The summary of the book is as follows:
An ancient, unsolved mystery. Everyone wants to survive. Everyone wants answers.
The Outer Layer is an enigma to its residents. Representatives from countless races and civilisations wander the many territories hoping to unlock the secrets and progress further into its depths.
An anomaly has been detected in space by an artefact from an extinct civilisation. Ciqalo, a machine intelligence from the Wanderer civilisation, is tasked with investigating and weaponizing the anomaly for a galactic war.
Tolren, playmate to the heirs of a powerful Roranian family, becomes a hunted fugitive. He finds himself thrust into a dangerous adventure aboard a structure in space that defies understanding. What’s more, he’s not alone. Seremend, a fellow Roranian, has also been ensnared.
Why have they all been chosen?
A STANDALONE NOVEL FROM THE WANDERER UNIVERSE.
Cerebral Sci-Fi with an emphasis on the ‘Sci’. If you enjoy Hard Sci-Fi, complex Space Opera, and authors such as Iain M. Banks, Alastair Reynolds and Dan Simmons, then this is for you.
The parts of this novel I enjoyed included the early interactions with Trict and her family as they pressure her to have a medical implant. The arguments and debates are well done and the outcome is both understandable and heartbreaking. Another favored part of the book is when Tolren and Seremend are trapped in a space station. Both characters interact well, questioning one another and exploring their surroundings in a way that helps the world building of the story to great effect.
Although this is a standalone novel, there are references to many things that are not easily clarified. Those who have read the rest of the series may understand the entirety of the story more than those who have not. Overall, Long Paradise is an interesting scifi book. The unique non-linear story provides mysteries, challenges and an array of strange characters and unexpected dangers.
James Murdo was born and raised in London, where he still lives. He graduated from university with a Masters degree in Physics, which added fuel to his early love of science fiction. His Sci-Fi Wanderers series is an epic Space Opera set in the Wanderer Universe.
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