Yet another of my loot purchased at Book Fair Australia. This one was a good buy. When I’m in front of an author trying to sell all their books I buy very much on instinct and less on what the back of the book says. Sometimes this instinct works well and other times not so well. I rarely focus on the not so good purchases. I bought a trilogy recently where I didn’t make it past the first chapter and gave them away. On the other hand, Project Eclipse is a book I struggled to put down.
This book is set on a brand new world. It’s been explored and marked as worthy of being a colony. Currently, the colony is working hard to colonise, make everything ready for the next wave of people wanting to put down roots. This first colony is hoping to choose the best bits for their own quiet futures. But, ‘Beneath the soil, something pitiless stirs.’ And that something totally ignores all the political shenanigans going on.
Of the two main characters I’m finding it hard to choose who I like best. We’ve got Bill Hayden who is a former government agent. He’s escaping his mistakes, but as we all know that’s a challenge. Then there’s Jane Trax. She’s a kick ass leader of the best fabrication crew on the planet. They both have excellent survival skills and will go out of their way to save any of their crew (and the rest of the colony) that they can. But they have to work together, is this possible?
I love this way Tillsley tells us which way the window is pointing. I don’t remember why we needed to know this, but I like the method.
Sun shone from the west – that being the key determiner of the north for a planet. You couldn’t have it set to the east.
It just sounded really good. It’s still good on a reread.
There is a feature of American English which I object to. They seem to be dropping words such as ‘of. So the phrase becomes ‘couple options’. Yes, when I hear it I mentally insert the word ‘of’, but I also cringe. I’m not sure who else has noticed this. On page 138 I noticed Tillsley has written ‘couple of options’. He is an Australian writer so I’d assume that’s why he put the word ‘of’ there instead of omitting it. I’m using this as a chance to rant about Americans who leave the word out. It was comforting to see the entire phrase here.
I won’t tell you how many people died in this book. Mainly because I don’t know. The science seems to hold, and make sense. It’s always good when something makes sense. Bear in mind I’m no scientist, of any kind, I’m just relying on what little I know and the far too many science fiction books I’ve read.
I really enjoyed the technology. Jane Trax and her fabrication crew seem to be able to make anything out of anything. It’s a trait I’ve noticed, and enjoyed, in the best cosplayers. I’ve had the privilege of watching cosplayers with real skill at work. While reading the parts where the fabrication crew were making things I likened it to watching the cosplayers at work. Don’t misunderstand me, there are many other people who can do the same thing, but I can only write about those I know.
Something I also enjoyed, but I did wonder if that is going to happen in real life…eventually. This is spoilers, so if you want to stop reading I will understand.
Bill Hayden has an AI in his brain. An AI that he can converse with and get information from. He still has his own brain and he isn’t controlled by this AI, but it does provide a far greater measure of information than he could find out on his own. I won’t tell you anything more about it, but I did wonder how it would feel to have an AI in my brain.
Anyway, enough rambling. I really enjoyed this book. I’ve only got three notes on the list I made while reading. It’s generally the sign that I’ve not taken the time to write things down. Far too busy reading to stop and write a couple of words. I do recommend this book if you like science fiction.