Darkiss Reads: Particle Horizon by Selso Xisto

^{From the blood and dust of New Jerusalem, the Legion of the LightBringer wages a galactic war against those who would replace their god. Now, the time has come for the Union of Free Worlds to make a stand. The front line is the idyllic asteroid world of Angelhaven, where the greatest mind in human history has discovered an elemental power with far-reaching implications. A power that both sides will do anything to harness.

Marine commander Gomes leads the crack Union task force. An unrelenting warrior driven by revenge and a need for answers, he hides a strange ability neither science nor religion can explain.On the other side of the war, Aja is forced to fight for a cause she doesn't believe in to protect her own secret.

Caught between them is Una, a living machine who battles for her humanity as her world falls apart. Outnumbered ten to one and stalked by a mysterious nemesis, all three will play a role in unraveling Angelhaven's enigma.

As the Legion invasion begins, unknown eyes watch with interest...Book Description}

Excitement was mounting while I waited for this book as it makes a nice change to read science fiction, and from the description it actually looked as though it could be along the lines of some of my favourite sci/fi author’s (Neal Asher, Alistair Reynolds, and Peter F Hamilton). This excitement was tempered with caution as a lot has been promised in the past by similar first time novelists and unfortunately not delivered.

My first of many good signs was that the book was of good length. The start was intriguing bringing into play an intriguing scenario of galactic watchers, and then straight into a separate well-paced scene with interesting characters and a storyline that caught the imagination (good writing). No overly long build up but straight into the meat of the story, definitely grabbed the attention. How could these two things be related? All signs did indeed look good.

The story stays at a good pace and invites you to stay reading no matter what. The characters are very well thought out and fully rounded even characters that do not play a full part though I won’t tell you which, I was surprised constantly. The technology was well described though thankfully not too much very inventive and there were a few things that I had not come across before. It plays a major part in the storyline as it should but it is not the sole reason for the story. The plot is familiar but it becomes more expansive and unique as we go along, with twists and turns along the way.

Overall very good, but the added bonus was the writing. The author ticks all of the boxes in that respect, research he has done; concept excellent; characters engaging; technology believable and well described & writing style impressive. I’m finding it difficult but excited none the less that this is his first novel.

As normal I’ve only provided a general overview but hopefully enough to make readers of science fiction to give this a go as it will be well worth it. In my opinion mainstream science fiction publishers should read this as for me it is as good as most of the mainstream authors out there and I would happily add him to my list of must purchase, so if you enjoy the authors that I mentioned above then you should enjoy this. I just hope that this is the first of many. I highly recommend this book! 5 Stars!