S. A. Tholin

Iron Truth is an ambitious dystopian space opera. Joy, a passenger on a colony ship, wakes in her cryopod to find the ship has crashed on Cato. It’s a planet whose wildlife, weather, and human population compete to see which can be the most dangerous. Later, she is recruited as a spy by the captain of a Primaterre Protectorate recon team. An awkward, frenemy romance develops.

The tone is as darkly gothic as anything in the Alien series. Evil of all kinds lurks in dark corners. Joy, who show more suffers from a Martian version of black lung disease, is almost out of the meds that keep her alive. She is a character we can root for, but the Protectorate’s theology is hard to swallow.
As many reviewers have noted, the novel is longer than it needs to be. Individual scenes are well constructed, but not all of them are necessary.

Iron Truth was the first winner of the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition founded by Hugh Howey of Wool/Silo fame. As a reader of more independently published science fiction than is good for me, I can’t say it did not deserve the award, but my pick of the 2018 crop of indies is Home Run by Nathan Lowell, a story with likeable characters, an original premise, and a plot that is always under control. show less

Enjoyable sci-fi

Iron Truth is immersive and captivating. It’s quite long, and it took me some time to get through - not because the plot slogged on forever or was in particular need of editing, but because a lot happens, and because it isn’t a quick, light read. The writing is very clean, only a couple of typos or instances of strange phrasing showed up in the KU file, and only once or twice enough to make me stop and reread. The universe this book is set in is vast with lots of history show more and it feels complex and real. We don’t get a lot of in-depth views of the existing societies outside of the planet where this book is set, but I think (and hope) we’ll see more in future books. The characters, at first, didn’t catch my interest. However, as the book goes on, I found myself caring for them, and they felt real. Despite being the first in a series, the book had a clear plot that wasn’t left hanging open at the end. There are, of course, plot threads left open for the sequels, but I think this book stands on its own satisfactorily, too. I look forward to future books by the author.

I guess I would categorize this as sci-fi horror, but it didn’t really feel like horror to me - which is good, since I don’t typically go for that genre. It’s at times hopeless and dark, and horrible things happen, but it doesn’t feel gratuitous. It feels more like a mystery, as the reader discovers truths, and lies, about the universe along with our characters. So readers looking for sci-fi horror that isn’t too horrible might try this one out. The technology is pretty well fleshed-out, and the future feels plausible, so I’d recommend it to readers to who enjoy science-y sci-fi. Finally, readers who don’t mind romantic subplots with a twist of crazy, or who are interested in relationships forged out of extraordinary circumstances would likely enjoy this, too. show less