The skull was cut open, removed, the brain spilling out in layers across a black slime. A giant tumor, some mountainous mimic of my dear Ambra’s neural growth, lay like an obscene egg in its own depression of the reflective darkness. Living cables of dark material slithered into those mental tissues and merged with them, the entire form becoming some nightmarish mixture of flesh and machine. And for a third and last time, Ambra screamed.
What I expected:
I really enjoyed Reader and expected Writer to be more of the same.
What it was:
Writer is in a way a continuation of Reader. Yet it is completely different as it is from the perspective of Ambra Dawn’s lover, Nitin. As a love story it is okay. As a novel it is not particularly engaging. If I say that I like watercolours and Reader was a watercolour. Then Writer was an overworked oil painting. It was too heavy and intense in the way it was presented and I found myself skipping bits to move the story along. I wanted to know what happened so I continued to the end, but a lighter touch would have kept me more engaged.
3/5 Stars (What this means…five-stars-applied-carefully)
Get your copy:
Writer (Daughter of Time Book 2)
Official description:
From hatred, Love. From many, One. Book 2 in the Daughter of Time trilogy: A love story and sci-fi epic about the beautiful and terrible destiny of profoundly star-crossed lovers with a galaxy’s fate in their hands.
“A work of literary fiction that transcends its genre. Read this novel. Immediately.” -Portland Book Review
“Stebbins’s trilogy remains both fascinating and unpredictable. WRITER possesses all of the style, elegance, and tension that made READER gripping. Those who loved the first book will find themselves enraptured by the second, which secures a ready audience for what will surely be a stunning conclusion.” -ForeWord Reviews
“Deeply thoughtful and exciting, warping the expectations of the genre. It stays fun while plumbing unexpected depths, and reminds me of Dan Simmons’ Hyperion and Endymion, though more approachable. This is the second book, but if you missed Reader, don’t worry about being left behind with WRITER; it is immersive in the way of the best scifi, sucking you in and pulling you along. If you enjoy science fiction at all, take a look at WRITER: it’s worth the read.”-San Francisco Book Review
“Anticipate trips through time and space, wrenching separations and confrontations that will test the lovers’ bond to each other and to their world…be prepared for another epic story that turns on a dime and leaves its ending open for yet more added attractions later.” -Midwest Book Review
About the Author
Erec Stebbins is a biomedical researcher who writes political and international thrillers, science fiction, narrated storybooks, and more.
