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Destiny's Way (The Doomed Earth #2)
Destiny's Way (The Doomed Earth #2)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is a direct sequel to Jack Campbell's earlier "In Our Stars", picking up almost directly where that finished with Lieutenant Selene Genji and Lieutenant Kayl Owen making their way back to Earth, still on a mission to stop the destruction of Earth 40 years into the future on June 12, 2180, which Selene Genji witnessed happen and was somehow thrust back in time.

From the future in which she comes, she is what is known as a Alloy: a human with alien DNA. In that future, they are feared and mistrusted.

And so do certain section of the Earth Guard, the forerunner to the Unified Fleet for which Selene works, who are doing their best to hunt down and kill Genji, believing her to be the monstrous spearhead of an alien invasion (with said First Contact happening towards the end of the previous novel).

With the way this novel ends, I think it's unlikely there will be any more in this series. Or, if there are, that it will concentrate on the same two characters.

Sometimes it's nice ending on a hopeful high note (think how much better the Terminator series would have been if it had ended with T2: Judgment Day, for example).
  
The Colours of Death
The Colours of Death
Patricia Marques | 2021 | Crime, Paranormal, Thriller
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Colours of Death is a detective novel set in a present day, alternative Lisbon. A minority of the population are Gifted with either telepathy or telekinesis, and they are heavily regulated. When it comes to light that a death on a train might have some Gifted involvement, Inspector Isabel Reis is put on the case with her team. She is a telepath, and her own problems with that gift soon make themselves known.

They’re a fantastic cast of characters, and they work well together )literally, in the case of the police team). It’s another angle on discrimination: instead of religion or skin colour, the Gifted are discriminated against because of their gifts - something they have no choice or control over.

This novel feels a little dystopian in places: when people go ‘missing’ if they lose control of their gifts, for example. And all Gifted are kept on a register where they’re regularly assessed. If they exceed a certain level, they’re removed from society for everyone else’s safety.

I really enjoyed this - the storyline was interesting, gripping, in fact, and exciting when it needed to be. The main character was flawed and very likeable, and the food constantly made me feel hungry!

I will be looking out for the next book in the series.
  
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ClareR (6225 KP) rated Metronome in Books

May 3, 2022  
Metronome
Metronome
Tom M Watson | 2022 | Contemporary, Dystopia, Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Metronome is a bleak, dark, gripping dystopian novel - and it gave me some serious Waiting For Godot vibes. Aina and Whitney are waiting for someone (the Warden) who I strongly suspected would never come.

Even though Aina and Whitney are on an island, surrounded by the sea, there was such a claustrophobic atmosphere. They have only had one another’s company for 12 years, with past times linked solely with their survival, what has been left in the croft by previous inhabitants, or what has washed up on the beach.

I don’t know how they have managed to stay sane, and indeed there did seem to be an underlying madness to them both. How could there not be?

And their crime? To have had a baby without permission. Aina is sterilised, their 9 year old son is taken from them, and she and Whitney are sent to the island. Punishment upon punishment.

I loved the ending to this - whilst I do like a nice rounded off ending to a novel, somehow I think the ambiguity to the end of Metronome suits it so well. I would have been disappointed with anything else.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising this - another great read!