Review of 'Winter Song'

Winter Song by Colin Harvey

Karl Allman is an engineered human who crash lands his spaceship on Isheimur - A remote, desolate planet with a dwindling population of humans that are only barely surviving against the harsh climate and hostile native life. A small group nurses him back to health but he quickly creates an enemy of the leader and strikes out with the help of Bera, a young woman whose loss of her first child in childbirth has left her as an outsider in her own community. Karl and Bera set out on a 2,000 mile journey to find “Winter Song” which appears to be a crashed spacecraft that may be able to get Karl off of the planet. Along the way they will battle with the local wildlife, weather and be chased by the angry men of the community they left behind…

A reasonably good yarn but only picks up in the last quarter where their trek across the planet ends. I found much of the story not terribly surprising and predictable (and when not so believability is stretched to breaking point). “Will they, won't they” is a bit tiring when it was always obvious which way it was going to go. The character stereotypes are also pretty tiring as well - Quite predictable (even when the characters change in the course of the book).

It would have been nice to have a bit more depth to the story…

Rating: “Not great, but not the worse”

Review Date: 2014-09-14

Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: Angry Robot

Publication Date: 2009