Sunday, November 15, 2015

The Ark (Children of a Dead Earth #1) by Patrick S. Tomlinson

The Ark (Children of a Dead Earth #1)Science Fiction

From Goodreads:

Humankind has escaped a dying Earth and set out to find a new home among the stars aboard an immense generation ship -- the Ark. Bryan Benson is the Ark's greatest living sports hero, enjoying retirement working as a detective in Avalon, his home module. The hours are good, the work is easy, and the perks can't be beat.

But when a crewmember goes missing, Bryan is thrust into the centre of an ever-expanding web of deception, secrets, and violence that overturns everything he knows about living on the Ark and threatens everyone aboard.

The Ark starts with a missing person, becomes a murder mystery and ends up revealing a very big secret that almost destroyed the Ark. All of the action revolves around Bryan Benson.  Benson is the past captain of Zero Ball and he was promoted to Chief Constable when he retired. It was not a hard job as there was very little crime on the Ark.  That changed as they got very near the end of their 10 generation journey.

I liked the world building in The Ark.  The Earth was about to be destroyed and 50,000 were chosen to make the journey to another star.  They decided to not look back at what happened to Earth.  They only look forward so there is only the world of the Ark and  Tomlinson does a very good job of making the description of a very complex but limited world a part of the story line.

There is plenty tension and danger as a part of the plot.  There are also numerous surprises.  Most are about the characters and their actions. While Benson is the main character he is supported by a very nice cast of well rounded secondary characters.

The Ark is book one in a new series so while the murder is solved a big and important secret is revealed.  One that promises more action and tension in future books.  The Ark is a very good start to a new Science Fiction series.

Angry Robot published The Ark by Patrick S. Tomlinson in 2015.


I received an ARC  of The Ark from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

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