Enjoyable story, minor tweaks would elevate

Full disclosure, I received a copy of this book for free to review.

After a slow start where I was struggling to engage with the narration and story I ended up thoroughly enjoying the tale, and was desperate to find the time (and peace!) to hear how it was to finish.

Space and first contact books can be a difficult thing to keep grounded and relatable but the author did well to cover off the work well enough that it was ridiculous, not so far fetched as to be unbelievable, the story wasn't bogged down by science and barring some of the late stage situations around the often conflicting wider cast I felt everyone was believable and fairly true to their character.

The narration grew on me, but I did have to struggle through the first third or so of the book, the general narration was fine but there is a heavy emphasis on the 'he said', 'Steven said' portions after a character has spoken, which can be fairly jarring, especially in quick back and forths. That said, the wealth and consistency of accents for the characters was brilliant, great to hear distinctive voices for all the characters and TJ Clark handled this really well. Not sure if it was the editing that was causing the over emphasis but if that was dialled back slightly to be less obnoxious it would have made a huge difference.

All told, I was really impressed with the narration and story, and some minor tweaks could really have taken this from a 'check out if you fancy something new' to a 'read/hear this now'. Looking forward to further works from both!

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