Black Light Express

The first book in this series was absolutely amazing, this one is just as good. I highly recommend this series. It has everything you could possibly want in a young adult steampunk/fantasy.

The world this is set in is so amazing, I have never encountered anything similar. The last book introduced us to world where you could travel between interstellar train stations, where trains are living beings with attitude, there are hive beasts made up of a community of insects that think as one, and so, so much more. This one continues and introduces us to so much more than even that.

I loved the way this author writes. He tells a story full of descriptionsurprises and detail. He paces well and wastes no words on nonsense or to add girth, I show more hate when you can tell scenes were added to lengthen page count. His writing fits the story perfectly.

I am surprised that is not a more popular series, it is that good. Start with the first book this is not a series I recommend reading out of order, you would be lost if you tried.

Netgalley provided ebook.

303 pages show less

I struggled to re-connect to the characters in this second outing for the sentient trains and the interstellar rail network they run on and the humans they carry with them. Oddly, it's the machines, particularly Nova, the android, that I had most sympathy with. The revelations were disappointingly similar to those of another SF novel that is much better and the series in general suffers from my constantly being reminded of other writers' books. Nevertheless it's an amusing enough adventure and I'm sure I'll get around to the third one at some point.

A good middle book, pushes the plot along but isn't just a placeholder.

Zen Starling and Nova have travelled all over the Network Empire, but they've never passed through a new gate - one that should not exist at all. They've been through a lot and can't go back so their only option is to go through.

There is a new Empress of the Great Network who has just chosen to take a criminal named Chandni Hansa out of the freezer and into her world to help find Zen Starling. But railwar erupts and they're running for their lives.

Everyone ends up at the mysterious Black Light Zone - a world no longer in use with secrets to uncover.

This is the sequel to Railhead and it picks up where book one left off. The creativity is still strong and we have some of the same characters we saw in the first book. This is show more action-packed as Zen and Nova race through new worlds, avoiding bad trains and bad people, and hoping to make it home alive. I found this book just a teensy bit long, but overall it was really good. And like the first book there is a glossary in the back to help us understand what's what.

Thank you to Netgalley and Capstone for a copy of this book. show less

Seguito diretto del primo libro, anche questo molto molto carino, simile al precedente, forse leggermente meno originale e "fresco" ma cmq ben strutturato e sviluppato, personaggi gradevoli, begli scenari, trama avvincente, da leggere.