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sbisson's review
3.0
Recent Reads: Injection Burn. Jason Hough returns to his Dire Earth, more than 1000 years later. Time to free the Builders in FPS-tinged SF.
kevinwkelsey's review
5.0
Posted at Heradas Review
A high concept Space Opera full of huge ideas; instantly readable, and a hell of a lot of fun. I have been reading a bunch of really heavy non-fiction lately and this was just the right fun SF to break out of that over the last few days. It’s been such a ride reading this.
I am extremely impressed with the pacing of this novel. It builds and builds and builds, and just never lets up. A real page turner like [a:James S.A. Corey|4192148|James S.A. Corey|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png]’s The Expanse series, but exploring loftier themes similar to some of those covered in [a:Iain M. Banks|5807106|Iain M. Banks|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1352410520p2/5807106.jpg]’ The Culture novels. I’m a big fan of both, so this resonated with me on nearly every level.
The cover is extremely action/military Scifi looking, and there is a lot of that toward the end, but I’m extremely happy that it’s not just an action story. There is a lot of classic, high concept, creative idea science fiction going on here as well. If you’ve read last year’s fantastic [b:Zero World|23995290|Zero World|Jason M. Hough|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1428086189s/23995290.jpg|43596017], you know this is something that Jason M. Hough is particularly fantastic at. At the risk of diverging a little here, I’m just going to say that Zero World needs a lot of sequels. It’s absolutely crying out for them.
This book is technically both the fourth Dire Earth novel, and the first in a new duology. I had previously read about the first hundred pages of The Darwin Elevator, the first Dire Earth novel, and couldn’t really get into it. So, I was only slightly familiar with the concept of the series going in, but never felt like I missed anything. I’m happy to report that this could absolutely be read without having to read any of the other Dire Earth books first; I have a feeling there are some small moments of payoff for longtime fans of the series sprinkled throughout though. I’m always really impressed with books that are both standalone, and a part of a larger series like this. That takes some serious writing chops to pull off, which Jason M. Hough obviously appears to have.
It is definitely half of a much bigger story, and ends on a cliffhanger of sorts. Thank god that Del Rey is publishing them less than a month apart. I think I would lose my mind if I had to wait much longer than that to finish this narrative. Del Rey, if you’re reading this, please send me a copy of [b:Escape Velocity|32571116|Escape Velocity (Dire Earth Duology #2)|Jason M. Hough|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1482864110s/32571116.jpg|53148552] ASAP. I kind of need it.
A high concept Space Opera full of huge ideas; instantly readable, and a hell of a lot of fun. I have been reading a bunch of really heavy non-fiction lately and this was just the right fun SF to break out of that over the last few days. It’s been such a ride reading this.
I am extremely impressed with the pacing of this novel. It builds and builds and builds, and just never lets up. A real page turner like [a:James S.A. Corey|4192148|James S.A. Corey|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png]’s The Expanse series, but exploring loftier themes similar to some of those covered in [a:Iain M. Banks|5807106|Iain M. Banks|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1352410520p2/5807106.jpg]’ The Culture novels. I’m a big fan of both, so this resonated with me on nearly every level.
The cover is extremely action/military Scifi looking, and there is a lot of that toward the end, but I’m extremely happy that it’s not just an action story. There is a lot of classic, high concept, creative idea science fiction going on here as well. If you’ve read last year’s fantastic [b:Zero World|23995290|Zero World|Jason M. Hough|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1428086189s/23995290.jpg|43596017], you know this is something that Jason M. Hough is particularly fantastic at. At the risk of diverging a little here, I’m just going to say that Zero World needs a lot of sequels. It’s absolutely crying out for them.
This book is technically both the fourth Dire Earth novel, and the first in a new duology. I had previously read about the first hundred pages of The Darwin Elevator, the first Dire Earth novel, and couldn’t really get into it. So, I was only slightly familiar with the concept of the series going in, but never felt like I missed anything. I’m happy to report that this could absolutely be read without having to read any of the other Dire Earth books first; I have a feeling there are some small moments of payoff for longtime fans of the series sprinkled throughout though. I’m always really impressed with books that are both standalone, and a part of a larger series like this. That takes some serious writing chops to pull off, which Jason M. Hough obviously appears to have.
It is definitely half of a much bigger story, and ends on a cliffhanger of sorts. Thank god that Del Rey is publishing them less than a month apart. I think I would lose my mind if I had to wait much longer than that to finish this narrative. Del Rey, if you’re reading this, please send me a copy of [b:Escape Velocity|32571116|Escape Velocity (Dire Earth Duology #2)|Jason M. Hough|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1482864110s/32571116.jpg|53148552] ASAP. I kind of need it.
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