{"id":1093,"date":"2015-02-08T16:08:28","date_gmt":"2015-02-08T22:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/?p=1093"},"modified":"2015-02-08T16:08:28","modified_gmt":"2015-02-08T22:08:28","slug":"a-review-of-blowback-by-kristine-kathryn-rusch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/a-review-of-blowback-by-kristine-kathryn-rusch\/","title":{"rendered":"A Review of Blowback<\/em> by Kristine Kathryn Rusch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Blowback-ebook-cover-rebrand-2014-web\"<\/a>Blowback<\/a><\/em>
\nKristine Kathryn Rusch<\/a>
\nWMG Publishing<\/a>
\nebook $5.99
\ntrade paper $18.99<\/p>\n

As I announced in my last post <\/a>on this blog, I’m going to be reviewing all of the Anniversary Day Saga<\/em> titles in order, alternating between here and Amazing Stories<\/em>.\u00a0 The even numbered titles will be reviewed here, while the odd numbered titles I’ll review at Amazing Stories<\/em>.\u00a0 The first one<\/a> of those was a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Blowback<\/em> is the second novel in the series, and it takes place six months after the events of Anniversary Day<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 The residents of the Moon are struggling to put their lives back together amidst the devastation.\u00a0 Only the actions of Miles Flint, Noelle DeRicci, Bartholomew Nyquist, and other investigators kept the death toll from being higher.<\/p>\n

Now these people are trying to trace where the clones came from and who sent them.\u00a0 Along with the shock and grief that don’t seem to go away is the fear that something like Anniversary Day will happen again.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s a fear that’s well-founded, since the only clone captured alive in the previous book said that Anniversary Day was only the beginning.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Miles’ daughter Talia is frustrated with having to go to school rather than get to help each day with the investigation, but she won’t be left untouched by the events of the book.\u00a0 In many ways, her story is at the heart of the novel, because she is having to face some really adult situations.<\/p>\n

\"Anniversary-Day-ebook-cover\"<\/a>Help will come from some new directions as the story expands in Blowback<\/em>.\u00a0 Three new allies are introduced, a crime lord, a minor diplomat on the Peyti homeworld, and a special agent of the Earth Alliance who is under deep cover.\u00a0 Each of them will have a part to play in this novel and some of the ones to come.<\/p>\n

Rusch puts a number of twists in her story.\u00a0 There will be betrayals and surprises.\u00a0 Politics will affect the investigation.\u00a0 Beyond that, I don’t want to say too much.\u00a0 Part of the joy of reading Blowback<\/em> was the changes in direction the story took.<\/p>\n

I found Blowback<\/em> to be an almost seamless blend of science fiction, police procedural, and thriller.\u00a0 This is a story that is not only epic in scope, but it’s expanding.\u00a0 Some writers can’t keep their tale under control when this happens, but Rusch has everything in hand.\u00a0 She changes viewpoint characters every chapter in such a way that the tension builds.\u00a0 We also get a glimpse of how the different characters see each other, which adds to the depth of the cast.<\/p>\n

But it was more than just entertainment.\u00a0 Rusch puts story first, as well she should.\u00a0 But she’s a gifted writer who is more than capable of incorporating her message into her work when she has something to say without it getting int he way of the story or turning into a sermon.\u00a0 There are a number of newer writers who would benefit from studying her work.<\/p>\n

Of course there are echoes of 9-11 here.\u00a0 But there are also other issues buried in the story.\u00a0 I’ll let you find them.\u00a0 It’s this feature of her writing that adds a richness to the story.<\/p>\n

\"A-Murder-of-Clones-ebook-cover-web\"<\/a>My one complaint has to do with a character who is mentioned in passing a time or two.\u00a0 At the end of Anniversary Day<\/em>, one of the conspirators is captured.\u00a0 I’m guessing the authorities haven’t learned anything from this person in the last six months, such as how that person was recruited or who was giving that person orders.\u00a0 I’ll have to trust the Rusch isn’t through with this character.<\/p>\n

The next volume, A Murder of Clones<\/em>,<\/a> went on sale a few weeks ago.\u00a0 I’m reading it and plan to have the review ready to go for my next column for Amazing Stories<\/em> next week.\u00a0 I’ll post a link here when it goes live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blowback Kristine Kathryn Rusch WMG Publishing ebook $5.99 trade paper $18.99 As I announced in my last post on this blog, I’m going to be reviewing all of the Anniversary Day Saga titles in order, alternating between here and Amazing Stories.\u00a0 The even numbered titles will be reviewed here, while the odd numbered titles I’ll […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[117],"tags":[727,767,728],"class_list":["post-1093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kristine-kathryn-rusch","tag-anniversary-day-saga","tag-kristine-kathryn-rusch","tag-wmg-publishing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3P5pJ-hD","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1093"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1100,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093\/revisions\/1100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresfantastic.com\/futurespastandpresent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}