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...