentioned urge me to say NO to the book’s progression in the competition. I think fans of YA sci-fi can definitely enjoy this!

Goodreads

And that was it! My last five samples.

Now the full reading of all our YESes can commence! Our deadline for finishing that and appoint the 2-3 books that we want to progress to the semifinals is 10th of May, so watch this space, I will drop some reviews here (and on Goodreads) as I progress with my reading.

See you soon!