*Disclaimer*
Everyone is different and likes and dislikes different things. Reading is no exception. One person’s all-time favorite might seem too bland or too high stakes for another. That being said, the opinions of our judges in this contest are just that, opinions. Just because we let a book go, doesn’t mean it isn’t good. It could be your next favorite, who knows?
Now that we are in the finals, we are going to be doing full reviews for each book. The books are being reviewed in no particular order, not in order of their star rating. We are just reviewing them as we finish reading them.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can learn more about the contest here.
Today we are reviewing Iron Truth for the first annual Self-Published Science Fiction Contest. You can read their review here. And you can see the finalist spreadsheet here.
Summary
When miners on a remote colony dig too deep, the golden age of space exploration comes to a bloody end. A corruption springs from Xanthe’s alien soil, possessing every mind it touches.
Embroiled in civil war, the galactic community spirals into panic, and the Primaterre Protectorate seizes control. In order to preserve Earth, its surface is quarantined, and all further deep space colonisation is outlawed.
Aboard one of the last colony ships, junior botanist Joy Somerset slumbers in cryostasis, unaware of war and corruption. Expecting the clear skies of a garden colony, she instead wakes stranded on Cato—a planet whose menacing sands seem to share a hunger with the crazed locals—and Joy faces mortal peril at every turn.
Commander Cassimer, troubled by a past of epic proportions, is a Primaterre veteran dedicated to fighting the corruption. Now he leads Scathach Banneret Company’s elite strike team on a mission to recover a clandestine starship lost on Cato. On this storm-lashed world, surrounded by shadow and ruin, Cassimer faces not only failure, but the loss of what little sanity he has.
Joy and Cassimer must trust each other long enough to uncover Cato’s dark secret and work together to survive deranged cultists, terrorist rebels, and the Iron Truth.
Our Thoughts
Iron Truth starts with Joy and her hope for a better life. Instead, she awakes to a nightmare on a desolate planet. Much like the juxtaposition between the bright and hopeful opening and the gray world of Cato, our judges had a lot of mixed feelings about this book.
The action and suspense of the story were great, and the world and its characters well fleshed out. But some of the personalities didn’t quite work when mixed with the others in the group. Because of this sometimes our judges flew through chapters and other seemed to drag. And while it is a good story overall, there weren’t a lot of new and different things done in the book.
There are things to love about it and things that we could have taken or left. If you are a fan of good writing, and sci-fi suspense and military tropes, this book is definitely worth the read!
Our official SPSFC score is 6.83/10, but for our site review we are rounding to 7/10. For more information on the SPSFC you can check out the official website and follow them on Twitter and Facebook.
Julia Kitvaria Sarene