Embers of War – the story about a sentient space ship solving mysteries in the vast darkness of space – finally it’s our turn!
I feel like I know Gareth Powell. I don’t, though I think I’ve tweeted him a couple of times back in the day, and if I’m not mistaken, he might have tweeted me back.
Gareth was there when I first started my author and writing journey, more than 10 years ago now, when I joined the writing community on Twitter. It felt like he was already one of the greats (honestly, he probably was). But he was also one of the down-to-earthers. He shared knowledge. Interacted with people. Laughed at jokes, retweet things. Shared news. Talked about successes and failures. He was someone to look up to. Someone who made you believe that you could accomplish things, if you just put your mind to it.
His first book that caught my eye was Ack-Ack Macaque, a science-fiction thing that I figured sounded a lot like Planet of The Apes. Its been on my never ending To-Be-Read list since forever. I have to admit I never got around to reading it, and its still there, somewhere in the dark depths of that list.
His Embers of War trilogy has also been on there for a while. For ages, actually. The idea of a sentient space ship, flying around with a crew to take care of, while fighting battles and solving mysteries sounded to good to pass up on. And when my Kindle algorithm suddenly reminded me that I really wanted to read Embers of War, it got to jump a few hundred spots on my TBR list. To the very top.
It’s just as good as I hoped. It’s quick, fast-paced, and to the point. Right from the start it reels you in with intrigue and mystery and it doesn’t give you a single chance to pull away. There’s three or four plot lines twirling around each other from the very start, and you can’t help but turning pages to figure out when and how they’ll collide.
Powell does this extremely well. He doesn’t overwrite and his chapters are short, so it’s very rewarding to read his writing. And it’s also incredibly interesting. His world is unique. How many books do you reckon there are about spaceships and their crews flying around solving space mysteries? 43,155,320? More or less? That’s probably in the ball park. But this feels new! It’s fresh. It’s not like anything I’ve ever seen, read, heard or played before. And I love it!
The plot, in short, is as follows: Sentient space ship Trouble Dog and its crew is on a mission to save the crew of a downed craft. The mission is successful – kind of – but they quickly get a message about an attack on a much larger craft, with hundreds of people to save. While trying to get there to administer help, they start to wonder – who downed that first craft? Who’s attacking the other ship, and why? Is it all connected? And what about the two mysterious guests who want to hitch a ride board the Trouble Dog… what are they up to?
I can’t give anything else away without giving it away, but trust me – it’s exciting, it’s thrilling, and it’s worth it! I’m already reading the sequel, to put it like that. And I’m so happy I finally got around to starting this series.
What are you reading these days? Come across any new and exciting authors? Or re-reading an old love? Let me know in the comments!
As always, please check out all my books and stories below. If you’re into psychological horror, crime thrillers, or science-fiction and fantasy, you’ve come to the right place! Bye for now!
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