Ten Thousand Thunders

by Brian Trent

[inlibrisveritas]

Ten Thousand Thunders is a complex sci-fi mystery with plenty of intrigue and action, and more than a few intensely cool ideas.

I do not find myself venturing into hard sci-fi territory often, as much as I love the genre I have my limits in terms of attention span. Thunders tested those limits quite a bit. I really enjoyed most of the set up that Trent gave us, with a very intriguing ‘solution’ to the problem of mortality. I love the idea of an ‘extra life’ where you get a second chance (or third, or fourth) to live with a new body altogether. The history of Earth, Luna, and Mars was also quite interesting and I liked seeing how things had developed and changed, even if some of it was a bit quirky. We were even treated to quite a bit of action, some intrigue, and some badass ladies to boot. The style of the book, however, is what solidified this as a 3 star read for me. It has a very cut and dry style that makes it harder to digest and for me harder to focus on. All of those really cool ideas were kind of lost in the very matter of fact way it was presented, and I had to take more breaks than I normally do with it. Much of the world building is presented very quickly, along with a whole host of characters, and with multiple story threads to follow. It can be quite overwhelming at first, but as the story moves forward and the stories start to merge a bit it becomes much easier to handle and much more enjoyable.

Our main character is Gethan, who has had a rather long and interesting life. He works as an investigator and as a result ended up dying in an explosion while on a case. He’s certainly quick-witted but found him rather bland overall. He is very much a main focal point but I often found myself more intrigued with those around him. We do get chapters that also focus on a wide range of other people, and while this is initially confusing by the end of the book I found myself sad to see some of them go. Celeste and Keiko were definitely a highlight for me, but I think my favorite character was certainly Jonas, a young boy who finds himself tangled up in the web of schemes. Where the other characters had moments where they would be lost in the ongoings of the story, Jonas stood out and felt fully realized everytime he appeared.

While the story can be very dense I really liked the overall storyline, I just wish it had been a bit easier to digest and paced a little better in terms of information output. There are a ton of strong ideas to be had in this, but at a lower page count, it often felt like too much in conjunction with everything else. I, however, would be interested in seeing more from this author in the future as he definitely has some really intense ideas that are worth reading.

If you enjoy sci-fi and are not scared off by denser reading material, then this one is definitely one to check out! There is a fair bit of violence and some mature content as well, for those who might wish to shy away from such things.

Thanks to Flame Tree for providing me with an advanced copy, all opinions are my own.