Five Suns of Treason by Jim Heskett

Available from Royal Arch Publications 2014

This work was presented as a book for a review but is only part one of the full story. It is also too short to clock in even as a novel or novelette. Instead this is a handful of stories that follow different individuals dealing with the same event: the impending arrival of a meteor that will destroy the planet, or at least kill a ton of people. At the end of the collection, readers are invited to “continue” with part two, offered as a separate collection.

There isn’t much to recommend here. The collection format is misleading for readers who want to engage with deeper storylines, so book readers are out. The promise of interwoven stories that fans of linked short stories enjoy isn’t well done here, particularly as the offering ends at the first major turning point. And the writing, while not terrible, also isn’t much more than serviceable. The plotline has promise that is left unfulfilled, so the pacing turns out to be pretty slow.

2 stars.

If you enjoyed this review, please leave a tip!