Cover Art | New covers for Peter F Hamilton's Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained (Pan Macmillan)

Peter Hamilton's publisher, Pan Macmillan, are going to be putting these new covers on Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained, both done by Steve Stone. Thoughts? Personally I prefer the originals. These are still nice, although slightly misleading due to the military SF nature of them and just how little of the books have that theme.

Cover Art & Synopsis | The Evolutionary Void by Peter F Hamilton (Macmillan)

Peter F Hamilton's startling perspectives on tomorrow's technological and cultural trends span vast tracts of space and time; his stories are as compelling as they are epic in scope, and yet they are always grounded in characters - human, alien and other - who, for all their strangeness, still touch our hearts and fire our imaginations. Now, in The Evolutionary Void, Hamilton concludes the highly acclaimed Commonwealth saga that has unfolded in The Dreaming Void and The Temporal Void.

Having finally mastered his astonishing psychic abilities and how to harness the power of the city itself, Edeard is dismayed to find that life in Makkathran is as challenging and dangerous as ever. No matter what he does, there always seem to be threats to quash and unrest to settle. Although he knows he can eventually rid the city of corruption and anarchy, he is coming to understand that he himself will have to pay a terrible price for Makkathran's peace and liberty.

Inspired by their shared vision of Edeard's story, millions of Living Dream pilgrims embark on their gigantic, ultradrive ships, heading towards a new and perfectible life within the Void that lies at the centre of the galaxy. Their arrival will trigger a super-massive expansion of the Void which will devour everything in its path - ultimately the galaxy itself - and, for those of the Greater Commonwealth who would stop the pilgrimage, time is running out.

On the run from planet to planet, pursued by every Commonwealth faction, Second Dreamer Araminta realizes she can no longer flee her destiny and chooses a course of action that will not only confound Living Dream but also will transform her in a way no one could have expected.

Unable to deliver the Second Dreamer to the Commonwealth's ruthless field operative, the legendary Paula Myo, a desperate Oscar Monroe brings together a team of players who may just be able to stop Living Dream's pilgrimage. Unfortunately his plan includes the genius recluse Ozzie, who has no intention of embarking on any kind of mission to save the galaxy - besides, Ozzie is not quite the man he used to be... if he is a man at all.

The Accelerator faction, intent on supporting the pilgrimage so that it can gain access to the technology behind the Void, finally activates its mysterious swarm with disastrous political and military consequences for the Commonwealth. This leaves the Delivery Man, a one-time faction agent with devastating firepower at his disposal, teamed up with an unlikely ally as he frantically tries to limit the damage. Together with his new partner he travels to an alien world which has abandoned evolution in favour of fate, hoping to find a solution.

Then there is Gore Burnelli, one of the oldest, most influential humans left from the pre-Commonwealth era who claims to know much more than he is letting on and perhaps knows just enough to save the galaxy - if he can outwit Ilanthe, the driving force behind the Accelerator faction. But Ilanthe has the Cat on her side, and that can only mean big trouble for anyone who gets in her way.

The Evolutionary Void will leave no reader in doubt as to why Peter F Hamilton is Britain's number one bestselling SF Novelist.

Peter F Hamilton's The Evolutionary Void, due from Macmillan in September this year, is my most eagerly anticipated book this year and I have been waiting for this cover for a long time. I like it. I like it a lot. An aerial shot of Makkathran was always going to be good, and while this is not quite what I have in my head when reading, it looks and feels right - Steve Stone has done a great job.

As for the blurb - it certainly gives a good idea of what is going on here. Possibly the longest I've seen for a while, but after the events in Dreaming and Temporal there sure is a good amount to wrap up. Now that wait for the book to be released!

Review | The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

Title: The Prince of Mist
Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Format: Hardback
Pages: 208
Release Date: 27th May 2010

Max Carver's father - a watchmaker and inventor - decides to move his family to a small town on the coast, to an old house that once belonged to a prestigious surgeon, Dr Richard Fleischmann. But the house holds many secrets and stories of its own. Behind it is an overgrown garden full of statues surrounded by a metal fence topped with a six-pointed star. When he goes to investigate, Max finds that the statues seem to consist of a kind of circus troop with the large statue of a clown at its centre. Max has the curious sensation that the statue is beckoning to him.

As the family settles in they grow increasingly uneasy: they discover a box of old films belonging to the Fleischmanns; his sister has disturbing dreams and his other sister hears voices whispering to her from an old wardrobe. They also discover the wreck of a boat that sank many years ago in a terrible storm. Everyone on board perished except for one man - an engineer who built the lighthouse at the end of the beach. During the dive, Max sees something that leaves him cold - on the old mast floats a tattered flag with the symbol of the six-pointed star. As they learn more about the wreck, the chilling story of the Prince of the Mists begins to emerge.

The Prince of Mist is not a book I would normally pick up. In the past books that fall into this category are either left after a handful of pages or devoured in a short space of time - thankfully this is one book that falls into the latter category. While I wasn't too sure what exactly to expect I found myself drawn to it by the back cover synopsis and the style of the first few pages. The Prince of Mist turned out to be an extremely enjoyable and satisfying read and one I would recommend to anyone.

To start with, The Prince of Mist is very much a novel aimed at the young adult, but can equally appeal to the adult readers who enjoy a simple, yet well told, story. The basic premise is outlined in the synopsis, but a description of any sort cannot do this book justice. It really needs to be read to be fully appreciated.

Max, his sister Alicia, and Roland are the main characters that take us on this very vivid journey with plenty of discoveries along the way and a good twist in the tale. The way that Max is pulled into the myths and legends is extremely good and allows the reader to connect with him in a very real way. The atmosphere was exceedingly well crafted and it shows just how good a storyteller that Zafón is, not to mention that at a touch over 200 pages he delivers it with a style that makes it seem so much more than what it is.

What Zafón has done with The Prince of Mist is to deliver an enjoyable and quick paced novel that can appeal to many readers. This is also a novel that feels deep and meaningful, but in such a way that is subtle, allowing the moments of revelation to come upon the reader without much notice and leave many things going through the mind. I easily pictured myself in Max's situation many a time and felt I could relate easily to him - it is this that makes The Prince of Mist such a great read and a book I could recommend without hesitation.

Buy from: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

Cover Art | Version 43 by Philip Palmer (Orbit)

The Exodus Universe.

Your odds of surviving quantum teleportation are, more or less, fifty/fifty. The only ones crazy enough to try it are the desperate, the insane, and those sentenced to exile for their crimes.

Belladonna is home to the survivors of the fifty/fifty—and is therefore a planet run by criminals and thieves. But when a horrific and improbable murder catches the attention of the Galactic Police force, one cyborg cop—Version 43—is sent to investigate.

Version 43 has been here before and has old friends and older enemies lying in wait. The cop was human once, but now, he is more program than man and will find a way to clean up this planet once and for all.

Here's the cover and blurb for Philip Palmer's next novel from Orbit, Version 43 (due in October). I can see that Orbit have chosen a direction for Palmer's books and I think it's quite a nice style for this book, although until reading the blurb I wasn't convinced of it. The plastic toy image is definitely something different and one that worked very well for Red Claw, I'm just not 100% sure it works here, at least not as an instantly recognisable sci-fi cover. Still, I applaud Orbit for going down an unconventional route and this book is definitely one to look forward to!

Review | The Waste Lands by Stephen King (Hodder)

Title: The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower 3)Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Hodder
Format: Paperback
Pages: 624
Release Date: 15th September 2003

Roland, the Last Gunslinger, is moving ever closer to the Dark Tower, which haunts his dreams and nightmares. Pursued by the Ageless Stranger, he and his friends follow the perilous path to Lud, an urban wasteland. And crossing a desert of damnation in this macabre new world, revelations begin to unfold about who - and what - is driving him forward.

A blend of riveting action and powerful drama, The Waste Lands leaves readers breathlessly awaiting the next chapter.

And the Tower is closer...

I'm continuing my re-read of the Dark Tower series and I'm now up to book three (book 1 is The Gunslinger (review) and book 2 is The Drawing of the Three (review)). I've said in the previous reviews that I love this series (why would I re-read it otherwise?), so expect me to say good things again about this one. While King once again expands the universe he's created, the central story of Roland and his quest to the Dark Tower is still very much the focus of the journey.

We pick up once again where we left off in The Drawing of the Three: Roland, Eddie and Susannah have left the beach behind and are recovering and bonding in the more habitable forest area beyond it. While Eddie and Susannah are growing closer by the day, Roland is suffering in private with two sets of memories. Both Eddie and Susannah know that something is wrong but have learnt that Roland will tell them his problem when he's ready. With both lots of memories stemming from the day he met Jake in The Gunslinger (one where he met him, one where he didn't), his actions while in the head of Jack Mort during which he stopped Jake dying (and therefore his meeting of him never took place) have left him in a confused state.

Eddie is still letting his brother's past influence and comments to him affect him. He doubts himself and struggles when he knows he must do something that Henry would rip into him about. Roland sees this and tries to tell Eddie that he must leave the past behind and be his own man now, but this is easier said than done. Susannah is starting to adjust to being one person, a combination of Detta Walker and Odetta Holmes, and she starts to move on with her life as Susannah Dean. We also follow Jake and start to see some very interesting things in his world. He too suffers from the two sets of memories and cannot help but look for a way back to Roland's world. He comes across many things that are completely strange, yet oddly familiar, that feel right to him.

It's the journey that leads to the rejoining of Roland and Jake that is the focus of much of this story, but they also travel to an old and decrepit city - Lud - where this part of their journey must end, though not without action and drama in equal amounts.

For me, the best parts of The Waste Lands are those that look at the group of Roland, Eddie, Susannah and, after a while, Jake. Not only that, but the individual character developments are a great aspect of the story. Eddie and Jake are by far the best results of this development, with Eddie just edging into the lead. The way his character has developed from when we first met him in The Drawing of the Three is pretty impressive, although he has kept that core essence that makes him so likable. Jake has grown considerably simply because of the amount of page time he has had here, all of which goes to show that investing effort in a character works very well to help bring the story to life.

I also liked the way that King has expanded that universe to show more of what has happened and what the world is like now. It's the glimpses of past glories that really make it worthwhile and gives us the depth that was needed. Lud is a perfect example and we see first hand how the world has moved on, the split in society leading to conflict and stupidity on the part of those that live there. If I had one criticism of The Waste Lands it would be the ending - the cliffhanger is just cruel! But it does the one thing it should do - it makes you want to pick up the next book pretty sharpish!

So, a good continuation of the story with some new aspects and information makes The Waste Lands a fresh step in the series. It's got everything we know and love from the previous Dark Tower books and has added enough to the pot to make the next volume one to pick up. Recommended.

Buy from: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

Cover Art | Veteran by Gavin Smith (Gollancz)

Three hundred years in our future, in a world of alien infiltrators, religious hackers, a vast convoying nation of Nomads, city sized orbital elevators, and a cyborg pirate king who believes himself to be a mythological demon Jakob is having a bad day:

"Nothing gets in the way of a hangover like being reactivated by your old C.O and told to track down an alien killing machine. The same kind of killing machine that wiped out my entire squad. And now it's in my hometown.

My name is Jakob Douglas, ex-special forces. I fought Them. Just like we've all been doing for 60 bloody years. But I thought my part in that was done with.

My boss has other ideas. If I didn't find the infiltrator then he'd let the Grey Lady loose on me. And believe me; even They've got nothing on her. So I took the job. It went to shit even faster than normal.

And now I'm on the run with this teenage hacker who's had enough of prostitution. The only people I can rely on want to turn the internet into God. And now it turns out that They aren't quite what we'd all thought.

I've been to the bottom of the sea and the top of the sky and beyond trying to get to the truth.

And I still can't get far enough away from the Grey Lady.
All things considered I'd rather be back at home deep in a whiskey bottle."

Veteran is a fast paced, intricately plotted violent SF Thriller set in a dark future against the backdrop of a seemingly never ending war against an unknowable and implacable alien enemy.

Here we go, the final cover for Veteran by Gavin Smith, coming out in June from Gollancz. Compared to the earlier one that has been about on the internet, I think this is ultimately a better and nicer cover. It's simple and will appeal to more than just the hardcore sci-fi fans that the other would have - the artist, Martin Bland, has done a great job. Here's a sci-fi debut that I have high hopes for this year.

Review | Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz)

Title: Terminal WorldAuthor: Alastair Reynolds
Publisher: Gollancz
Format: Hardback
Pages: 496
Release Date: 15th March 2010

Spearpoint, the last human city, is an atmosphere-piercing spire of vast size. Clinging to its skin are the zones, a series of semi-autonomous city-states, each of which enjoys a different - and rigidly enforced - level of technology. Horsetown is pre-industrial; in Neon Heights they have television and electric trains . . .

Following an infiltration mission that went tragically wrong, Quillon has been living incognito, working as a pathologist in the district morgue. But when a near-dead angel drops onto his dissecting table, Quillon's world is wrenched apart one more time, for the angel is a winged posthuman from Spearpoint's Celestial Levels - and with the dying body comes bad news.

If Quillon is to save his life, he must leave his home and journey into the cold and hostile lands beyond Spearpoint's base, starting an exile that will take him further than he could ever imagine. But there is far more at stake than just Quillon's own survival, for the limiting technologies of the zones are determined not by governments or police, but by the very nature of reality - and reality itself is showing worrying signs of instability . . .

Alastair Reynolds is an author whose books I always want to read when they come out and he writes some of the best short fiction I've read. But when it comes to his full length novels I seem to find that they're very hit and miss with me - I loved Pushing Ice, but I was very disappointed with House of Suns. So when his new novel was announced last year and it promised to be something a little different from his usual hard sf approach, I was very interested. What I found in Terminal World was a very rewarding read, but not without some problems. Read on for more...

Quillion is our main character, although Meroka joins him at an early stage as his guide to escaping Spearpoint in one piece after the news bought to him by a dying Angel. Quillion, a modified Angel himself using drugs and surgery to stay relatively incognito, turns to Fray, a long time associate who not only has the connections to get him out of Spearpoint, but is the only one that know of his true identity in Neon Heights. As the journey starts we see the lower state zones of Spearpoint as well as the expanse beyond it and how people live and cope in these lands across the world. While the threats from Skullboys and Vorgs a very real possibility in the lands beyond the city, it is an immense zone shift that causes the most problems for the world, and especially Spearpoint.

What Alastair Reynolds has done with Terminal World is created a rich and multi-layered story, often giving vivid descriptions of the surroundings, both in Spearpoint and beyond. The whole idea of Spearpoint gives so much to use, while the zones on Earth set each section apart very well. The use of drugs to treat sickness when crossing between higher and lower states of reality is a good plot device that allows for both excitement and danger, but more than anything it shows that humanity has to adapt to its surroundings and is limited because of them. Apart from Spearpoint, the Swarm was a particular favourite of mine. The Swarm is a gathering of hundreds of airships that move from place to place, surviving and scavenging whatever resources they can. The first glimpse of it is particularly amazing and shows that just because this isn't space-based SF it can still portray that sensawunda that I love so much in the genre.

The character dynamics are also good, with Quillion and Meroka having a strange relationship with many bumps along the road. Quillion himself is able to interact well with the characters and despite being an Angel he is more forthcoming than I would have imagined, thinking of others before himself. Because he is the main focus of the narrative it is his actions that usually dictate the way other characters act and react, but this does not feel forced or wrong, just a natural progression from interactions during the course of the story.

Many questions are raised in Terminal World, but not all are answered and this is where I find things lacking. The focus on Quillion and Meroka mean that it is their priorities that we follow, and as such we miss out on the deeper questions that are raised. It's not completely ignored - one particular side character is very interested in this and I found myself thoroughly enjoying those sections. However, too many loose ends are left. I'm not aware if a series will spawn out of Terminal World, but there is certainly scope for another book that could answer many of the underlying and fundamental questions about the setting that were left hanging. I also felt that the pacing was a little slow at times and I thought that some sections could have been shortened to give a more focused and consistent read. The story is interesting, but it just doesn't deliver it in such a way that I could thoroughly enjoy.

All in all I thought Terminal World was a great novel and would heartily recommend it to any SF fan - the points I felt disappointed with are more to do with my personal tastes rather than a badly written story. Alastair Reynolds shows once again why he's one of Britain's top science fiction writers and is well deserved

Buy from: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

Cover Art | The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi (Gollancz)

Jean le Flambeur is a post-human criminal, mind burglar, confidence artist and trickster. His origins are shrouded in mystery, but his exploits are known throughout the Heterarchy - from breaking into the vast Zeusbrains of the Inner System to steal their thoughts, to stealing rare Earth antiques from the aristocrats of the Moving Cities of Mars. Except that Jean made one mistake. Now he is condemned to play endless variations of a game-theoretic riddle in the vast virtual jail of the Axelrod Archons - the Dilemma Prison - against countless copies of himself.

Jean's routine of death, defection and cooperation is upset by the arrival of Mieli and her spidership, Perhonen. She offers him a chance to win back his freedom and the powers of his old self - in exchange for finishing the one heist he never quite managed . . .

The Quantum Thief is a dazzling hard SF novel set in the solar system of the far future - a heist novel peopled by bizarre post-humans but powered by very human motives of betrayal, revenge and jealousy. It is a stunning debut.

The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi is one of the books that I'm really looking forward to this year and by the look of the cover and synopsis I doubt I'll be disappointed. The cover is a strange one, with what looks to be the Spidership in orbit around Mars along with a blue butterfly - what's that doing there?! Gollancz have a few sci-fi books due out over the course of 2010 and a couple of debuts in there that I really fancy. Roll on September for this one!

Cover Art | The Technician by Neal Asher (Tor)

The Theocracy has been dead for twenty years, and the Polity rules on Masada. But the Tidy Squad consists of rebels who cannot accept the new order. Their hate for surviving theocrats is undiminished, and the iconic Jeremiah Tombs is at the top of their hitlist.

Escaping his sanatorium Tombs is pushed into painful confrontation with reality he has avoided since the rebellion. His insanity must cured, because the near mythical hooder called the Technician that attacked him all those years ago, did something to his mind even the AIs fail to understand. Tombs might possess information about the suicide of an entire alien race.

The war drone Amistad, whose job it is to bring this information to light, recruits Lief Grant, an ex-rebel Commander, to protect Tombs, along with the black AI Penny Royal, who everyone thought was dead. The amphidapt Chanter, who has studied the bone sculptures the Technician makes with the remains of its prey, might be useful too.

Meanwhile, in deep space, the mechanism the Atheter used to reduce themselves to animals, stirs from slumber and begins to power-up its weapons.

Here's the cover for Neal Asher's next novel due in September, The Technician. Nice picture of a Hooder here and I'm rather pleased that Tor UK have decided to go with the new style for Neal's HB releases. This is one of those books that could easily make my top reads of the year, Neal hasn't disappointed so far! This reminds me, I must finish the Cormac sequence...

Review | Serenity: Those Left Behind & Serenity: Better Days by Joss Whedon (Dark Horse)

Title: Serenity: Those Left Behind
Author: Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Format: Paperback
Pages: 104
Release Date: 28th February 2006
Buy from: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

Penned by Whedon and Brett Matthews, who wrote several episodes of Firefly as well as Dark Horse's final Angel comics series and the animated Chronicles of Riddick feature "Dark Fury," Serenity follows a ship full of mercenaries, fugitives and one law-abiding prostitute in their pursuit for fast cash and a little peace along the fringes of space.

The ragtag crew of Serenity take on a scavanger mission with the hopes of earning enough dough to disappear for a while. Only too late do they realize the whole gig is orchestrated by an old enemy eager remake their aquanitance with the help of some covert-operatives known only as the Blue Gloves.

Artist Will Conrad (Marvel's Elektra and Witches) and colorist Laura Martin (Astonishing X-Men and The Ultimates) paint a rough and wild world of adventure across a strange and dangerous universe, in this not-to-be-missed tale straight from the brain of pop-culture mastermind Joss Whedon!

Title: Serenity: Better Days
Author: Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Format: Paperback
Pages: 80
Release Date: 15th October 2008
Buy from: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

Serenity: Better Days follows everyone's favorite space cowboys in a thrilling, action-packed adventure, where Mal and his crew take on a heist that promises a big payoff. But when one of Serenity's crew is taken captive and tortured, the gang must put their enduring differences aside and work together to save one of their own, even if it may mean losing the cash prize of a lifetime.

Joss Whedon returns to the world of his blockbuster film Serenity, reuniting with Brett Matthews and Will Conrad, his collaborators on the bestselling 2005 series Those Left Behind.

There aren't many genre fans that won't have heard of Firefly, the excellent sci-fi series by Joss Whedon that was cancelled after a mere 14 episodes - a travesty. A lot of people are in agreement that Firefly is one of the greatest shows ever to grace our screens, and as such you can pretty much apply the phrase: you can't kill a good thing. After the cancellation of the show we were blessed with a big screen outing from the crew of the Serenity in a film by the same name, and after that we've been given two mini-series in the form of comics.

I've recently read the comics - Those Left Behind and Better Days - and I can honestly say that stories of Serenity and her crew is extremely well suited to this format and gives fans of the show that little bit more of what they love. What exactly is that? Well, more stories of the crew of Serenity for one. Both of these are set at some point between the end of the Firefly tv series and the Serenity movie, and all characters are aboard for some action in a couple of stories that feel very much like an episode of Firefly in a different format.

Those Left Behind is the first of the two comics and is a tale typical of Mal Reynolds and his crew. With information on a great stash of money left over from the wars given to the crew of Serenity they decide to head off and see if they can get their hands on it. However, as usual they find themselves double crossed and in a situation that requires more than subtlety to get out of.

Better Days is the second of the comic stories and allows the crew an the position of finding an unexpectedly large amount of money during a heist. They get to relax and we see some interesting visions of what each of the crew envisage they'll be doing with the cash they have. But with an Alliance special ops leader on the trail of a Dust Devil, a terrorist left over from the war, Mal once again finds himself in a seemingly hopeless situation that requires the crew to get him out of.

Above all, these two comics are a continuation of the characters we know and love. It doesn't matter that it's in a different format, in fact the opposite - it's great. While Joss Whedon has had some input into this I feel safe in the knowledge that something I love so much isn't being thrown to the dogs for just anyone to have a go.

While the story aspect fills me with joy, the artwork makes my heart flutter. Seriously, it's drop-dead-gorgeous. While you could probably read the comic in 15 minutes or so it's well worth taking the extra time to savour the scenes depicted within the pages and see just how alive they can be. These guys have done a great job of bring the characters on screen to life on the page, and the one-page character pieces in Those Left Behind are the highlight of this.

I'm not a huge comic reader, but when I read something I have love for anyway in this format I can't believe I don't read more. I'm going to have to remedy that...

Cover Art | Conflicts edited by Ian Whates (Newcon Press)

– A spaceship hurtles into the unknown carrying humanity’s last hope, but does it also carry the seeds of its own doom? –

– The galaxy’s ultimate facilitator finds himself pursued by relentless enemies, while, of greater importance, there’s a puzzle to be solved –

– A rescue mission to a hostile alien world turns out to be far more than it seems –

– The Celtic nation has reclaimed its homeland, forcing the English into impoverished enclaves, but hot-headed English youth isn’t about to take that lying down –

– A trivial disagreement between two off-duty super soldiers out for some R&R escalates and escalates, eventually endangering an entire world –

Thirteen tales of human striving, of ingenuity, brilliance, desperate action, violence, and resolution. Thirteen tales of Conflict, of Science Fiction at its absolute best.

Full contents:
1. Introduction – Ian Whates
2. Psi.Copath – Andy Remic
3. The Maker’s Mark – Michael Cobley
4. Sussed – Keith Brooke
5. The Cuisinart Effect – Neal Asher
6. Harmony in My Head – Rosanne Rabinowitz
7. Our Land – Chris Beckett
8. Fallout – Gareth L. Powell
9. Proper Little Soldier – Martin McGrath
10. War Without End – Una McCormack
11. Dissimulation Procedure – Eric Brown
12. In the Long Run – David L. Clements
13. Last Orders – Jim Mortimore
14. Songbirds – Martin Sketchley

I came across this on Neal Asher's site and thnk it looks pretty interesting - it's due out on April 2nd from Newcon Press. The cover is simple but effective and the contents make me want this one very much. I'll be adding this to my wish list and picking it up once it's released!

Review | Orphan's Journey by Robert Buettner (Orbit)

Title: Orphan's JourneyAuthor: Robert Buettner
Publisher: Orbit
Format: Paperback
Pages: 416
Release Date: 7th August 2008

In the years since the last Slug War, Jason's command style hasn't made him any friends in the Army. Now, in an effort to keep him out of trouble, the Army has sent Jason to the vast, Earth-orbiting resort called New Moon. At the core of this enormous space station is a starship, a relic from the last war.

When a test run of the ship goes wrong, Jason, along with a handful of others, will be torn from orbit and thrust into space. Now, stranded on an alien planet, Jason realizes that not only are his friends are looking to him for rescue, but an entire planet sees him as their only hope.

Orphan's Journey is the third book in the Jason Wander series from Robert Buettner, preceded by Orphanage and Orphan's Destiny. I've enjoyed the first two books in the series very much and this one has been steadily making its way up my to-read pile over the past few months, although why I never got around to it sooner is beyond me (I'll be saying that about the sequels too). So was it as enjoyable as those first two? Damn right it was, plus it opens open the universe of Jason Wander more than I could have hoped!

With years gone by since the last slug attack on Earth and mankind has recovered from the last invasion. With the old slug ship at the centre of a new orbital station mankind is slowly stretching away from the confines of Earth, although interstellar travel is still not within reach. Jason, his godson Jude, Ord and Howard are part of the crew that are testing the old slug ship and with Jude's exceptionally quick reflexes due to his space-born heritage, progress is made - a little too quickly. What follows is a journey farther than they could imagine to an alien planet where the past has some interesting revelations.

As I said before, I really enjoyed the previous entries in this series but one thing that I was always hoping was that Buettner would break away from the military sci-fi confines of the original story. While this aspect is ever present from start through to conclusion, the break away is clearly something he knows must be done, and boy does he do it well. To be fair, the first part of the story in Earth orbit on New Moon is fairly predictable and proceeds to give a nice recap on events and the history since the last book. Once the old slug ship is powered up and sent on its run out of the solar system the story kicks up a gear and takes us into a new and exciting area.

It's when Jason and co. find themselves on this new planet that Buettner is able to flex his story-telling muscles and deliver a wider scope of story. We have a first contact-type situation and find out a little more about the inhabitants of the planet and their cultural diversity, the way history has shaped them to be what they are. Howard is in his element with all the various creatures he discovers and while he suspects what has happened on this planet, we don't find out until much later in the story. This is both good and bad, because the moment we meet the people of this new planet questions instantly come about and it sometimes feels that these aren't going to be answered - it certainly isn't something that Jason is particularly bothered about, or at least he rarely shows it (and when he does he attention is quickly drawn away).

The big plot device for Orphan's Journey is Cavorite. It's a substance that allows the slugs to travel between stars but has the rather unfortunate side affect that it is deadly to them. However, it has no effect at all on humans. With the planet Jason is on a rich resource of the substance, a slug presence is inevitable. This is where the core of the story lies and allows Buettner to tell a very interesting and quickly paced story - so much so that the 400 pages flew by. How so much was crammed in there I just don't know, but it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Of course, what would the story be without its main characters? Once again we see everything through Jason's eyes, but this time it is a more mature slant on the world and it feels like a better experience. Howard, Ord and Jude are all well suited and fit in very easily, the newcomer Jude being a refreshing change from the military viewpoint. The inhabitants of this new planet are also unique and interesting, their ways allowing us another perspective on the story.

All in all Orphan's Journey was certainly that - a journey beyond the foundations set in the first two books. It took an interesting story and gave it new direction which felt fresh, allowing the future novels to expand nicely once again. While the military sf aspect is as present as always, the change in direction helped enormously and has easily made this a series that I really looking forward to finishing. Highly recommended.

Buy from: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com