PALLAS - Creepy-vibe sci-horror
Review of upcoming novel by indie author, Lisa Kuznak
Honored samurai, ruthless ronin, wayward vagabonds, shadowy ninja and helpless villagers... welcome.
Opening Volley
Indie author weaves a tale of desperate hope, paradise lost, secret experiments, doomed "astronaut" and creeping horror.
Main Event
Let’s get right out the door with this:
Kylan Bence is a company man, a lone long-hauler shuttling cargo loads between the numerous colonies and outposts of man in his local system. When his ship breaks down and lands on an asteroid, he realizes he is in even bigger trouble. Not only does he surmise that perhaps the company might just abandon him and the crappy ship they sent him out on, but he's landed on a lost-abandoned post.
What he discovers changes his world and that of what he finds on Pallas, a former mining colony... turned paradise?
I was hooked from the book blurb. I love abandoned places in real life and long-lost, and as I read to lose myself in fantastic places and spaces, abandoned space colonies are right up my alley. I love the mystery and the weirdness, the puzzles and the devious plots, the monsters and the creepy vibes. Pallas has all these in spades, building upon each other for an enjoyable experience.
Kuznak's prose is otherworldly as well. Told from the perspectives of a wide cast of characters, the reader is delved the pieces of strangeness like candy to enjoy just long enough before something else creeps up and changes the scene. Her words flow with ease -- which was perhaps one of the greatest reasons I loved this novel as it moved quickly. I felt a kind of Cormac McCarthy channeling, where action and thought and the swirl of the surrounding scene were one and indistinguishable. A living thing. Oh, she's dotted all her t's and crossed all her i's, so if you're put off by the way McCarthy writes, fear not, you'll have no trouble with Kuznak. Her muse is damned grand.
Pallas is a standalone novel. To be sure, it is Kuznak's debut novel, but while there is certainly room for a sequel, everything wraps up very nicely in this book. Another BIG POINT in my opinion. I don't like having to read what is essentially one story via three books. I feel the term "trilogy" is grossly misused these days. Give me a 1000 pages in one novel, I'm good with that. Don't make me purchase three books to read the entire story.
Pallas is set to drop in JUST two months (see cover reveal news for deets). Don't miss out. Follow her newsletter, Mechanical Pulp; she's serializing other work there, so you can test the waters to see if you'd enjoy supporting her work. I'm betting you will because Kuznak is slick!
We never meet without parting
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Until then!
Made in DNA