Review: Centauri's Shadow by Ross Garner
Blurb:
‘Eight years ago they sent a single ship to test our defences. Now they’re building an armada.’
Cole grew up in the shadow of grief. Kyoko grew up in the shadow of war. Two pilots, separated by time, set out on parallel journeys to Proxima Centauri. What they find could be the start of something new. What they bring with them could be the end of all we know.
In this sweeping science fiction debut from Ross Garner, readers will find an Earth that is transformed by fear of an imminent invasion; a space station in orbit that acts as a gateway to other worlds; a Martian colony with all of the threat and violence of the Old West; and a distant star where answers can be found.
What is 'the signal'? A greeting, or a threat?
Review:
It was an ordinary day of the week, just like any other when I was perusing Twitter (X) and saw someone saying ARC copies were out for this book. Looked at it, it seemed interesting, but I was reading something else at the time, so I passed it by. Then, I saw it in the review library we have over on SFF Insiders and started writing an email. I didn't know what to say, so I left it there lingering in drafts. And two days ago, I revisited that email draft, fleshed it out, sent it out and then got a reply with an ARC copy in it. Looked through the first page, finished what I was reading when I got the ARC, and then read “Centauri’s Shadow”. Finished it several hours later. Parts made me laugh, others made me want to set the book down and leave, and overall, I’ll eagerly await another novel in this series or a new, standalone novel.
I say this because Garner has created a space opera, and throughout it all, not once did I expect to be blindsided by something. Until it happened!
Not only did he do that, but he played around with multiple POVs, with years stretching between each one, in such a way that kept the story, the plot if you will, easily readable.
What did I enjoy about the book?
The characters, plot and tech.
First off, the characters in this book. The people who, at least to us, drive the story forward with their own experiences did not feel incomplete and acted like humans placed in bleak, horrible situations. Cole has his issues from how his parents focused more on their work instead of their own kids, and Kyoko’s been dealing with war since she was 19. Both are unique in how they go about their own lives, but they don’t act like incomplete characters with a fleshed out story. Same can be said for the side characters, the ones who are there in the lives of Cole and Kyoko. They aren’t the central focus, yet all the same, they have their own quirks, personality and events playing out in the background of the whole book.
Then, the plot. Oh, what a plot this book has. Actually, there are two plots that merge into one greater one at the end of the book. One follows Cole’s life and how he feels being moved around like a chess piece. The other follows Kyoko’s decision to stay in the war that she’s been in since her late teens. Neither plot tells you what’s going to happen in the end and so, both kept me reading to figure out why two different year dates were used for Cole’s chapters and Kyoko’s chapters. And how, throughout those two plot lines, these cautious aliens are slowly deciding what to do with these humans and their planet. It felt like the aliens from “Independence Day” and the jurors from “Twelve Angry Men” jumped into a merge-machine to become these overly warlike yet slow acting, probing creatures that, for all intents and purposes, are just cute E.Ts floating through outer space.
Lastly, the tech within the book. Weapons we humans use haven’t changed much within this book. But the technology used for Space travel? For lacking the ability to say much about it because of spoiler reasons, I’d have to say that the space travel tech is definitely interesting and I’ve only read something akin to it in “Revenger” by Alistair Reynolds, and even then, the tech is different in meaningful ways. I say this because “Revenger” has all the space ships use sails to varying degrees of effectiveness throughout the entirety of space. “Centauri’s Shadow”, however, has the sails newly made after trying to figure out ways of slingshotting around the sun. That’s the useful tech for one story arc. The other space travelling technology besides the sun sails is what people within the book refer to as “sun warp drive thing” or “alien tech”. It’s similar to what the sun sails achieve, but instead of using sails as in sailing, it’s a device that harnesses the sun power and throws the ship in whatever direction it was aimed at extremely fast. This is useful for the other story arc.
As for what I disliked about this book, difficult to find anything to say on that front. If I had to go and find something, I’d have to say there is a bit of explanation for where Earth is and what it’s like after the attack happened, but we don’t get to experience it as the reader. All we receive is descriptions of the weapons, society coping with Aliens existing in general and how many people signed up to be apart of the war effort. But we don’t get to experience it as a day to day, normal citizens perspective, which is a shame, since it would be interesting to see that side of humankind in comparison to the two oddballs that are called Cole and Kyoko.
As always, if you’ve made it to the end of the review, thank you for reading it and I hope we’ve helped along in finding your next read, be it this review or another!
Wherever you are reading this, have a good morning, good afternoon or goodnight!
