Al Onia

This grew on me, the opening seems a little slow and it's not obvious what is happening, but as the story develops it all works quite well, until you're almost expecting a trilogy to resolve all the strands before a slightly rushed ending wraps it all up. There is certainly room for more in this universe, but it is complete as it stands.

Victor Stromboli is our hero, he's spent all his life on the mobile Transient City, he ekes out a living as a Witness for the police possessed of an eidetic memory, he can recall all the details of a crime scene. This is one of the few continuity errors within the plot, as there appears to be no-one else on the planet who can perform the same roll, and it's unclear how any of the other cases manage. However he's seen very much as an aide and only paid appearance fees, so he subsists on the fringe of the city living in a tarp maze along with various other semi-respectables, including just about his only friend a young skateboard messenger. Transient City is a strange place, it's mobile mining platform on a colony world fully owned by a gigantic corporation (presumably one of many but all the cities seem to be owned by the same corp). And as such the politics of the city's triumvirate is to make a name and as much profit for the corp as they can whilst minimising expenditure. This brings the steampunk make do and mend feel to the world as the corporation doesn't spend anything on technoligcal improvements, what can be achieved by hand is done so.

TBC

The only major gripe is the jarring transition to other points of view without any formatting breaks or chapter headings. I'm never a fan of revealing the antagonists motivations by cutting away to them telling a henchman crucial details, especially so when they aren't established as a character. Although the opening scene just about works to set the tension for later developments none of the subsequent cutaways served any useful purpose. I'm not sure if the lack of clear demarcation is a publisher/editor fault or the author's deplorable deliberate choice.… (meer)

This book begins with political Maneuvers all throughout and it's not really
clear what happened to earth or what's going on exactly I feel like I was
dropped in the middle of the story.

And there are these italic inserts every so often of what sounds like aliens
bent on conquering the earth. According to the blurb the dreams Javenny is
having are supposed to be about this dying alien race but based on Javenny's
description of the dreams it sure doesn't sound like it. she dreams of flying,
strings of light and pain. Finally at the end of what my e reader indicated as
Chapter 19 the dreams actually become about the alien race know as the Shraum
and their demise by what is known The Disruptor. In Chapter 27 Javenny is
describing the dreams to Archeron and these descriptions should have been used
earlier in the book instead of the vague and weird descriptions which were used
that did not indicate anything about another planet or alien race.

After reading a while I think I figured out what the author was trying to do.
The aliens it seems are sending out a broadcast warning the inhabitants of the
planet. I'm not clear on what the warning is exactly but some are receiving
these broadcast as strange painful dreams that are unclear but leave the dreamer
filled with a sense of dread, death, and destruction.

Even though I eventually figured that out there is still so much in the book
that is hard to understand. I feel that the writing it self was great. Even with
the confusion I got drawn in I really like Javenny Pink and Coye Archeron. Their
characters were written very well and were realistic.

I even like the concept the author was trying to convey but I felt there was too
much going on and not enough back story. For instance what happened to the
earth. Why is their a shortage of clean water. What exactly is the purpose of
all this electronic espionage. Why is broadcasting around the planet so expensive

and controlled by just one company.

After Completing the book the authors message became clear we are destroying

the planet by polluting it with technology and manipulation. Al Onia is a geophysicist.

and his passion for the planet is evident in this story. Which is mostly well written.

Aside from the confusion in the beginning I feel the book was good if that issue
were fixed this would be a great book.

As is though some readers may become frustrated trying to determine what's going on.… (meer)