Sue H
Forsaken Skies gets 3.5 stars. This is the first book by D. Nolan Clark so I wasn't sure what to expect. I found it long and complex and far more than I expected in a first novel. This is a standalone with a soft cliffhanger for what will be at least one more book in a series. This story is violent and not for sensitive readers. Overall I enjoyed the book. It isn't your traditional space opera, but will appeal to readers who prefer hard core SciFi. At first the characters are hard to relate to and I had to force myself to keep reading. But I'm glad that I did. After awhile, I became invested in the characters as well as wanting to see who/what they were fighting. Niraya is a small, poor planet in the middle of nowhere. It was set up as a colony of some minor religion. Centrocor, one of the major polys (corporations), took on responsibility for its development and set up a mining operation there. The Elders on Niraya sent a notice of distress to Centrocor after a strange machine landed on their planet and started killing anyone it encountered. Some type of fleet was also detected heading their way and due to arrive in a few weeks. Having done a risk-benefit calculation, neither Centrocor or the Navy wanted to spend the money defending a planet with only 100,000 inhabitants. Elder MacRae and Roan spent twelve days locked in a cargo container while they traveled to find help. They found that help just not how they imagined it. Join a small rag-tag and very mismatched group who reluctantly pull together to try to save the planet. Lanoe, Zhang, Ehta, Valk, Maggs, and Thom will do their best when fighting an enemy unlike any they have every encountered before. Will they succeed or are they and the planet doomed? And just who is this enemy they are fighting? There are enough twists and turns to keep readers interested. It definitely kept me reading. I look forward to reading more of this adventure when the next book in the series is published. I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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