BOOK REVIEW | THE SCORCHING: THE WORLD IN MY HANDS | NICK SNAPE

 

BOOK DESCRIPTION

A lonely PA, a rebellious teenager, two ordinary people on a deadly journey to save humanity.

 The world is heading towards global collapse as The Scorching takes full effect. Salvation vessels orbit the Earth, waiting to transport the chosen few away from danger and to start again; ten plantships grown by an alien species for the wealthiest and most powerful, or those lucky enough to be selected by lottery. The rest remain behind, their future dependent on the Drathken finding a solution to Earth’s problems.

 Jenna, Personal Assistant to a prominent oil mogul, feels privileged to be among the saved, never questioning her good fortune.

 While Seth suffers, forced to leave his friends behind as his family takes their place aboard their luxurious ship.

 Yet not all is well on board. Dark secrets lurk in the corridors and depths of their respective ships, dragging Jenna and Seth into a world of malice and violence they thought they had left far behind.

REVIEW

The Scorching: The World in My Hands is the second standalone novel in Nick Snape’s The Scorching Series.

Each book explores a different aspect of a near future earth after a cataclysmic event known as the scorching has taken place. The Scorching is a result of climate change. In each book, the earth has been offered aid by a race of insectoid aliens called The Drathken.

In this second book, The Drathken have offered the super rich members of the petro – chemical conglomerates and the other 1 percenters the chance to leave the devastated planet earth and boldly go where no one has gone before to set up a colony in the far reaches of the galaxy.

The book centres on two main characters, Jenna Watkins, a P.A. to billionaire owner of Stern Oil, Paul Sternman who is summoned to travel on the ship and leave the earth behind.

The other is Seth Knight, the entitled teenage son of the owner of Knight Oil, one of the oldest oil companies in the US.

I must admit that I had absolutely no idea what this book was about when I first started it and have to say that I was pretty impressed. I have never read any of Nick Snape’s books before and in all honesty, I applied to read the arc of the book on a whim because it looked alright. However, after reading this one, I am definitely going to be reading some more of his books. I know that he has some other sci fi books out, and he has also done a fantasy story, so I will definitely be checking them out.

The Scorching is a fast-moving science fiction thriller that never fails to surprise.

The characters are good and undergo a significant growth as the story progresses and much like the story, not in the way I expected. Ultimately though, this is a tale about sacrifice as it seems to be the predominant theme throughout the book.

Whilst this is a thriller, the writer subtly introduces a number of different concepts  and has some ‘big thoughts’ about the future of the human race, but doesn’t use a frying pan to hit the reader over the head.

If you are looking for a decent slice of sci fi thriller, then this one is definitely worth seeking out.