Thursday, May 05, 2011

Black Hole Sun

The chapter heading lets me know that we are on Mars. Three females are trying to mine ore while several cannibalistic creatures called Draeu are actually hunting them. This is a dystopian Mars you really don't want to visit.

Durango, is Regulator but because his father was disgraced, he too is considered disgraced, thus a dalit. It is hard for him and his davos to survive since work is not easy to find. Durango and his second Vienne run into miners who are looking to hire Regulators to help them fight the Draeu. The Draeu and their queen believe that the miners have some precious hidden treasure and will stop at nothing to get at it.

The main characters are very young but already mature beyond their years. One would not survive on Mars unless they could take care of themselves. Durango takes on the contract with the miners and will honorably follow the Code of the Regulators and protect the miners. Unfortunately, Durango's mission is made more difficult because neither the miners or the Draeu or their queen, Eceni will say what the treasure is.

Lots of action, violence and death. Although set in the future, it almost feels like the old west where everyone comes out with guns blazing. Durango and Vienne are attracted to one another but each fears having a relationship. Durango has an artificial intelligence implant, which just turns out to be his former chief. The back and forth dialog is funny and almost seems like and old married couple. The other characters are one dimensional but make the novel interesting. It looks like the trio will be having at least one more adventure.

Although I finally did get into this work and am actually looking forward to the next episode, it did take me more than half way into the book to finally begin to enjoy the novel. Even with all the action, it was not enough to pull me in right away. Once the author let the reader know a little more about Durango's history, I became more invested in the book. But I think that if readers like action packed stories they will enjoy this one. It will be interesting to see if I can get hooked by Gill's next effort more quickly.

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