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Blog Tour ~ Shattermoon by Dominic Dulley

Hi everyone,

Today I’m taking part in the blog tour for Shattermoon by Dominic Dulley, and I’ll be sharing my review with you all a little further down. First though, here’s the all-important bookish information 🙂

About the author:

Dominic Dulley is a British science fiction writer whose first novel, Shattermoon, is the start of the fast-moving space opera The Long Game.

His short fiction has appeared in Andromeda Spaceways Magazine, Far Orbit: Apogee, The Novel Fox SF Anthology I and Bastion Science Fiction Magazine among others.

He lives in Warwick with his wife and two children.

Twitter: @DominicDulley

Website: dominicdulley.com

About the book:

Orry’s father is the best conman in the quadrant, running elaborate heists with Orry and her brother Ethan to target the ruling families of the Ascendancy. This time should be no different: straight in and out with a fortune in spice paragon in hand . . .
. . . until Orry goes off-script and everything falls apart. Less than an hour later the Count of Delf’s only grandson is dead and she’s on the run, accused of a murder she didn’t commit.
Turns out, the pendant Orry stole was crafted by the mysterious civilisation who once lived on the Shattermoon – and a lot of powerful people want it. It doesn’t take ruthless space pirate Morven Dyas long to track her down, and he’s not the only one on her tail. When she’s unexpectedly rescued by loner Jurgen Mender and his spaceship, Dainty Jane, Orry knows there’s only one thing to do.
It requires all of her powers of persuasion to get Mender to agree to her plan, especially when even she can see the madness of pitting an inexperienced young grifter, a space-dog long past his best and an obsolete spaceship against the Imperial Fleet, the worst of the space pirates – and the alien Kadiran, who are getting bored with their uneasy truce with humankind . . .
But what other choice does she have?

Shattermoon by Dominic Dulley

My thoughts:

Shattermoon is the first in a series featuring Aurelia (Orry) Kent, and it definitely packs a punch as a series opener. Orry and her brother Ethan help their conman father run his plays but when a young member of the Ascendency is killed and a pendant is stolen, Orry becomes the number one suspect. What follows is a high-octane chase through space with plenty of action and intrigue.

I found Shattermoon to be a really easy read. There is something happening constantly so the reader is flung into the drama right from the off. When Orry meets a space pirate called Mender, that’s when the fun really begins as the quest for the pendant takes precedence over everything else!

I don’t want to go into the plot, partly because there is a hell of a lot going on, but also because I don’t want to give away anything of the story. It weaves through space and time at breakneck speed and it will definitely take the reader on a thrill ride.

I really enjoyed Shattermon. It has great characters, and I really liked the world that has been created in the book. The action never lets up, and I found myself racing towards the end to find out what was going on.

Highly recommended for a fun space-opera read!

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Blog Tour Review~Absolution by Paul Hardisty

Hi all,

I’m delighted to be taking part in the blog tour for Absolution by Paul Hardisty today and I’ll be sharing my review with you guys a little further down!

About the author:

Canadian Paul E Hardisty has spent 25 years working all over the world as an
engineer, hydrologist and environmental scientist. He has roughnecked on oil rigs
in Texas, explored for gold in the Arctic, mapped geology in Eastern Turkey
(where he was befriended by PKK rebels), and rehabilitated water wells in the
wilds of Africa. He was in Ethiopia in 1991 as the Mengistu regime fell, and was
bumped from one of the last flights out of Addis Ababa by bureaucrats and their
families fleeing the rebels. In 1993 he survived a bomb blast in a café in Sana’a.
Paul is a university professor, visiting professor at Imperial College, London, and
Director of Australia’s national land, water, ecosystems and climate adaptation
research programmes. His debut thriller, The Abrupt Physics of Dying, was
shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger and Telegraph thriller of the year, and the sequels, The Evolution of Fear and Reconciliation for the Dead were both ebook bestsellers. He lives in Western Australia.

About the book:

It’s 1997, and vigilante justice-seeker Claymore Straker has fled South Africa after his
explosive testimony to Desmond Tutu’s Truth & Reconciliation Commission. On an isolated island off the African coast, the family that Clay has befriended is murdered as he watches.
In Paris, Claymore’s former lover, journalist Rania LaTour, comes home to find that her son and her husband, a celebrated human-rights lawyer, have disappeared.

As Clay and Rania fight to uncover the mystery behind the disappearances and murders, events lead them both to Egypt, where an act of shocking terrorist brutality will reveal not only why those they loved were sacrificed, but how they were both, indirectly, responsible.

Absolution by Paul Hardisty

My thoughts:

It’s hard to believe we’re already onto the fourth Claymore Strayker book, but here we are with the explosive Absolution. It follows on from the events in Reconciliation For The Dead, so if possible, I recommend that you read them in order because they are all linked in some way.

There is something about these books that really capture my imagination as a reader. I become fully immersed in them immediately, and Absolution was no exception. Paul Hardisty is an excellent writer, and his experience really shows in his ability to capture the horror and violence of war and conflict.

In Absolution, Clay is living in self-imposed isolation on an island off the African coast. Afraid to surround himself with people for fear that they would get caught up in the danger that shadows him like a hunter stalking his prey. Sadly, this is exactly what happens.

Concurrent to this, Rania is living in Paris with hr husband and young son. When she comes home to find they have disappeared, this sets in motion a chain of events that will have devastating consequences, reaching far wider than she could have imagined.

Absolution is an emotionally charged thriller from beginning to end. It deals with some of the most horrific acts of terrorism and brutality at the time and it leaves the reader reeling as the events unfold. I found myself feeling very tense at various points in the story, fearful for the outcomes and worried for the characters.

I don’t want to say much more, because I am afraid I may give away something if I go into too much detail. Absolution is a heartbreaking instalment in the series, for many reasons. It is tense, emotive and at times, shocking. I couldn’t stop reading it from once I started, and I can’t wait to read more Straker books!

Highly recommended!

Previous reviews:

The Evolution Of Fear by Paul E. Hardisty

Reconciliation for the Dead by Paul Hardisty

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~Blog Tour Review~Reconciliation for the Dead by Paul Hardisty

Hi everyone,

Today I’m going to be reviewing Reconciliation for the Dead by Paul Hardisty as part of the blog tour, with thanks to Orenda Books. I read and loved The Evolution Of Fear by Paul E. Hardisty so I was thrilled to be able to read the follow up.

About the author:

Canadian by birth, Paul Hardisty has spent 25 years working all over the world as an engineer, hydrologist and environmental scientist. He has roughnecked on oil rigs in Texas, explored for gold in the Arctic, mapped geology in Eastern Turkey (where he was befriended by PKK rebels), and rehabilitated water wells in the wilds of Africa. He was in Ethiopia in 1991 as the Mengistu regime fell, and was bumped from one of the last flights out of Addis Ababa by bureaucrats and their families fleeing the rebels. In 1993 he survived a bomb blast in a café in Sana’a, and was one of the last Westerners out of Yemen before the outbreak of the 1994 civil war. Paul is a university professor and Director of Australia’s national land, water, ecosystems and climate adaptation research programmes. He is a sailor, a private pilot, keen outdoorsman, conservation volunteer, and lives in Western Australia with his family.

About the book:

Fresh from events in Yemen and Cyprus, vigilante justice-seeker Claymore Straker returns to South Africa, seeking absolution for the sins of his past. Over four days, he testifies to Desmond Tutu’s newly established Truth and Reconciliation Commission, recounting the shattering events that led to his dishonourable discharge and exile, fifteen years earlier. It was 1980. The height of the Cold War. Clay is a young paratrooper in the South African Army, fighting in Angola against the Communist insurgency that threatens to topple the White Apartheid regime. On a patrol deep inside Angola, Clay, and his best friend, Eben Barstow, find themselves enmeshed in a tangled conspiracy that threatens everything they have been taught to believe about war, and the sacrifices that they, and their brothers in arms, are expected to make. Witness and unwitting accomplice to an act of shocking brutality, Clay changes allegiance and finds himself labelled a deserter and accused of high treason, setting him on a journey into the dark, twisted heart of institutionalised hatred, from which no one will emerge unscathed.

Buy the book:

Out now in ebook, and out in paperback on May 30th, you can pre-order your copy by clicking HERE.

My thoughts:

Reconciliation For The Dead is the latest instalment in the Claymore Straker series and I swear these books keep getting better and better. Filled with hard-hitting and emotive subject matter, they evoke such a wide range of emotions in the reader from beginning to end.

In Reconciliation, Straker is in the midst of Apartheid Africa where he has to testify to the Truth and Reconciliation Comission. During his testimony, he recounts what happened in the lead up to his dishonourable discharge. What follows is an often harrowing and unflinching recollection of one of the toughest times Clay has experienced .

There is something a bit special about these books. Paul Hardisty has the ability to make the reader connect with his characters, and none more than Clay. The reader is inserted into the story right alongside him, feeling both fearful and hopeful at the same time. In the middle of war-torn Africa, we are brought right into the heart of it, through the superbly constructed and wonderfully evocative prose. Every puff of stifling heat, every step in the arid and harsh climate is almost tangible to the reader thanks to the author’s writing.

I don’t want to give the game away on this one. There are so many subtle nuances and vignettes that the joy of this book is discovering them as you read it. Paul Hardisty has written a tense and haunting book, showing the depths of human depravity and the lengths at which people to go to protect what they believe in.

I cannot recommend it highly enough.
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Nothing Short of Dying by Erik Storey

About the book:

Sixteen years. That’s how long Clyde Barr has been away from Colorado’s thick forests, alpine deserts, and craggy peaks, running from a past filled with haunting memories. But now he’s back, having roamed across three continents as a hunter, adventurer, soldier of fortune, and most recently, unjustly imprisoned convict. And once again, his past is reaching out to claim him.

By the light of a flickering campfire, Clyde received a frantic phone call for help from Jen, the youngest of his three older sisters. Then the line goes dead. Clyde doesn’t know how much time he has. He doesn’t know where Jen is located. He doesn’t even know who has her. All he knows is that nothing short of dying will stop him from saving her.

Tagging along with Clyde on this strange, desperate, against-all-odds rescue mission is a young woman named Allie whose motivations for hurtling into harm’s way are fascinatingly complex. As the duo races against the clock, it is Allie who gets Clyde to see what he has become and what he can be.

My thoughts:

You know when you have a cover quote from Lee Child that you’re onto a winner!

This was one of the books that I read while I was trying to rest my back and I absolutely tore through it!

I love a good action book! Like, really love them! Manly, testosterone-fuelled books are super fun for me. In the same way that I love Die Hard and so on, it’s the same with these kinds of books.

Nothing Short of Dying was brilliant! It had loads going for it. An interesting main character (a definite pretender to the Jack Reacher throne but excellent all the same), some intriguing side characters and a banging plot. The bad guys were baaaaaaad, the violence was plenty, and it was just a thrill ride!

Erik Storey is definitely one to watch as regards an action thriller author. You can tell he’s been an outdoorsy, wilderness kinda guy. It translated well in the knowledge of outside stuff (clearly, I do NOT do outdoorsy as I don’t even know how to describe it 😂) and it worked well with the plot.

Thoroughly enjoyed this one! Highly recommended!

The Evolution Of Fear by Paul E. Hardisty Blog Tour

About the book (via Goodreads):

Claymore Straker is a fugitive with a price on his head. Wanted by the CIA for acts of terrorism he did not commit, his best friend has just been murdered and Rania, the woman he loves, has disappeared. As his pursuers close in, Clay follows Rania to Istanbul and then Cyprus, where he is drawn into a violent struggle between the Russian mafia, Greek Cypriot extremists, and Turkish developers cashing in on the tourism boom. As the island of love descends into chaos, and the horrific truth is unveiled, Clay must call on every ounce of skill to save Rania and end unimaginable destruction being wrought in the name of profit.

My thoughts:

Wow, just wow. I absolutely loved The Evolution of Fear. I’m still thinking about it days later!!!

I haven’t actually gotten around to reading The Abrupt Physics of Dying yet, but I’ve started it and I’m definitely intrigued. In saying that, The Evolution of Fear can easily be read as a standalone if necessary.

You know you’re on to a winner when the cover quote is by Lee Child, and he’s not wrong. Claymore Straker is a brilliant character. So well written, and so engaging, it’s difficult not to root for Clay during the course of the book.

The Evolution of Fear starts with a bang, and the pace doesn’t let up for the entirety of the novel. The action is second to none, but it’s written with heart and conviction. It’s a well considered and thought provoking novel, and it definitely makes the reader become invested in the cause and the characters.

I read a lot of thrillers, and they can become formulaic after a while. Paul E. Hardisty has just set the bar impossibly high as regards a thriller for me. The Evolution of Fear is just superbly written, taut and excellently constructed. With echoes of Terry Hayes I Am Pilgrim, this book just knocks it out of the park in terms of what I look for when I want to read a thriller.

I cannot recommend The Evolution of Fear highly enough. It grabs you from the opening lines, and I swear you won’t want to put the book down until the final page. A tour de force in every sense, you will not be disappointed. The Evolution of Fear is out now and you can purchase a copy by clicking on the link below!

The Evolution Of Fear by Paul E. Hardisty

You can also catch up on the previous stops on the blog tour, and follow it with these brilliant blogs below!

Happy reading! 😊📖

About the author (via Orenda website):