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The Razor
The Razor
The Razor
Ebook550 pages7 hours

The Razor

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this ebook

J. Barton Mitchell's The Razor is a riveting science fiction thriller about a man struggling to survive the chaos on a prison planet.

Brilliant engineer Marcus Flynn has been sentenced to 11-H37 alongside the galaxy’s most dangerous criminals. A hard labor prison planet better known as the Razor, where life expectancy is short and all roads are dead ends.

At least until the Lost Prophet goes active…

In a few hours, prison guards and staff are evacuated, the prisoners are left to die, and dark mysteries begin to surface.

Only Flynn has the skills and knowledge to unravel them, but he will have to rely on the most unlikely of allies--killers, assassins, pirates and smugglers. If they can survive each other they just might survive the Razor…and claim it for their own.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 27, 2018
ISBN9780765387943
Author

J. Barton Mitchell

J. BARTON MITCHELL is a screenwriter, comic book writer, and author. He studied creative writing at the University of Houston before going on to receive a B.S. in Film Studies from the University of Texas. After selling screenplays to Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox, he created and wrote the comic book series Poe, published by Boom! Studios in 2009. Mitchell lives and writes in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles.

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Rating: 4.13333328 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Have you ever read a book and prayed that it will be made into a movie? That is my sincerest hope for The Razor! I absolutely loved reading this book right from the start! I am not always the biggest fan of books involving imprisonment but I was able to set that aside because I was just so engaged with this story. The setting is indeed a hard labor colony on planet 11-H37 where the prisoners are forced to mine for an extremely valuable commodity in the most dangerous of locations. It is a dog eat dog setting and this was where the main character, framed for a crime he didn’t commit, was being sent. Yikes!Marcus was trying to figure out how he was even going to survive being sent to this prison planet but quickly everything went sideways and he found himself with an unlikely partner in a desperate struggle to survive. In the midst of chaos, Marcus was given an opportunity to regain everything that he wanted back, all he had to do was follow orders. Nothing was ever simple though and before long Marcus has many paths to choose from, with each one having an entirely different outcome. He will have to choose what it is that he really wants before all his choices are taken from him.The characters that Marcus meets in this story are exceptional. They are all unique and in no way what I would consider good. I would say morally grey or conflicted at best and each one is definitely looking out for their best interests. There are some unique pairings in this story and other characters who make no apologies for their behavior. Each one added interest to the story and I am extremely excited about sequel possibilities with certain characters! Overall, reading The Razor was an amazing experience and I am certainly going to be keeping my fingers crossed for a sequel and hopefully, in the future, the movie as well!This review is based on a complimentary book I received from NetGalley. It is an honest and voluntary review. The complimentary receipt of it in no way affected my review or rating.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Pros: lots of action, fast paced, compelling characters, interesting setting Cons: romance felt somewhat out of placeFlynn is an engineer framed for murder, being sent to the most dangerous prison planet that exists: the Razor. Half of the planet is frozen, the other half boiling, and in the middle, there is a small strip of liveable ground. The planet is home to the purest form of Xytrilium in the galaxy, and whoever controls that power source, controls the galaxy. So when a strange beam lights up the sky and all the guards evacuate, Flynn knows something bad is happening. He’ll have to team up with a group of dangerous misfits if he wants to survive, and get off the planet before it’s too late. The book opens with Flynn’s arrival on the planet and while it take several chapters before things start to go wrong, the characters and setting are quite fascinating and carry the book easily. Short chapters and a lot of action makes this a quick read. The characters are an interesting mix. Flynn is book smart but that won’t save him in with the general population of inmates. Key is street smart but feels the weight of the people she’s let down, and tends to cover her fear with bravado. Maddox is an ex guard, turned prisoner, who faces a rough welcome from his previous squad members. He’s also got a guilt complex for the people he couldn’t save. Raelyn is a doctor who made some bad decisions and is living with the consequences. Zane was probably my favourite character, a man who was experimented on and is now super strong, with the ability to absorb metal. The romance between Maddox and Raelyn made a kind of sense, with him using saving her as motivation for living. It still seemed somewhat out of place considering the severity of what was happening. The romance between Key and Flynn felt like something that might burn hot and die out quickly as they have nothing in common to keep them interested in each other after the adrenaline rush of staying alive is over. It also seemed a bit odd that all the main characters paired up. I did like that neither pairing felt rushed. They both developed fairly slowly and organically. The Razor is a fun read with good set-up for the sequel.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The beginning of this was pretty brutal. Marcus Flynn is sentenced to life on a prison planet for a murder he didn't commit. The first 50 pages or so are a series of brutal set pieces as the author introduces us to the characters and the unbelievable planet Razor. I almost gave up.But then the novel starts to be more character driven and much more interesting. Something mysterious happens and the prisoners are set loose into terrifying situations. The various characters introduced in the beginning gradually find each other that the novel becomes a Quest. I hadn't noticed on the jacket that this was the start of a trilogy but figured out about 2/3 in that it had to be or it would have a terrible ending, since there clearly weren't enough pages left to satisfactorily end the story. I'm happy to say that the book did have a satisfactory ending and the set-up for the 2nd book was good and in typical Quest story fashion. I don't want to give anything away but think of the middle book of "Lord of the Rings". Not saying this is as good as LOTR but structured similarly.Other reviews have suggested this is supposed to be a YA novel. It didn't really feel that way to me.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Razor by J. Barton Mitchell and narrated by Travis Baldree is an audible book I requested and the review is voluntary. This book starts out very raw, gritty, and terrifying as the reader is introduced to the prison planet. The characters, the projects, and lives of those that live there are revealed slowly as chaos erupts due to certain events! Suspense, action, and the unknown kept me on the edge of my seat...creatures also abound...and the razor thin area of habitable zone is about to be destroyed. Pretty exciting.The narration was totally on top of it! The voices of men, women, emotions, and everything else was excellent as usual for this narrator! As always, great job!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    From the description, I thought I'd probably dig this one.

    However, two things completely surprised me. The first is, this book is damn near non-stop action (think the Armageddon movie, but a lot smarter, and no Steve Buscemi characters). So, that upped the ante, and upped my enjoyment.

    The second thing is, I have a theory that J. Barton Mitchell is a big fan of Marvel comics, because he basically incorporates flourishes of the Absorbing Man, Luke Cage, Wolverine, and some other cool stuff, but ties it solidly to the world he's built. It comes off as a touch comic-booky, but not that much, and honestly, overall, I really enjoyed the hell out of it.

    As for the story itself, it's every prison break movie ever made, but with a thick layering of SF all over it.

    I'm not doing this book justice with this review, so I'll just say this: if you want a bunch of major action sequences along with your SF themes, this is your book. And I'll also say, I'm quite excited for the follow up.

Book preview

The Razor - J. Barton Mitchell

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