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    Paw-Prints Of The Gods
    Paw-Prints Of The Gods
    Paw-Prints Of The Gods
    Ebook491 pages7 hours

    Paw-Prints Of The Gods

    By Steph Bennion

    5/5

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    About this ebook

    On the forbidding planet of Falsafah, archaeologists are on the verge of a discovery that will shake the five systems to the core. Ravana O’Brien, snatched from her friends for reasons unknown, finds herself on another wild adventure, this time in the company of two alien greys, a cake-obsessed secret agent and a mysterious little orphan boy at the centre of something very big indeed. Their journey across the deadly dry deserts of Falsafah soon becomes a struggle against homicidal giant spiders, hostile machines and a psychotic nurse, not to mention an omniscient god-like watcher who is maybe also a cat. The disturbing new leaders of the Dhusarian Church and their cyberclone monks are preparing to meet their masters and saviours. But nobody believes in prophecies anymore, do they?

    PAW-PRINTS OF THE GODS is the sequel to HOLLOW MOON and a light-hearted adventure for all young adults and adults young at heart. This ebook is Awesome Indies approved.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWyrdStar
    Release dateSep 29, 2013
    ISBN9781301926800
    Paw-Prints Of The Gods
    Author

    Steph Bennion

    Steph Bennion is a writer, musician and part-time Westminster civil servant, born and bred in the Black Country but now living in Hastings after finally escaping the black hole of London. Her stories are written as a reaction to the dearth of alternative heroes amidst bookshelves swamped by tales of the supernatural, not that there’s nothing wrong with a bit of fantasy now and again. HOLLOW MOON, the first novel in her space-opera tales of mystery and adventure, was published in 2012. THE AVALON JOB is the fourth, with more to come. Under the name Stephanie M Bennion, she has written speculative fiction for older readers. Her last novel was THE LUCK OF THE DEVIL, a tale of supernatural transgender angst in 1990s Ireland, published in 2018. The time-travelling romp THE BATTLES OF HASTINGS, a novella inspired by her adopted town and the 950th anniversary of the event that shaped the British Isles today, was published in 2016.

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    • 5/5
      Ravana O'Brien resumes her role as an intrepid teenage heroine in this sequel to Hollow Moon, which ends with… well, to avoid spoilers, let’s just say you should not count your dead villains until you see their desiccated corpses. In this story, the residents of her home inside a recently crippled hollowed-out asteroid have become refuges on Ascension, a nearby planet orbiting Barnard’s Star. They are not entirely welcome. In fact, they are not at all welcome. Ravana, now a student at Newbrum University, is not there, though. Her father believes she is on an archeological dig on the distant and inhospitable planet of Falsafah in the Tau Ceti system, but when the story opens, she finds herself in a hospital with very unlikely nurses, and she has no idea how or why she is there. Thus begins a well-told tale of mysteries, escapes, cyberclones, aliens, spies, spaceships, and giant spiders. It is a hard-to-put-down book.

      I found the prose, editing, and formatting for the digital edition above average. Pacing is also good. Although some of the science is highly speculative, it is not outlandish within the context of the story. A little suspension of disbelief is required, but this is YA science fiction, so you expect that. The story is written with an omniscient point of view from the perspective of several characters, although primarily from that of Ravana. I had no trouble following it, and it was clear who was on center stage at all times. I found the characters quite believable, and I would put Ravana ahead of most teenage heroines I’ve seen in recent fiction. She is brave, intelligent, resourceful, and kind to short grey aliens and rude little boys.

      YA science fiction has become something of a rarity these days, and it was delightful for me to find some that was so well done. I highly recommend Paw-Prints of the Gods for YA science fiction readers, but I suggest reading Hollow Moon first.

      Full Disclosure: I received a promotional digital copy of this book through Awesome Indies.

    Book preview

    Paw-Prints Of The Gods - Steph Bennion

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