Mantivore Warrior is published today! #MantivoreWarriorpublication #TheArcadianChroniclescompleted

I’m delighted to announce the Mantivore Warrior is published today – thus completing The Arcadian Chronicles trilogy about my telepathic alien, Vrox.

To celebrate the completion of my SECOND trilogy – I’ve decided to make Running Out of Space, the first book in my FIRST trilogy free from today MONDAY 31st August until WEDNESDAY 2nd September! Just click on the cover in the sidebar, which will take you to your nearest Amazon store to claim your copy.

For those of you who have been following Vrox’s journey, this book features a different protagonist – Jessob, so it gives an entry point into the story. I’m really excited to have finished Vrox’s adventures, because the first draft of Mantivore Dreams is one I wrote a long time ago, when it was different in many ways – except for Vrox, who has more or less stayed unchanged.

BLURB for MANTIVORE WARRIOR
Setting out to cross The Arids is always dangerous – but this time, when the survival of an ancient sentient species hangs in the balance – it could be lethal…

Jessob Jolanzo, raised within the most powerful and remote mantivore lair on the planet, has roamed The Arids since he was knee-high to a hen. Having succeeded in his seemingly impossible mission, he and his companions are returning with a message of hope to the beleaguered mantivore community. But the way things are going, they’ll need a huge helping of luck to return them safely to the hidden mantivore enclave.

Vrox, apex predator and telepath, holds in his head ancient secrets many powerful humans in Gloriosa Prime would rather keep hidden. And his lifelong captivity leaves him unprepared him for this brutal journey.

Mistress Felina Keeper, former village Storekeeper, is now MindLinked with Vrox and accompanying him on this trek. Resourceful and possessed of formidable mental strength, her presence should help. But Jessob is discovering that while middle-aged mantivores become ever tougher and stronger – the same isn’t true of ageing humans.

And when an attacker strikes from a completely unexpected quarter, it isn’t only future of the mantivore race in peril – Jessob risks losing his mind…

Mantivore Warrior is now available at Amazon – and here is a sneak peek…

CHAPTER ONE

It’s nearly my favourite place in all the world, sitting by a campfire after a long night’s trek. Though my pleasure was dented when Mistress Felina’s face crunched into the scowl I’d grown to dread. “Roaching lizards, again?”
“When roasted till crunchy, there’s nothing tastier.” I put the bundle of lizards down onto the rock beside her, having already gutted an’ beheaded them, after she’d grumbled about that. “Vroxy won’t—”
“I got the ringside seat to Vrox’s kill, thank-you kindly. And to him gobbling it up,” she snapped. “Still trying to wipe it outta my mind so’s I can think of supper without wanting to puke. And then you show up with a bunch of headless lizards!”
Vrox whickers pleadingly. Can Lordling ease our Queen’s aches, so Vrox can return to a peaceful fireside and warm his chilled scales?
It will be done, Vroxy. I’ll need more HealDrool from you when you get back, though, I Sent. Sorting through my pack, I found the right phial, unwrapped it an’ placed it beside me.
While stacking the kindling, Mistress Felina looked across, face-scrunching again as she spotted the phial. “Don’t need that. Not now, Jessob! I’m busy.”
You’re hoed flat an’ hurting. An’ busy proving that you aren’t a cripped old woman Vroxy an’ me should leave behind. Which we won’t cos you’re tired an’ sore, but we might if you go on being such a drab-scaled misery. I grinned at her, hoping to soften her mood.
Vrox squeals, horrified at Lordling’s slack-crested incivility to his Queen and wants her to know he’d no such thoughts.
Mistress Felina chuckled, a throaty, terracotta sound full of comfort an’ warmth, before putting the lizards in a pouch hanging from Leggsie’s round metal body. Leaving anything dead lying around in The Arids for more than a handful of heartbeats was asking for trouble.
I sucked in a deep breath, tasting the multi-coloured scents of the campfire, Leggsie’s blue, metallic tang an’ Mistress Felina’s musky ochre humanity. Staring up at the vast star-spattered sky vaulting overhead, I wondered what Dorn was doing… Is he part of a night-time reccie? Probably not. Probably LoveDrooled up to his neck crest an’ twining tongues with Gristor. Not an image I wanted to linger on.
I shifted across to the boulder next to Mistress Felina. “C’mon then. Let’s have them. The right one, first. That’s the one hurting most.”
Mistress Felina lifted her right foot with a wince, grumbling, “And that’s the trouble with this MindLinking flamdoodle. Some roaching teener starts telling you which foot is giving you the keenest grief.”
I propped her foot on my knees, unbuckled her boot an’ eased her swollen foot free. Squeezing out a tiny amount of HealDrool, I worked it into the roughened sole, marvelling at the way human elderly skin wrinkled an’ folded, so unlike mantivore hide. I made sure to gently knead extra across the purplish lump sticking out by her big toe joint, which ached most of all. I caught the name of it from her thoughts… A bunion. Sounds nasty an’ sore. “There’s nothing to stop you riding a hover-trolley, for a spell.”
“Don’t you start treating me like some lamed liability!” she snapped, yellow fear-notes threading through her voice. “I’ve been trudging through the roaching Arids before you were a kiss on your papa’s lips.”
“Aye, I know.” I lowered my voice an’ raised my mental shields so Vroxy couldn’t listen in – him still tending to MindSnoop. Even though we’d had plenty of talks on why he shouldn’t. “Thing is, Vroxy gets his scales in a swirl when you’re sore, or stenched. Or both. An’ we need him to track those stray vores nice an’ calmlike. He goes in remotely stirred up, that lord will reckon he’s trying to move in on his queen an’ cubs.”
Mistress Felina swapped over feet, already more relaxed as the HealDrool started doing its stuff. “Hm. That’s a thing I hadn’t considered.”
Mistress Felina accepting she might be wrong? That only happens once in a purple tide… Meanwhile I was coping with her relief from the pain, along with a giddying rainbow surge of pleasure as I applied the rest of the HealDrool. “Try raising your shields.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Hoeing you flat with my mind fluff, am I?”
“You’re loud.” So very, very loud. I pushed down my panic at the havoc her untrained Sendings could have on new-borns, cub-starved queenlings an’ mood-scurfed lords once we arrived at the Much-Tribute Horde. The Queen’s coterie will likely scoop her up an’ protect her, seeing as she tastes so powerfully of an old mantivore Queen full of wisdom. Won’t they?
She shut her eyes, breathing deeply.
I surfaced from the swamp of her pleasure at having no more aching feet, now I’d finished applying the HealDrool.
“How’s that?” she demanded, opening her eyes again. “Cos I’m all but rupturing my sorry self keeping my thoughts locked down.”
An’ you might as well not be bothering.

Sunday Post – 30th August, 2020 #Brainfluffbookblog #SundayPost

This is part of the weekly meme over at the Caffeinated Reviewer, where book bloggers can share the books and blogs they have written.

This has been another week with lots of wind and rain and steadily cooling temperatures. It feels as if Autumn is just around the corner – a thought I dread… Other than finally getting a chance to visit the hairdresser, not much happened. Himself and I ventured into Rustington on his day off to do a bit of shopping, and visited our go-to cafe. Our planned walk was cancelled – the water fell out of the sky in a pelting torrent and neither of us were up for a soaking. So we went for a walk this morning along the beach, again – which is where this week’s photos are from.

In the meantime, I taken time off from the ongoing chore of editing, as I was beginning to struggle. So instead, I’ve been rewriting my outline plan for Picky Eaters 2 before continuing work on it. I’ve also been preparing the final details for the launch of Mantivore Warrior, which is being released tomorrow, Monday 31st August.

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Last week I read:

Every Sky a Grave – Book 1 of The Ascendance series by Jay Posey
Mankind has spread out and conquered the galaxy by mastering the fundamental language of the universe. With the right training, the right application of words, truth itself can be rearranged. Language is literally power. Peace reigns now. Order reigns.
For if a planet deviates too far from what the authorities plan, an agent is sent out to correct that. To quietly and with great skill, end that world. One such agent is Elyth – a true believer.
I’ve truncated the rather chatty blurb and I’d advise you to give it a miss if you want to tuck into this one – which is highly recommended. I loved the tension popping from the nuanced character of Elyth and was impressed by the quality of the writing.


AUDIOBOOK Charlotte Sometimes – Book 3 of the Aviary Hall series by Penelope Farmer
It’s natural to feel a little out of place when you’re the new girl, but when Charlotte Makepeace wakes up after her first night at boarding school, she’s baffled: everyone thinks she’s a girl called Clare Mobley, and even more shockingly, it seems she has traveled forty years back in time to 1918. In the months to follow, Charlotte wakes alternately in her own time and in Clare’s. And instead of having only one new set of rules to learn, she also has to contend with the unprecedented strangeness of being an entirely new person in an era she knows nothing about.
This was in Frankie’s list of audiobooks, which I started listening to on a whim. And discovered a gem… This book is extraordinary – it’s right up there with Tom’s Midnight Garden and the writing is truly beautiful spoken aloud. It didn’t hurt that the narrator is accomplished actress Hannah Gordon. Review to follow.

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Fearless by Allen Stroud
AD 2118. Humanity has colonised the Moon, Mars, Ceres and Europa. Captain Ellisa Shann commands Khidr, a search and rescue ship with a crew of twenty-five, tasked to assist the vast commercial freighters that supply the different solar system colonies.

Shann has no legs and has taken to life in zero-g partly as a result. She is a talented tactician who has a tendency to take too much on her own shoulders. Now, while on a regular six-month patrol through the solar system, Khidr picks up a distress call from the freighter Hercules…
I loved the worldbuilding and the action-packed scenario, which was so well done. This one buckets along at a cracking pace and is a real page-turner – but I wasn’t a fan of the very abrupt ending which left the story on a cliffhanger. Review to follow.


My posts last week:

Castellan the Black and His Wise Draconic Musings

Review of AUDIOBOOK Deep Roots – Book 2 of the Innsmouth Legacy series by Ruthanna Emyrs

A Déjà vu Review of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms – Book 1 of The Inheritance series by N.K. Jemisin

Friday Face-off featuring The Crow Trap – Book 1 of The Vera Stanhope series by Ann Cleeves

Review of NETGALLEY arc Every Sky a Grave – Book 1 of The Ascendance series by Jay Posey

Can’t-Wait-Wednesday featuring The Trials of Koli – Book 2 of The Rampart trilogy by M.R. Carey

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of The Mother Code by Carol Stivers

Tuesday Treasures – 10

Cover Love #2 featuring the covers of N.K. Jemisin’s books

Sunday Post – 23rd August 2020


Interesting/outstanding blogs and articles that have caught my attention during the last week, in no particular order:

Happy Halloween https://www.becausereading.com/happy-halloween-ive-seen-ghost/ Yes – I KNOW it isn’t Halloween, but I was taking part in a tag on Twitter, and came across a real-life ghost story…

The Book Predictions Tag https://spaceandsorcery.wordpress.com/2020/08/25/the-book-predictions-tag/ Talking of tags… this one is huge fun – apart from the 1 star question which still has me scratching my head. Why would you pick up a book that you thought would be a 1 star read??

Is It Cheating To Listen to Audiobooks? https://barelywise.com/2020/08/08/is-it-cheating-to-listen-to-audiobooks/ I’ve seen this subject discussed several times in book blogging circles, but this article covers it really well…

Finding Our Focus During Crazy Times: Only So Many Ducks To Give https://authorkristenlamb.com/2020/08/finding-focus-mental-health-stress/ I love Kristen’s articles and had noticed her absence – so it’s lovely to see her back…

How to spot a Dragon using an illusion spell https://twitter.com/fictiongateway/status/1297843739688341504/photo/1 I just loved this pic…

Thank you for visiting, reading, liking and/or commenting on my blog – I hope you and yours have a peaceful, healthy week. Take care.

Castellan the Black and his Wise Draconic Musings on Family Life #BrainfluffCastellanthe Black #WiseDragonicMusingsonaFamilyLife #PickyEaters

When interceding in a family quarrel, don’t be afraid to roar louder than anyone else.

Castellan the Black, mighty dragon warrior, features in my short story Picky Eaters, written to provide a humorous escape from all the stuff that isn’t happening on Wyvern Peak… All proceeds for the duration of its publishing life are donated to mental health charities.

Review of AUDIOBOOK Deep Roots – Book 2 of The Innsmouth Legacy by Ruthanna Emrys #BrainfluffAUDIOBOOKreview #OutstandingAUDIOBOOKofthemonth #DeepRootsbookreview

I absolutely loved Winter Tide, which is a gem of a book – see my review – and so impressed me that it made my 2017 Outstanding Reads List. Would Deep Roots be as compellingly good?

BLURB: Aphra Marsh, descendant of the People of the Water, has survived Deep One internment camps and made a grudging peace with the government that destroyed her home and exterminated her people on land. “Deep Roots” continues Aphra’s journey to rebuild her life and family on land, as she tracks down long-lost relatives. She must repopulate Innsmouth or risk seeing it torn down by greedy developers, but as she searches she discovers that people have been going missing. She will have to unravel the mystery, or risk seeing her way of life slip away.

REVIEW: This series is marvellous and deserves to be far better known. Aphra is desperately searching for more relatives, as far too many houses stand empty in Innsmouth after most of the town was wiped out by the Government years earlier. Such unused real estate is starting to draw unwelcome attention. If Aphra cannot find more of her own kind, they not only risk dying out, but she will no longer be able to meet up on the beaches of her childhood with her Grandfather and the other Deep Ones, who have now transformed and live below the waves. So she is in New York with her brother and a small band of friends, following up on reports of a cousin who has the same bulbous eyes and odd skull configuration as Aphra and her brother.

Gabra Zackman’s excellent narration helped weave the pervading sense of tension throughout this gripping fantasy, imbued with Lovecraftian monsters. I love Aphra’s character and was delighted that this book continues in her viewpoint. She is still coming to terms with the loss of her parents and community, but trying to move on and recreate a safe place for others like herself and her brother. This book is set in 1940s America, just as the Cold War with Russia is starting to gather pace – indeed there is a point in the book where there is an announcement that the USSR has detonated a nuclear device – and there is also increasing paranoia about anyone who looks are sounds different. Emrys has nailed the sense of time, just as she has also beautifully woven Lovecraft’s pantheon through this engrossing, well written fantasy.

I love books that creak with tension – but then the author has to deliver sufficient plot and action to merit the buildup, which Emrys does in spades. I loved the pacing, which works really well. At no stage was anything unduly hurried, yet the story clips along with plenty happening along the way and the reader fully aware of the consequences should it all go wrong. The supporting characters work well – there were several that I’d encountered in the first book and I was pleased to see that one in particular, who was badly injured, is still battling with the fallout from her encounter in this book, too. All in all, this is another accomplished, utterly engrossing read that left me longing for more in this world. Highly recommended for fans of intelligent, well crafted fantasy with Lovecraftian overtones – though whatever you do, start with Winter Tide.
10/10

A Deja Vu Review of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms – Book 1 of The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin #DejaVuBrainfluffbookreview #TheHundredThousandKingdomsbookreview

I have been regularly blogging on this site since 2009, and have stacked up a reasonable number of reviews. So I thought I’d start a series where I’d regularly reblog a review of a particularly outstanding book that has made an impact. As I featured N.K. Jemisin’s wonderful covers earlier this week, I decided to revisit my first impression of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, which I started reading while sitting at Victoria Station, waiting for a train home. Such a vivid memory!

This fantasy debut novel is different – no, really… I’ve read one or three fantasy books in my time – urban, paranormal, high, low, dark – and this isn’t like any of them. The closest in feel, I suppose, is Liz Williams’ Inspector Chen series, and even then, there are at least a dozen ways in which this book differs.

BLURB: Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky – a palace above the clouds where the lives of gods and mortals intertwine.

There, to her shock, Yeine is named one of the potential heirs to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with a pair of cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother’s death and her family’s bloody history.

REVIEW: Written in first person viewpoint, we are immediately sucked into a world where nothing is as it seems and the impossible and improbable occur at least a dozen times a day. Yeine finds herself fending off the unwelcome attention of all sorts of people. And gods. The bar-tight tension twanging throughout this tale relies in a large part in our belief in the capricious, lethal mutability of the immortal beings who crowd into this story and upstage everyone else – particularly Nightlord Nahadoth who fascinates and terrifies Yeine in equal measure. The stakes are high – if for one moment we decide that Naha (his nickname) and his equally lethal sidekick, Sieh, aren’t convincingly scary, then the whole plot crashes with all the grace of a duck landing on ice.

Not only do we have to believe that these gods are terrible, but come to accept and understand why Yeine falls under their spell and start to pity them and want them to behave well – in other words empathise and care about them. That’s always a tough call – to make really ‘other’ characters become sympathetic to the reader. It’s one of the major problems I have with so many hard science fiction books set hundreds of years into the future when Humanity becomes Posthuman – I often don’t bond with the main protagonists because they are just too different. I’ll bet that I wouldn’t have that problem if Jemisin wanted to write that genre, though. She is good at connecting her reader with the weirdly creepy.

She manages to sustain the tempo, while juggling a cast of outstandingly difficult characters in a bizarre setting and suck us right in to this page-turner until the climax and denouement – which I didn’t see coming. At no time did I feel that I was in the hands of some newbie feeling her way into this novel-writing business. Jemisin writes as if she’s been doing this all her life. As if she’s written a good dozen books and got another batch still cooking in her head. I surely hope so – because with a debut like this, I’ll want to jump into her worlds, again. That difference is addictive…
10/10

Friday Faceoff – Straight roads do not make skilful drivers… #Brainfluffbookblog #FridayFaceoffroadcovers

This meme was started by Books by Proxy, whose fabulous idea was to compare UK and US book covers and decide which is we prefer. This meme is being nurtured by Lynn’s Book Blog and this week we are featuring covers with a ROAD on them. I struggled a bit this week, but in the I’ve selected The Crow Trap – Book 1 of the Vera Stanhope series by Anne Cleeves.

Pan MacMillan – October 2001

This edition was produced by Pan MacMillan in October 2001. It’s very plain – just black lettering on a red background, with a single feather. I wish they’d left it at that and had resisted the temptation to add the chatter, because with such a minimalist approach, any extra fluff really jars, as in this case. The lettering is slightly fuzzed, which I really like, because it forces me to refocus on it, pulling at my attention for a second look. If it hadn’t been for the extra line of chat, this would have been a real contender.

Minotaur Books – February 2017

Published in February 2017 by Minotaur Books, this cover is another strong contender. I just wish they’d left off the ugly button featuring Brenda Blethyn, who plays Vera in the very strong TV series. But I love the outline of the crow against the plain purple cover, showing a deserted barn in the desolate countryside, which is part of Vera’s patch. Overall, I think this is another strong, effective design that works well, with plenty of visual appeal.

Pan – April 2016

This edition, published by Pan in April 2016, is the first to feature a landscape. And what a dark, brooding landscape! It’s this cover that caused me to choose the book for this week’s theme and I have to say that I love it. The wild moorland, the rutted road and that gorgeously ominous sky. This would be my favourite, but for my concern that the feel and tenor of the cover is more suited to a horror thriller, rather than a rather downbeat police procedural murder mystery. And that ghastly blob, of course.

Pan Publishing – August 2010

This edition, produced by Pan Publishing in August 2010, is even bleaker. That midnight blue suffusing the cover, with the image of the crow dangling from the barbed-wire fencing definitely gives this one a strong horror vibe. The reason why I suppose they feel comfortable using such bleak imagery, is the very clear lettering announcing that this is a Vera Stanhope novel. It’s also significant that by now, the author’s name is larger than the title, which shows the success that she had achieved by then. Although the TV series wasn’t aired until 2011, so this cover was designed before then.

Russian edition – April 2020

This Russian edition, published by Эксмо in April 2020, is another cover featuring the bleak but beautiful Northumberland coastline. The aspect of the cover that particularly caught my attention is the way the title is resting in amongst the grass, seemingly rooted there. It creates an interesting and unusual visual dynamic. This one is my favourite – it gives a sense of menace, without a strong horror vibe. I’d pick this one up, whereas I think I’d probably leave most of the others on the shelf. Which one is your favourite – and have you read the books, or watched the TV series?

Review of NETGALLEY arc Every Sky A Grave – Book 1 of The Ascendance series by Jay Posey #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #EverySkyaGravebookreview

I read and thoroughly enjoyed Jay Posey’s Outriders series – see my review of Outriders and review of Sungrazer. These books were military science fiction, full of action and adventure – so I was unprepared for Elyth’s careful, thoughtful approach.

BLURB: HER WORD IS HER WEAPON.
Mankind has spread out and conquered the galaxy by mastering the fundamental language of the universe. With the right training, the right application of words, truth itself can be rearranged.

Language is literally power. Peace reigns now. Order reigns. For if a planet deviates too far from what the authorities plan, an agent is sent out to correct that. To quietly and with great skill, end that world. One such agent is Elyth – a true believer.

REVIEW: I loved this one! Elyth is an insanely powerful character with cataclysmic power, which it should have been a real problem. I shouldn’t have been so worried on her behalf as she is pitchforked, still reeling and unprepared from a previously traumatic assignment, into this most challenging task. But her weapon isn’t some technical planet-busting gismo – Posey is far more inventive than that. Elyth’s power comes from a mastery of language as a subset of the fabric of the universe that can have the power to unravel it, and its secrets are kept within an all-women sect that help The Ascendancy keep order throughout all human space. Elyth is their agent, who has been sent secretly to Qel to discover what is causing a disturbance within the Deep Language – and eliminate it at whatever cost.

This isn’t a foot-to-the-floor, all-guns-blazing adventure. This is one of those tense stories where the main protagonist is scrabbling to cope when all her plans are up-ended before she has a chance to get going. So initially the pacing is quite slow. I’ve no problem with that – it gave me plenty of time to get immersed in the world and acquainted with how this unusual world works, as well as more time to get to know Elyth. She doesn’t wear her heart on her sleeve, or emote all that much – she’s been trained not to. It also meant that when the action did kick off, it had far more impact.

The descriptions of the countryside, as Elyth is trying to stay hidden from the security forces, gave me a vivid picture of the world. Not only did this enrich my reading experience – it was also important as part of the story. Because it matters that Elyth becomes increasingly fond of the planet and feels an affinity for the flora and fauna that lives there. I’m not going to say more, as I don’t want to lurch into Spoiler territory. Suffice to say, the plot goes off into a direction both familiar and yet with a different twist, so that I’m very keen to read the next book in the series. And I’m hoping that Posey is going to write it quickly. This excellent read is highly recommended for science fiction fans who like their colony adventures with a different twist. While I obtained an arc of Every Sky is a Grave from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

Can’t-Wait Wednesday – 26th August, 2020 #Brainfluffbookblog #CWC #WOW

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week’s Can’t-Wait offering – The Trials of Koli – Book 2 of the Rampart trilogy by Carey – release date 17th September

#science fiction #post apocalyptic #troubled young hero

BLURB: Beyond the walls of Koli’s small village lies a fearsome landscape filled with choker trees, vicious beasts and shunned men. As an exile, Koli’s been forced to journey out into this mysterious, hostile world. But he heard a story, once. A story about lost London, and the mysterious tech of the Old Times that may still be there. If Koli can find it, there may still be a way for him to redeem himself – by saving what’s left of humankind.

I loved the first book in this series – see my review of The Book of Koli – so I’m really excited by the sequel coming out so soon after the first book. And I was delighted to get hold of an arc – yippee! Carey is very good at writing shattered societies – I was blown away by his enthralling The Girl with All the Gifts – see my review.

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of NETGALLEY arc The Mother Code by Carol Stivers #BrainfluffNETGALLEYbookreview #TheMotherCodebookreview

I put this one down feeling rather conflicted. It’s an ambitious book in its scope, as Stivers attempts to take the classic apocalyptic lethal plague scenario and give it an interesting twist.

BLURB: The year is 2049. When a deadly non-viral agent intended for biowarfare spreads out of control, scientists must scramble to ensure the survival of the human race. They turn to their last resort, a plan to place genetically engineered children inside the cocoons of large-scale robots–to be incubated, birthed, and raised by machines. But there is yet one hope of preserving the human order–an intelligence programmed into these machines that renders each unique in its own right–the Mother Code.

Kai is born in America’s desert southwest, his only companion his robot Mother, Rho-Z. Equipped with the knowledge and motivations of a human mother, Rho-Z raises Kai and teaches him how to survive. But as children like Kai come of age, their Mothers transform too–in ways that were never predicted. When government survivors decide that the Mothers must be destroyed, Kai must make a choice. Will he break the bond he shares with Rho-Z? Or will he fight to save the only parent he has ever known?

REVIEW: After I started reading this one, I discovered that Stivers is a scientist – which is evident by all the techy details she became engrossed in, which as far as I was concerned, slightly held up the pace. This book isn’t presented as a hard sci fi read – and the fact that a lot of the science surfaced at several crucial points, where the pacing should have been increasing didn’t help my bonding with the main characters.
I think this book had the potential to be a truly great read – but Stivers hasn’t quite pulled it off and that is because the story can’t make up its mind what it’s trying to do. It could have been a quirky, hard sci fi adventure about how saving the species got messed up from the viewpoint of the key scientists as the survivors desperately try to outwit the lethal robots protecting them. Or it could have been a gritted survival adventure from the viewpoint of the children battling to stay alive in the desert, accompanied by their robotic mothers. But what Stivers tried to do was straddle both stories and the result is a bit of a hot mess, particularly by the end.

I found it a rather frustrating read, because just as I was starting to care about one of the characters, the viewpoint shifted yet again, which meant that I didn’t bond with anyone in the book, though I came close to caring about poor little Kai and James Said. It didn’t help that I’m not a fan of the apocalyptic scenario where there is a steady attrition of main characters, but in fairness to me – this one wasn’t marketed as that kind of book. It’s a shame, because Stivers isn’t a bad writer and if only she’d had an editor who had given her more clarity as to what she really wanted to do with this story, it could have been awesome. Apparently, Stephen Spielberg has bought the rights to the story, and I’ll be interested to see if he’ll tell the more interesting, quirkier story – or turn it into a Hollywood cliché.

Recommended for fans who enjoy their apocalyptic adventures with a dollop of hard sci fi. The ebook arc copy of The Mother Code was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest opinion of the book.
7/10

Tuesday Treasures – 10 #Brainfluffbookblog #LightintheLockdown

This week on Tuesday Treasures, I am featuring the pics I took on our walk along Littlehampton beach on Sunday morning. As you can see, the tide was out a long way…

Himself joining me on my walk

Patterns of different coloured sand made by the retreating tide

We were lucky with the weather – the rain didn’t come until we got home

Barnacles growing on one of the groyns

The seaweed looks so ordinary until you get close – and realise how pretty it is…

The sand is broken up by heaps of flints that appeared after the work on the sea defences

There are now rockpools and seaweed growing on these piles

I loved the way the sun was reflected in one of the rockpools

Seaweed is unfurled and beautiful in rockpools, rather than sodden heaps on the sand