Excerpt: FOR THE FIRST TIME, AGAIN by Sylvain Neuvel (Tor.com)

NeuvelS-3-ForTheFirstTimeAgainUSHCNext week, Tor.com are due to publish For the First Time, Again, the third novel in Sylvain Neuvel‘s Take Them to the Stars series. To celebrate the release, the publisher has provided CR with this except. First, though, here’s the synopsis:

Against the backdrop of authentic historical events, Sylvain Neuvel concludes his acclaimed Take Them to the Stars series with a biting satire on the role of authority in all its guises, bringing us a truly breathtaking science fiction trilogy that spans the ages.

When you don’t know The Rules it’s hard to stay safe.

After a traumatic incident, Aster’s blood work comes back with some unusual readings. Unsurprising, as she’s the last of an alien race called the Kibsu, though she doesn’t know it.

She becomes the focus of a hunt, with her mortal enemies, the Trackers, on one side, and the American government on the other. But help has come from a most unexpected quarter.

Whoever finds her first, it won’t be good news for Aster.

Or for the world!

Now, read on for four short chapters of the novel…

Continue reading

New Books (July-August)

NewBooks-20200815

Featuring: Kurt Andersen, Nicholas Bowling, Craig Brown, Gregory Brown, Bridget Collins, S.A. Cosby, Nicola DeRobertis-Theye, Will Ferguson, Victoria Gosling, Guy Haley, Elizabeth Hand, Anthony Horowitz, Clifford Jackman, R.F. Kuang, Byron Lane, Ellery Lloyd, Melissa Maerz, Una Mannion, David Mitchell, Sylvain Neuvel, Nnedi Okorafor, Kristina Pérez, David Polfeldt, C.L. Polk, Andrzej Sapkowski, Ginger Smith, K.M. Szpara, Nghi Vo, Chris Wraight

Continue reading

Quick Review: THE TEST by Sylvain Neuvel (Tor.com)

NeuvelS-TestA superb immigration dystopia

Britain, the not-too-distant future.

Idir is sitting the British Citizenship Test.

He wants his family to belong.

Twenty-five questions to determine their fate. Twenty-five chances to impress.

When the test takes an unexpected and tragic turn, Idir is handed the power of life and death.

How do you value a life when all you have is multiple choice?

As someone who has lived in multiple countries, I’ve always been interested in immigration and the policies and rhetoric that surrounds it. While immigrants frequently feature in fiction, rarely (to my knowledge) is the process itself the central focus of the story. Set against a subtly dystopian backdrop, this is an interesting, well-written and sometimes thought-provoking story. I enjoyed this. Continue reading

New Books (October-November)

NewBooks-20181124

Featuring: Ben Aaronovitch, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Robert Jackson Bennett, Jonathan Carr, Ryan Chapman, James Charlesworth, P. Djèlí Clark, Michael Connelly, Lucy Foley, Gareth Hanrahan, Darius Hinks (x3), Glen Hirshberg, John Hornor Jacobs, Stephen King, Jenn Lyons, Patrick McGilligan, Seanan McGuire, Scotto Moore, Haruki Murakami, Sylvain Neuvel, James Patterson, Busy Philipps, James Rollins, Craig Russell, John Scalzi, Barry Strauss, Charles Stross, Michael J. Sullivan, Tracy Townsend, Paul Tremblay, Edward Wilson-Lee

Continue reading

Review: SLEEPING GIANTS by Sylvain Neuvel (Del Rey/ Michael Joseph)

NeuvelS-SleepingGiantsUSAn interesting start to a new series

Deadwood, USA. A girl sneaks out just before dark to ride her new bike. Suddenly, the ground disappears beneath her. Waking up at the bottom of a deep pit, she sees an emergency rescue team above her. The people looking down see something far stranger…

“We always look forward. We never look back.”

That girl grows up to be Dr. Rose Franklyn, a brilliant scientist and the leading world expert on what she discovered. An enormous, ornate hand made of an exceptionally rare metal, which predates all human civilisation on the continent. 

“But this thing … it’s different. It challenges us. It rewrites history.”

An object whose origins and purpose are perhaps the greatest mystery humanity has ever faced. Solving the secret of where it came from — and how many more parts may be out there — could change life as we know it.

“It dares us to question what we know about ourselves.”

But what if we were meant to find it? And what happens when this vast, global puzzle is complete…?

“About everything.”

I had very high hopes for Neuvel’s Sleeping Giants. It sounded really interesting and, as an epistolary novel, I was certainly intrigued to see how the author built the story. For the main, it is very well-written and interesting. That being said, the story flagged a bit towards the end, despite being the start of a new series. Continue reading

New Books (April-May)

Saga-36 crop

Featuring: Gillian Anderson, Neal Asher, James Bennett, Ezekiel Boone, Brom, Terry Brooks, Lily Brooks-Dalton, Karl Brown, Caleb Carr, Blake Charlton, Paul Cornell, Paul Crilley, Jan Fedarcyk, Jenni Fagan, Mike French, Teresa Frohock, Frank Gardner, Claudia Gray, Grady Hendrix, Lindsey Lee Johnson, Jo Jordan, Richard Kadrey, Guy Gavriel Kay, Paul Kearney, Taylor Larsen, Edward Lazellari, Yoon Ha Le, Ava Marsh, Michael J. Martinez, Imbolo Mbue, Andy McNab, Graham McNeill, Sylvain Neuvel, Paige Orwin, Daniel Polansky, Terry Pratchett, Tarn Richardson, Gene Riehl, Jeff Rovin, John Sandford, Yvonne Sewall-Ruskin, Anne Valente, Ben Winters, Chris Wraight

Above Picture: Crop of Saga #36, by Fiona Staples (Image)

Continue reading

Upcoming: SLEEPING GIANTS by Sylvain Neuvel (Michael Joseph)

NeuvelS-SleepingGiantsUKI stumbled across this title on Penguin UK’s website, while looking for information on another book. It caught my eye first because of the interesting cover, but then I read the synopsis and my interest was even more piqued:

Deadwood, USA. A girl sneaks out just before dark to ride her new bike. Suddenly, the ground disappears beneath her. Waking up at the bottom of a deep pit, she sees an emergency rescue team above her. The people looking down see something far stranger…

“We always look forward. We never look back.”

That girl grows up to be Dr. Rose Franklyn, a brilliant scientist and the leading world expert on what she discovered. An enormous, ornate hand made of an exceptionally rare metal, which predates all human civilisation on the continent. 

“But this thing… it’s different. It challenges us. It rewrites history.”

An object whose origins and purpose are perhaps the greatest mystery humanity has ever faced. Solving the secret of where it came from — and how many more parts may be out there — could change life as we know it.

“It dares us to question what we know about ourselves.”

But what if we were meant to find it? And what happens when this vast, global puzzle is complete…?

“About everything.”

My interested grew again when I learned that Neuvel is Canadian — as a recent immigrant, I’m rather keen on discovering more authors from Canada.

Sylvain Neuvel‘s Sleeping Giants, the first in the Themis Files series, is due to be published by Michael Joseph in the UK, on April 7th, 2016; it is due to be published by Del Rey in the US (cover below), on April 26th, 2016.

NeuvelS-SleepingGiantsUS