A review by andrewspink
The Lost Signal by J.S. Fernandez Morales

3.0

This was a well-written enjoyable read. Having said that, it was also not without its problems. There are some continuity errors - Fiona is tied up to a tree and then walking around without it being clear how that happened, and it is completely unclear ho w a young child gets to be running around a military case, for instance. The book also makes constant references to some events in Japan which occurred shortly before the beginning of the narrative. That didn't really work for me. It felt like the book wasn't the first in a series but the second and it really wasn't clear exactly what happened in Japan and why. I could see what the author was trying to do, but I guess it needed just a little more coherence and detail. There is one other point which was a little disappointing. Slavery is a strong theme throughout the book, and at one point it looked like we would get some emotional insights into what it was like to be made a slave. However, the point passed and the chance to provide understanding on how that trauma still affects communities hundreds of years later was missed. A key power of SciFi as a genre is enabling us to stand to one side and take a good look at our own society with a fresh pair of eyes, and good science fiction always manages to do that effectively.
Nevertheless, despite those reservations, I do want to say that it was a well-told and enjoyable story. Which in the end is what it is all about.

Disclosure: This review is based on a free advance copy of the book from BookSirens, in return for an honest review.