Lotus Blue

Written by Cat Sparks

Narrated by Shaina Summerville

“Imaginative and richly rendered . . . Sparks frames all of this in haunting, near-poetic detail, such that the readers can smell the toxic red sand and perhaps taste the blood. Recommended for people who crave fresh post-apocalypse chaos—because Sparks’s post-apocalyptic chaos is pretty fresh, at that.”—NK Jemisin, The New York Times.

Powerful war machines of the far-future collide across a barren desert world in this post-apocalyptic debut novel from award-winning Australian author Cat Sparks. Seventeen-year-old Star and her sister Nene are orphans, part of a thirteen-wagon caravan of nomadic traders living hard lives travelling the Sand Road. Their route cuts through a particularly dangerous and unforgiving section of the Dead Red Heart, a war-ravaged desert landscape plagued by rogue semi-sentient machinery and other monsters from a bygone age. But when the caravan witnesses a relic-Angel satellite unexpectedly crash to Earth, a chain of events begins that sends Star on a journey far away from the life she once knew.

Shanghaied upon the sandship Dogwatch, she is forced to cross the Obsidian Sea by Quarrel, an ancient Templar supersoldier. Eventually shipwrecked, Star will have no choice but to place her trust in both thieves and priestesses while coming to terms with the grim reality of her past—and the horror of her unfolding destiny—as the terrible secret her sister had been desperate to protect her from begins to unravel. Meanwhile, something old and powerful has woken in the desert. A Lotus Blue, deadliest of all the ancient war machines. A warrior with plans of its own, far more significant than a fallen Angel. Plans that do not include the survival of humanity.

Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Everand Productions
• Release date: Aug 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094425870

Cat Sparks

Cat Sparks is a multi-award-winning Australian author, editor, and artist whose former employment has included: media monitor, political and archaeological photographer, graphic designer and manager of Agog! Press amongst other (much less interesting) things. She’s currently fiction editor of Cosmos Magazine while simultaneously grappling with a PhD on YA climate fiction.

Reviews for Lotus Blue

[Karen Chandler · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book from page 1 will captivate you into a mythical world. Be prepared for many twists and adventures. A must read

[karen8askelson · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The narrator's voice is horrible! I couldn't even get through the first chapter. Pity. It sounded like it could be a good book.

[Rebekah Sandell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

On par with yes, Dune and oddly, Raiders from the Rings.

[Aaron De Sturler · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

No idea if the book is any good. I couldn't make it more that 45 minutes in as the narration was so grating, truly unbearable

[Craig Roppel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Shaina narration is great, the book is entertaining and enjoyable.

[Everett Abbott · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Overly drawn out. Not sure if all the characters are the same person or the narrator is at fault along with her single tone reading style. Everyone seems to whine and pine through every internal narrative. Couldn't finish it... And I tried.

[malac malac · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The story isn't bad but no reason for the narrator to be this pissed

[Christopher Scharff · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I couldn't get enough of this book. I especially enjoyed the setting, backstory, and characters. Bravo.

[Martay Burton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The main character is believable. The storyline and world building are excellent.

[Bonita Converse · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I’m not finished listening, but the narration is really not good. Not really conveying the story well at all. I like to lose myself in a story and her annoying style and overly dramatic, loud reading isn’t allowing that to happen. I’m not sure if I’m going to make it all the way through.

[davisfamily-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic, interesting use of nano-technology.
A post-apocalyptic tale that is a bit different.

[Kevin Wilcox · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The narrator’s voice ruined it for me. Cxxxxx xxxx Cox

[Joan Faires · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

i got 11 minutes into the audiobook and realized the narrator's annoying style was not likely to convey the promise of a "poetic, haunting" story.

[crtsjffrsn · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I didn't enter this book with specific expectations, but it just didn't get there for me. There are a TON of characters, a number of whom aren't clearly introduced or described, which made for some very confusing moments where I had to stop and backtrack. The story itself wasn't particularly compelling for me either. I think there is an audience for this book; I just wasn't part of it.

[This review is based on an advanced review copy received from the publisher via Edelweiss.]

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Lotus Blue by Australian author, Cat Sparks is a post-apocalyptic story that tells the story of Star, a seventeen year old girl who, with her older sister, medic Nene are part of a group of nomads, travellers that journey along the Sand Road, crossing dangerous desert that is populated by rogue machinery and other strange monsters, remnants from a past time and long forgotten war. While her sister appears to guard a secret about their past, Star longs to break free, to experience a different life and is making plans to run away when their wagon caravan sees an Angel satellite crash to Earth, this, in turn, sets off a series of events that sends Star in a new direction. Meanwhile, an old and powerful entity called a Lotus Blue has awoken in the desert. This was the deadliest of all war machines and appears to have it’s own agenda.I struggled with this story as I found the many characters, the detailed world building and references to so much technology quite confusing. Rather like a puzzle, each nugget of information needed to be evaluated and placed in a way that would move the story forward. Eventually I was disappointed that the main character, Star, really wasn’t all that important to the story as she seemed to be there more to react to rather than control the events. The author did a stellar job in bringing this futuristic land vividly to life, but unfortunately I simply had to work too hard to make sense of the story.

[quondame · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The author claims inspiration from Dune, and indeed we spend the entirety of the 3x too long journey in blistering dust, but really this is an unrelieved journey to Mordor, though unknown until the end to most of the travelers. And there are more Saurons out there. The writing is good enough to keep going through uninteresting characters, often improbable actions, all the plot bolts and gears clearly outlined, nothing hidden or inscrutable here.

[pwaites_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Centuries ago, wars ruined the earth, destroying cities and wrecking the environment. But humanity remains as people struggle to survive in the harsh world that remains. But an ancient and powerful war machine, Lotus Blue, has awaken in the desert, and what’s left of the world may be at risk.Lotus Blue has a variety of POV characters, but the protagonist is clearly Star, who has far more sections than anyone else. Star and her sister Nene live and travel with a caravan of traders, heading up and down the Sand Road. But unfolding events have a cataclysmic effect upon the caravan, drawing Star into the quest to stop Lotus Blue.Here’s the biggest problem with Lotus Blue: Star had absolutely no impact on the outcome of the book. She could have died in the very beginning and the ending would have been the same. I noticed about half way through that Star was a passive protagonist who lacked agency – she tends to react rather than be proactive. But I’d assumed that in the end she would make some plot relevant action. I assumed wrong.When I said there were a lot of POV characters, I meant it. First off, there’s Star. Then there’s Kian, a boy trying to find Lotus Blue for his one glory. His cousin also gets sections. Same goes for a wealthy merchant’s daughter, an aging female super solider, a battle scared male super solider, Lotus Blue itself, a random girl in a watchtower, and a scrappy stowaway. Here’s the thing… all but two or three of them could have disappeared from the book and the end result regarding Lotus Blue wouldn’t be much different.Having such a mass of characters negatively impacted characterization. I never really connected with any of them. At one point a side character died, and it was being treated like an emotional moment. Only I actively didn’t care because he had no characterization or personality.One other disappointment was that I picked up Lotus Blue because I saw it on a list of SFF about sisters. It’s not really a book about sisters. Nene disappears halfway through and never returns.On the bright side, I did enjoy the setting. The world Cat Sparks imagines is one of an ever growing desert, with mad mechas blazing through the sand and reckless humans hunting them for parts. There’s a certain Mad Max feel to it, helped by the post-apocalyptic Australian setting. The world really came alive, and I loved the details such as the sand ships, towers, and immortal super soldiers.If there’s a there’s a sequel to Lotus Blue (and based on the ending, I think there will be), I am not going to read it. While I liked the world building, it was not enough to make up for the problems in structure and characterization.Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a free and honest review.