A.T. Jackson

Introduction & Synopsis Babylon's Ashes is the sixth instalment in the  Expanse series of novels, which have been adapted by SyFy into a television series about to enter its third season.  Ashes veers away from the main plot-line of the series, the plot-line regarding humanity's colonisation of the hundreds of worlds that lie behind a mysterious alien network of wormhole generators, and focuses primarily on wrapping up the plot-thread of political unrest within the asteroid belt with the Eather-Belter war that began at the end of Nemesis Games .  Due to this distraction, Ashes feels like it was written by a writer simply going through the motions. Themes The themes concurrent throughout Ashes are simply amplified themes from previous instalments. Tribalism, political unrest, slave-master dichotomies, nationalism, etc. However, Ashes only seems to touch upon these ideas very lightly. Thus, there is very little to say in the way of this book's...

Introduction & Synopsis The chronological first instalment in Neal Asher's Polity universe serves as an introduction into Asher's work,  Prador Moon is a Sci-Fi space opera that takes place centuries into the future. The Polity universe primarily focuses on the relationships between a polity of multiple human worlds and various alien civilisations. Human beings have resigned from regulating their own civilisation, deferring governance of their nation to AI. This novel details humanity's first contact with an alien species. It goes as well as you would expect. This novel was recommended to me by an associate. I first heard of Neal Asher's novels many years ago, however I've never had any interest in reading his work, mainly because Asher's work seemed too action-oriented for my personal tastes. However, in recent weeks, I have decided to give this series a chance to convince me of its quality. In time I hope to review the second and third chronological ...

Introduction & Synopsis Every now and again, I go out of my way to read a novel that I wouldn't normally read. In this instance, I am reading a novel that is action first, Sci-Fi second. Many of you may note that I have read, and reviewed very positively, numerous works of science fiction. Many of those works possessed a some degree of creativity, or attempt to tackle philosophical and/or socio-political themes, with a few obvious exceptions. This novel, on the other hand, is pure genre fiction. I expected pure schlock. The first instalment of the Legend of the Duskwalker series of novels introduces the reader to a non-descript post-apocalyptic dystopia in which everyone, with the exception of very few people, are connected to a global satellite network, and utilise cybernetic augmentations to survive in a world in which strange cybernetic semi-undead beasts named Weir prowl the wilderness. James Posey has experience in the video game industry as an Expert Narrative De...

Introduction & Synopsis The first, and seemingly last, novel written by Ezra Holiday, The Dead Dream Wakes  is a fantasy-horror novel that was originally intended to be the first instalment in the presumably abandoned Tales of Bridgeport series. The Dead Dream Wakes follows two young adults, Jonah and Clay, as they uncover the mysteries of an abandoned steelworks factory within the city. It isn't long before they realise that they have bitten off far more than they could chew, delving into a world of demonic forces and supernatural beings, as the mysteries of the city of Bridgeport begin to unravel before them. Characters The two primary characters in this novel, as already mentioned, are Jonah and Claire ("Clay"). Both of them, despite a few minor personality traits that are simply told to the reader, instead of being shown through character moments. Not only is this poor literary form, but the few personality traits the characters are described as having ca...

Introduction & Synopsis Before we begin, it should be noted that while writing this review, I am assuming that the reader has already read the first four installments in the series. As such, do not be surprised if you encounter spoilers for the previous installments in the series. You have been warned. In Nemesis Games , the fifth installment in the popular series The Expanse, which has been adapted into a television series by SyFy, is a novel that dares to shake up the status quo of the series. While waiting for repairs of the Rocinate to be completed on Tycho Station, the ship's crew go their separate ways, each one aiming to resolve personal issues that have been plaguing them since before the beginning of the series. Alex goes to Mars in order to find some closure with his ex-wife, Amos travels back to Earth in order to pay his respects to his recently deceased surrogate mother, Naomi visits Ceres in order to reconcile with her long-lost son, and James is trapped on...

James S.A. Corey's Cibola Burn is another enjoyable instalment within  The Expanse series of novels. After the events of the previous novel in the series, Abaddon's Gate , a thousand worlds have been opened up to humanity via the Ring Builder's network of ancient wormhole generators. The political powers within the solar system are now beginning the preliminary stages of exploring and colonising the largest and most daring frontier in human history. A small group of refugees from Ganymede, which was the site of a battle which destroyed the colony on the Jovian moon, are the first to colonise a world outside of the solar system. Meanwhile, another colony ship, being regulated under UN jurisdiction, has also laid claim of the planet. James Holden and the crew of the Rocinate is sent to curtail the building political tensions between the two groups of colonists, survive the harsh alien biosphere of this new frontier, and uncover the secrets that lie beneath the planet...

Historian Philip Parker, author of The Empire Stops Here: A Journey Around the Frontiers of the Roman World , brings us a gripping historical recitation of one of the most famous (arguably infamous) cultures in European history. Possessing a highly spiritualist and widely misunderstood culture, the term Viking has become synonymous with violence and bloodshed. This, in truth, as those whom have read this book would already know, is only one small sliver of the Viking way of life. The Vikings were a highly religious people, with an entire plethora of myths and legends. Philip Parker's book The Northmen's Fury: A History of The Viking World, details the rise and fall of the Viking's empire, from the Danish expansion to the British Isles, Iceland and Greenland, their short-lived escapade into North America to the slow and steady erasure of Viking culture in Kiev and the social evolution that lead to the Battle of Hastings, at which time the traditional Viking as we remembe...