Tag: sci-fi

Book Review: The X-Variant (The Guardians #1) by Rosemary Cole

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Time travelling girl battles zombie apocalypse

XVariantAbout the Book

In 2079, a devastating synthetic virus is unleashed that destroys most of humanity. Over the following centuries, however, the virus evolves into a beneficial symbiont that enhances and interconnects its human hosts, and a new post-human race is born: the Unathi. But in 2616, their peaceful utopia is violently disrupted when the symbiont begins to mutate into something terrible. Kala is one of those called upon to travel back in time to 2079 to change the course of the future. In a desperate attempt to save the future of humanity, Kala will face many hardships and perhaps even meet her own end, but she never dreams that it will one day turn her against even the ones she loves the most. If she fails, it will be the end of all humanity forever. If she succeeds, it will be the end of her.

Book Facts

  • Format: ebook
  • No. of pages: 214
  • Publication date: 7th April 2017
  • Genre: Science Fiction

To purchase The X-Variant from Amazon.co.uk click here (link provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme)

My Review (4 out of 5)

The book is set in two separate timelines: one in the near future and one in the distant future. I liked the way the book opened with two alternative versions of a scene in the near future, acting as a teaser for the rest of the book as you obviously want to read on to find out which scene was relevant. The story then moves to the far future where we are introduced to Kala and the rest of the plot is set up. I found the world building was detailed in some respects – technology, transport, and so on – but less so in others. I would have liked to understand more about the structure of Unathi society, the nature of their relationships with their ‘bondmates’, parenting, and so on.

Conversely, I found the scenes set in the near future very convincingly realised. For me, the story really picked up in the final third of the book as Kala and her companions strike out on their own in the post-apocalyptic world, dodging humans infected by the virus who have been transformed grotesquely. The final chapter perfectly (and tantalisingly) sets up the story for the next book. For lovers of science fiction, especially dystopian fiction, this would be an entertaining read.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of Xpresso Book Tours and the author in return for an honest review.

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In three words: Entertaining, intriguing, dystopian

Try something similar…Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

RosemaryColeAbout the Author

Rosemary Cole was born in a small New England town. She has loved science fiction and fantasy since she was old enough to go to the library and take out a tall stack of books from the children’s section. Since then she’s been in many places around the world and done many things, but still loves working and playing with words. Her other interests are good food, good people, and the outdoors, separately or together, and she spends whatever time she can indulging her strange obsession with post-apocalyptic themes. Her first book, The X-Variant, a sci-fi novel about a time-travelling girl and a zombie apocalypse, was published on 7th April 2017.

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Book Review – Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař

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About the Book

spaceman-of-behemia

An intergalactic odyssey of love, ambition, and self-discovery

Orphaned as a boy, raised in the Czech countryside by his doting grandparents, Jakub Procházka has risen from small-time scientist to become the country’s first astronaut. When a dangerous solo mission to Venus offers him both the chance at heroism he’s dreamt of, and a way to atone for his father’s sins as a Communist informer, he ventures boldly into the vast unknown. But in so doing, he leaves behind his devoted wife, Lenka, whose love, he realizes too late, he has sacrificed on the altar of his ambitions.

Alone in Deep Space, Jakub discovers a possibly imaginary giant alien spider, who becomes his unlikely companion. Over philosophical conversations about the nature of love, life and death, and the deliciousness of bacon, the pair form an intense and emotional bond. Will it be enough to see Jakub through a clash with secret Russian rivals and return him safely to Earth for a second chance with Lenka?

Format: ebook (288 pages) Publisher: Little, Brown
Publication date: 9th March 2017 Genre: Science Fiction

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Purchase Spaceman of Bohemia from Amazon UK

My Review

Spaceman of Bohemia is a space adventure, chronicle of recent Czech history and love story all rolled into one.

Blasted into space to investigate a purple dust cloud christened Chopra, like Robinson Crusoe, Jakub detects signs of his strange companion before his actual encounter.  But is this entity a product of space madness, Jakub’s infected tooth or a much more significant moment for mankind?  Whichever it is, the encounter is a vehicle for Jakub to revisit the events of his youth, notably the trauma of discovering his father’s chequered history and a meeting that will reverberate in future years. ‘When my father the hero was lost, my father the nation’s villain came to light.’

Jakub’s belief that he is the biological carrier of his father’s curse – ‘It must rest within my bowels like a tapeworm’ – and must make amends for it is the catalyst for his resolution to undertake the dangerous space mission, so important for the pride of his fledgling nation. 

A review would not be complete without mentioning the brutally honest depiction of the relationship between Jakub and Lenka that is both believable and ultimately moving.  The author’s writing style grew on me and some of his metaphors are very imaginative: ‘Comets are the universe’s dumpster divers, vagrants pushing their carts of intergalactic junk tirelessly over the centuries.’ Others occasionally less so.  His descriptions of sights, sounds and particularly smells are very evocative.    A very impressive first novel.

I received a review copy courtesy of Little, Brown via NetGalley.

Post review note: A film version of the book entitled Spaceman starring Adam Sandler and Carey Mulligan was released in 2004.

In three words: Quirky, imaginative, moving
Try something similar: The Things We Learn When We’re Dead by Charlie Laidlaw

About the Author

Jaroslav Kalfař was born and raised in Prague, Czech Republic, and emigrated to the United States at the age of fifteen, speaking little to no English at that time but learning it by watching Cartoon Network. His debut novel, Spaceman of Bohemia, was a finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, The Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and a nominee for the Dublin Literary Award, and has been published in fourteen languages.

Jaroslav lives in Brooklyn where he splits his time between writing novels and screenplays, and devouring any book he can get his hands on, especially books that play with genre expectations and reflect the strangest parts of life which can be found both in the mundane and the extraordinary. He travels back to the Czech Republic as often as possible to reconnect with his family, his language, his culture and history.