Book Review: Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars by Warren Hammond and Joshua Viola

Pros: some excellent twists, interesting world 

Cons:

At the end of a disturbing case involving red fever, a disease only found on Mars that makes its sufferers go violently insane, Denver Moon receives a message from her grandfather asking her to find him. But her grandfather’s been dead for twenty years.

I’m impressed by the amount of world-building the authors managed to squeeze into this novella. While not bogged down by exposition, you learn about the early settlers, the project to terraform Mars, the Church of Mars, the red tunnel, the red fever, and more. It makes the city feel lived in, old in some ways but still a risky venture in others.

Denver’s an interesting character with a past that’s hinted at in relationships and cases, and her transforming gun that’s had her grandfather’s memories uploaded into it. I liked that Nigel is shown as more than just a sexbot. While Navya comes into the story late, I thought she was a good addition to Denver’s skill set, and while they had to make up, it was nice seeing female friends.

There is a graphic novel prequel to this that you don’t have to read to understand this, though it does flesh out one bit of history that’s referenced in this novella. The story it is based on, “Metamorphosis”, is included at the back of the novella, so if you want, you can read it first. I have to admit I’m not sure how I feel about the ending of “Metamorphosis” as it references a marginalized community. Denver’s also quite racist (I’m not sure that’s the right word) towards the botsies. She doesn’t seem to have quite the same attitude towards them in the novella, so maybe she’s learned a few things between the stories.

After the short story, there is also a short preview of the next book in the series.

While I did figure out a few aspects of the mystery, I was completely blindsided by several others. The ending packed a punch.

Mars seems to be a hot topic in SF at the moment, and this one goes in a different direction, so it’s worth picking up.

Out June 5.

Book Review: Kop by Warren Hammond

Pros: gritty, complex characters, intricate mystery

Cons: gritty

Juno Mozambe is a member of the Koba Office of Police, and like the chief, Paul, his former partner, and numerous other members of KOP, he's dirty.  When Paul asks him to take a homicide case his trembling right hand and concerned wife remind him that his enforcer days are over.  But this is an important case and Juno can't say no to Paul, even when Paul sticks him with a new partner, fresh from the academy Maggie Orzo.  Something's going on that's even dirtier than the partnership between the chief of police and Koba's kingpin of crime, Ben Bandur, and Juno's got to prove it.

This is a noir SF set on a planet 15 light years from Earth.  The planet's main export dried up years ago and now its economy is dead.  The worldbuilding is quite good, with various slum neighbourhoods and the remnants of the plantation rich in crime free neighbourhoods.  Most outside money comes from tourism, but even that's turned bad for the locals.  It's the perfect setting for a crime novel, and the mix of races gives it flavour.

The grittiness is both a pro and a con for this book as it is the scene, but can become overbearing at times.  The world is thoroughly depressing and it's unclear if the protagonist is doing the right thing.

Juno's dirty but he's also, somehow, a decent guy.  His enforcer history is mentioned and towards the end of the book he denegrates back into the lifestyle somewhat, and yet, he's very sympathetic and likeable.

As is Maggie.  I was impressed that the two of them end up working together so well and trusting each other despite his being dirty and her being a straight arrow.  It's entirely realistic when she discovers that his way gets results that hers wouldn't, and so she starts letting things slide while still being optimistic about cleaning up the force in the future.  

The case begins as fairly straight forward, but takes several turns as the pair discover just how much things are changing for the worse.  It's very intricate with twists that are hard to predict.

This is a fantastic noir tale.  If you like gritty SF, pick this up.