Crash
Crash Status Unknown Trilogy: Book 1 by N.S. Shajay Coil Worlds Press General Fiction (Adult) , Sci Fi & Fantasy Pub Date 14 Aug 2018
Review
Survival is not guaranteed when you crash on an unknown, unexplored planet. Even if the air is breathable and water is available there are many challenges. In this case, it isn’t a question of what threatens the survivors of the crashed colony ship, but what doesn’t. Minimal supplies of food and medicine, an assortment of murderers destined for a prison planet running loose, primeval dinosaurlike creatures and far more put the colony’s longevity in question. Captain Patrick Knox holds everything and everyone together, even as one tragedy follows the next. Four convicts join forces with the colonists, though there are many uncomfortable with their presence. Willow, the only doctor who survived the crash, is a gifted surgeon who was convicted of murder. She quickly becomes invaluable. Throughout the novel, Knox struggles with whether to trust Willow and the other convicts who joined them. The moral ambiguity becomes easier to cope with as he learns more of the individuals and their experiences. Willow is the one who steadfastly refuses to explain her past - which is expected as she is a central character and of major importance to Knox and the colony’s survival. I am just guessing, but I expect there will be some revelations and major surprises in future installments.
Crash is a gritty science fiction adventure featuring a classic man against the elements scenario. The characters are compelling, and even those initially unlivable have multiple facets. The situation is a difficult one, which at once brings out the best and the worst in people. You don’t know whether you will survive long enough to starve, or whether you will fill the belly of a predator or carnivorous plant. N S Sajay’s Crash is a brilliant debut.
5 / 5
I received a copy of Crash from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
— Crittermom
Description
Captain Patrick Knox, war hero and a man who has seen too many dead soldiers, is on his final journey. His task? To take an aging ship full of colonists to a backwater farm planet, with a short stop at a prison planet to offload a cargo of serial killers. After that, he’s done. He’ll sit with the ghosts of his dead and drink himself to oblivion. Then an act of sabotage causes the colony ship to crash onto an unmapped and eerie alien planet, the majority of their supplies lost and their tech destroyed. There is little chance of rescue. Somehow, Knox must find his ragged band of survivors safe harbor on a primeval planet where murderers roam free, even the plants are carnivorous…and the only surviving doctor is a convicted serial killer…
