Reviewed by Sarina
TITLE: Earthshatter
SERIES: Haven Prime #1
AUTHOR: Albert Nothlit
PUBLISHER: Dsp Publications
LENGTH: 530 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 8, 2016
BLURB:
The world is gone. All that’s left are the monsters.
The creatures attacked Haven VII with no warning. An AI named Kyrios, a nearly omnipotent being, should have protected the city during the Night of the Swarm.
Except It didn’t.
No one knows why It failed, or why It saved eight specific people: the Captain, the Seer, the Sentry, the Messenger, the Engineer, the Alchemist, the Medic, and the Stewardess. They have no idea of the meaning behind the titles they’ve been given, why they were selected and brought together, or what Kyrios expects from them. When they awake from stasis, they find their city in ruins and everyone long dead. They’re alone—or so they think. But then the creatures start pouring out from underground, looking for them. They don’t stand a chance in a fight, and with limited supplies, they can’t run forever. All they know is that the creatures aren’t their only enemies, and there’s only one place they can turn. Kyrios beckons them toward Its Portal, but can It be trusted? In Its isolated shrine in the desert, they might find the answers they need—if they can survive long enough to reach it.
REVIEW:
During a time known as the Breaking, Earth’s population was fragmented, her people scattered, and the world as it once was, was destroyed. Those that remained gathered within thirteen cities, the Havens, under the watchful eyes and protection of an AI named Kyrios. When the unthinkable happens and humanity is threatened once more, Kyrios saves only eight people but it is with these eight that the rest of the world may find salvation.
Whoo boy! This book was pretty much one non-stop ride from the first page to the last. Earthshatter is an amazing Sci-fi novel that deals with the destruction of the world and the last people that are left to try and survive in it. There are eight main characters and past the initial introduction to them, the chapters rotate through each of them so you get to see the inner workings of their minds. This was used to great effect as it allowed me to get to know each person more in depth than if you just had a general third person point of view. The descriptions were really well done and I fell into the story quite easily though I did have to get a little into the book to find my groove, so to speak.
I genuinely liked most of the characters with the exception of two. Each one was unique and had a distinct personality; it was easy to differentiate between them without getting confused. I’ll be perfectly honest and say I HATED Marie, however. She comes off as vain and self absorbed when you first meet her and through like 90% of the book she’s just a raging bitch. Every time I thought she’d do something to make me like her at least a little she’d turn around and do something else that had me go, “nope, still a bitch and I hate her”. I understand she was necessary but still, I’d have been happy to see her killed off. Just saying.
Now, this book is listed as a m/m romance on Goodreads and also on Amazon but it is NOT. There is not a single smidge of romance of any kind in this book. Did I care? Hell no! The book itself was excellent and I loved the story. If you squint you may see some things that indicate there might have been something between Alain and Nikos at one point in time but there isn’t anything there now. The sequel looks promising on the m/m romance front so I’ll have to wait and see if I get some sexy man time in the future. I highly recommend this one, even without any romance, as it was just that good. With as good as this one was, I have high expectations for the second book in the series and if I get some man lovin’ in it, that will just be an awesome bonus. The only reason I didn’t rate this a five was because I just hated Marie that much. :p
RATING:
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