Neptune Crossing

No worries if you don't think of Chaos Theory the same way they did back in the 90s. And no worries about it being a series; this episode does end. (However, it is clearly an episode and does entice me to consider the sequels.) It is well-written, in that it is clear, engaging, with characters that act like real people with believable motivations & reactions, with an interesting alien, with tidbits of world-building re' robots, mining on Triton, etc., with an exciting adventure.... but I'm not sure I love or recommend it because it doesn't really have the 'what if' or 'sense of wonder' that I read SF for. There are no real Ideas. Difficult to rate. Maybe, in another mood, I'd give it four stars. I do have a feeling I'll be thinking show more about Charlie & old TV and the neuro-net & silence-fugue a few more times. show less

Bizarrely psychological Space Opera. But an interesting premise fairly well carried out.

John Bandicut is a nethead and a pilot. When a freak accident and poor nanotech destroys his nethead links, he's demoted to shuttle driver for the mining company he works for. They are searching (and finding) the ice of Triton (Neptune's moon) for remnants of alien metallurgy. However losing his nethead links has left John a little spaced out at times - lost in remorse for his missing universe, and without any family or personal ties to keep him grounded. So far he's managed to avoid the authorities finding out about his problem. Until it manifests mid survey, and he comes round, several miles off route, with his rover about to sink through Triton's show more ice into a cavern underneath. Here John meets the Translator. An odd super advanced alien machine capable of many localised miracles. It's purpose is to provide help to upcoming sentients in case of major crisis. John finds he has about fifty days to try and save Earth from an impact with a really major comet. And he's gained more mental problems from the encounter - Charlie, also alien now speaks to him inside his head.

The pacing was pretty slow with a rushed conclusion, but all the psychological conversations allowed little time for much world building. I'd have liked to know a bit more about John's world, and technologies, especially the 'net. Instead a very slow beginning expands with all John's debates with Charlie, before a quick clunky romance and a decision - stay with the new crush or fly and save the world. The duex et machina of a really powerful alien artefact seems to be handled quite well. Although it's never explained why it didn't act earlier.

Unfortunetly we also don't get much interaction with the other characters, it's all about John, his thoughts feelings and problems. And while I like single viewpoint narratives, it is possible to develop other characters too. The formatting works very well for distinguishing Charlie's mental voice from John's.

You do eventually start to build some empathy with John who never asked to be a hero. The ending neatly sets up the sequel, which I will read. The author has the books available for free download from his website. It’s worth a donation. show less

John Bandicut is having a rough life. He lost his family in a tragic accident. He suffered a botched medical procedure that left him prone to psychotic episodes. If that isn't enough, an alien on a suicide mission inhabited his brain and conscripted him into service. When the voice in his head tells him what he must do, he has a choice: play it safe and risk losing everything or take a leap of faith that will almost certainly cost him his life.

Neptune Crossing has moments of high tension and intense action metered by the hum-drum existence in an outer solar system mining operation. I enjoyed this story overall. The ending left me a bit hollow but in all fairness, this is book one in a six book series. The issue I had with the ending may show more well be resolved deeper into The Chaos Chronicles. show less

As ever, a good story with a thought provoking exploration of the question: what does it mean to be human? In this book, an alien who lives only in the mind of its host joins forces with a human space worker to save the earth from destruction. Sounds as though it could be corny, but it never is. 14 Aug 2015

I found this book frustrating because not enough happens in it to justify its total number of pages, let alone a sequel! Carver had an interesting idea and then stretched it out into a series. This malady is almost common in modern science fiction.

While I thought the premise of an alien symbiont was interesting, it was just not well executed. The alien(s?) were just too human too quick. You know a killer asteroid is good, but killer aliens is better. I could just not get into this book.

Cannot recommend.

very slow start, but was ok, not a huge fan of cliff hanger endings to books with no small amount of resolution to go with it