*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of KINDLE Ebook The Space Between the Stars by Anne Corlett

All Jamie Allenby ever wanted was space. Even though she wasn’t forced to emigrate from Earth, she willingly left the overpopulated, claustrophobic planet. And when a long relationship devolved into silence and suffocating sadness, she found work on a frontier world on the edges of civilization. Then the virus hit… Now Jamie finds herself dreadfully alone, with all that’s left of the dead. Until a garbled message from Earth gives her hope that someone from her past might still be alive.

Yes, this is a post-apocalyptic novel following the adventures of one of the few survivors after a terrible virus burns through humanity. But it’s a lot more grown-up than just charting the gritted determination of Jamie to survive in a world where everything has been so very changed. It’s a book that examines what she was expecting from life and the world – and what happens to her when those expectations are smashed after she experiences a tragedy far more common than the end of the world – a miscarriage.

Written in third person, this book gets right under the skin of the main character, warts and all. I didn’t like her very much – she is often quiet when she should say something and is awkward around humans. While she initially trained as a doctor, she moved sideways and qualified as a vet because she was a loss to know what to say or do when people, scared and ill, would proffer intimate details of their life to her. When she meets up with other survivors, she is clearly socially inept. During an argument on board a ship in cramped conditions, she flares at one of the other passengers, who is clearly suffering with her own mental problems – to the extent that I wanted to slap her just to shut her up.

Did I care for her, though? Oh yes. Corlett has written a character who doesn’t feel she fits anywhere. Who wants to reach out to the only man she thinks she’ll ever love – but can’t deal with the crowding that brings. Or his own demand for her to open up and release her sense of grief for their lost baby – something she simply cannot do. By the end of the book, we get to understand exactly why Jamie is as she is, while she undertakes a long journey, both literally and also emotionally with a small group of survivors, who are also shattered at the profound loss they have endured.

What this isn’t, is a completely bleak read. There are times when the situation lurches into farce, for instance when they encounter a group of elderly folk living in a stately home acting as if they are in the middle of a Jane Austen novel. And there is some nicely edged banter with the grumpy space pilot, who is clearly more comfortable carrying crates of freight than the group of traumatised passengers he ends up ferrying.

Corlett brings this tale to a satisfactory conclusion, including solving the mystery of what caused the virus in the first place. I closed the book, musing on Jamie’s journey – and wondering if I was left standing with everyone I cared about gone, what I’d do next. This is one I shall be thinking about for a while, I suspect. If you enjoy unusual books that raise hard, pertinent questions about why we are here and what we are doing, then track this one down.
9/10

Review of KINDLE Ebook Saven Disclosure – Book 2 of the Saven series by Siobhan Davis

I really enjoyed the first book in this entertaining YA science fiction series, Saven Deception – see my review here – where an alien race has infiltrated the human population. This is a tried and tested trope – think of films like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the TV series V. But this one has a different feel…

Enemy alien ships crowd the skies over Earth while the world waits with bated breath. The Saven have been exposed, and where once they were abhorred, they are now championed as our greatest ally and our only possible savior. Logan and Sadie have been separated, and the longer he is gone, the more their love is tested by duty, doubts, and deception. Sadie and Jarod have infiltrated the highest levels of government, but they are playing a dangerous game. Surrounded by people with conflicting agendas—hell-bent on using her for their own aim—Sadie is confused when the lines between good and evil are blurred. It’s impossible to tell friend from foe, and no one can be trusted.

Sadie is in a unique position with regard to the Saven aliens, which has made her a major target. So she now is being closely guarded – until she gets a job within the Government administration as assistant to the Vice-President. However, all is not as it seems… And this is Davis’ superpower. She sets up a particular situation with Sadie in first person viewpoint thinking that all is going in one direction – until it is revealed that isn’t the case. And the reveal almost always ramps up the stakes so that Sadie’s personal happiness or someone very close to her is put in harm’s way. Of course, in order to continue reading – and I did – I have to care about Sadie and those around her.

This is a YA read, so the protagonist is inevitably feeling out of her depth and the romance is sweet and frustrated rather than steamy with Sadie spending a fair amount of time agonising as to whether Logan really loves her. However, this is science fiction adventure with a romantic element rather than being a romance that uses the sci fi backdrop as a convenient setting for the relationship, so while it part of the driver for the plot, there is a lot more going on than just a love story.

I found Sadie’s steady character development from the first book credible – particularly her growing ability to protect herself when she is attacked, given all the coaching she has received from Haydn, the bodyguard assigned to look after her. As for the supporting cast, they are well written and suitably complex. Logan is desirable and clearly in love with Sadie, yet I still have issues with aspects of his behaviour – not a surprise with the Saven species both aggressive and intent on galaxy-wide domination, before they gained consciences by interacting with humans. His bossiness and tendency to order Sadie around grates with me. The antagonists in the story, including Logan’s father, are suitably horrible and one of them proves to be unexpectedly powerful – another plot twist that caught me unawares.

The action in the last third of the book is continuous, with one shock after another all culminating into a major cliffhanger, whereby the book ends with everything hanging in the balance. I hate it when that happens… At least Davis does apologise for leaving everything up in the air – and the good news is that you don’t have to wait before getting hold of the novella Saven Denial which immediately picks up the story.

This unbiased review has not been influenced by receiving a copy of Saven Disclosure from the author.
8/10