Sci-fi fun for anyone!

The Conquest - Jennifer Ridyard/John Connolly
Available Now - New this month!

A brilliant and complex Sci-fi that will have you on the edge of your seat!

Set in Scotland after the strangely sedate take over of our planet by an alien contingent where they arrived and hovered over us for a matter of weeks as they just sat and watched as our carefully constructed society crumbled in the face of possible invasion. Then as everything fell into chaos they dealt Earth a final (and come to think of it, first) blow, cutting of the power and disabling the internet. Amazing what mass-hysteria can do huh? So now Earth is governed by the Illyri, an alien race not too dissimilar from our own and it is from their perspective strangely that the bulk of the story is told. 

What I loved most was the continual evolution in the plot, just when you think you have it all figured out the story reveals another interesting and relevant tangent, not merely a distraction but a further plot point introduced and explained perfectly with a delicate balance of information, tone and suspense... to give you more detail would give too much away, so I will just say its action, adventure, intrigue and a dash of romance all wrapped up in one pleasing package and I cant wait to see what surprises book 2 will no doubt bring!

Which do you prefer? Ours is the one on the left...

Cyberspace thriller

The Eye of Minds - James Dashner
Available this month

The Mortality Doctrine series is a cyber thriller that would easily appeal to guys and girls alike.

Set in a reality that could easily be our not too distant future where gaming has been taken to a whole new level. The "Virtnet" is entered via a virtual simulation pod know affectionately as coffins, once hooked up and synced in everything you experience inside the virtnet is unbelievably real, even pain receptors can be programed to make it feel as realistically painful as you can handle, given the many horrific and imaginative ways one can get hurt or killed in games this is a pretty scary prospect!

Our protagonist Michael stumbles across a sinister plot that threatens to destroy his entire way of life, given very little option but to see out what he unwittingly started Michael and his two closest friends find themselves thrust into a world within the virtnet beyond comprehension - even for high level hackers like themselves. Epic online adventure ensues with an ending that will blow your mind and leave you thinking "Whaaa?"

There are quite a few loose ends leftover and some pieces of the puzzle that just didn't quite add up for me so I'm very interested to see how James will bring it all together in the remainder of the series.

Twins, but not as you know them...

Linked - Imogen Howson 
Available - NOW (in stores this week)

Sci-fi is just one of those genres that I would never choose to read of my own violation yet oddly enough whenever I do give one a go I vastly enjoy it – as it was with this space set YA debut…

Humans have colonised into the deep reaches of space and this tale is set on a relatively new terraformed planet named Sekoia – a society that looks picture perfect on the surface but harbors a treacherous secret. Enter our protagonist Lissa who has been suffering for years with attacks of phantom pain, not her own but her twins. Separated at birth, Lissa has no idea that the echo of pain she feels is coming from the real experiences of her twin.

As you can imagine the story really heats up when Lissa finds the truth, and her sister but while on the run from everything she knows and loves Lissa finds a newer stronger version of herself, re-assessing her life and the people in it, who she can trust and who it turns out she cant.

This is a fast-paced and exciting debut with a solid and interesting storyline, I really enjoyed the world/technology and the main characters with their different moral struggles and growth from beginning to end which I feel is rarely portrayed well in YA novels of late. I especially loved the way Imogen ended the story with good resolution yet a compelling set up for book two – which I definitely plan to pick up!