Lost Solace by Karl Drinkwater - Review

Today on Life Of A Nerdish Mum I have something extremely exciting! I have the very first review of Karl Drinkwater's newest novel - Lost Solace. 

Lost Solace

Sometimes spaceships disappear with everyone on board - the Lost Ships. But sometimes they come back, strangely altered, derelict, and rumoured to be full of horrors. 

Opal is on a mission, She's been seeking something her whole life. Something she is willing to die for. And she thinks it might be on a Lost Ship. 

Opal has stolen Clarissa, an experimental AI-controlled spaceship from the military. Together they have tracked down a Lost Ship, in a lonely nebula far from colonised space. 

The Lost Ship is falling into the gravity well of a neutron star, and will soon be truly lost...forever. Legends say the ships harbour death, but there's no time for indecision. 

Opal gears up to board it. She's just one woman, entering an alien and lethal environment. But perhaps with the aid of Clarissa's intelligence - and an armoured spacesuit - Opal may stand a chance. 

Can she face her demons and survive?

My Review

I'm giving a spoiler away for my Twelve Books Of Christmas by saying that Lost Solace is 100% on that list! I absolutely loved this book. It's been a while since I read my last sci-fi (that isn't Star Wars related) novel and Lost Solace made me remember just how much I love the genre. 

Opal is a kick ass protagonist and I instantly felt a connection with her. She knows she isn't perfect but she is determined and passionate. Over the course of the story we learn snippets about Opal and her life before Lost Solace, each bit makes me want to know even more and find out what she has gone through to get to this point. 

I love Opal, but I have to say I think Clarissa, the AI, is my favourite character. She is intelligent, straight to the point and just a little bit sassy! Her personality develops over time and she becomes her own "person" instead of just a programmed robot and it is really good to see this process. I think the author has done an excellent job of representing female friendship (even if it is between a human and an AI) and I recognised things from my own friendships over the years. 

The story is excellent and there is a perfect balance of sci-fi and horror. At one point not long after Opal boards the Lost Ship. I had to put the book down for a few minutes because I'd been so creeped out. It wasn't down for long though as I needed to know what happened next. Lost Solace is absolutely compulsive reading. 

I enjoyed the fact that there is technical terminology and logical facts throughout, but not too much to take you out of the moment (to figure out what it meant haha) or to make any scenes drag. It's punchy and fast paced. The technology and armoured suit are incredibly thought out and intelligent. The armoured suit is definitely the kind of thing I would want if I was in that kind of situation. 

I honestly cannot emphasise how much I loved this book. When I finished it my initial notes were as follows - Omgoodness ALL OF THE STARS! 5/5! It's creepy, it's action packed, it's awesome! - so I think that shows maybe just a hint of my feelings! Also I don't often think or say that books should be made into tv shows/movies, but I would love to see this as a movie on the big screen! 

As you can probably tell, I gave this book 5 stars. 

Help Out The Author

If this sounds like your cup of tea (which it definitely should) then you can actually help the author out by going to vote for it on the kindlescout page to get it published by Amazon. The link you need is here. 

About The Author

Karl Drinkwater is originally from Manchester but has lived in Wales for half his life. He's a full-time author, edits fiction for other writers, and was a professional librarian for over twenty-five years. He has degrees in English, Classics, and Information Science.

He writes in multiple genres: his aim is always just to tell a good story. Among his books you'll find elements of literary and contemporary fiction, gritty urban, horror, suspense, paranormal, thriller, sci-fi, romance, social commentary, and more. The end result is interesting and authentic characters, clever and compelling plots, and believable worlds.

When he isn't writing he loves exercise, guitars, computer and board games, the natural environment, animals, social justice, cake, and zombies. Not necessarily in that order.

To Connect With Karl Drinkwater

Website - http://karldrinkwater.uk

Twitter - @karldrinkwater

Facebook - Karl Drinkwater