Review: Earthbound by Mark R. Healy

Title: Earthbound
Author: Mark R. Healy
Series: The Reach #1
Publication: July 10th 2015
Genre: Science Fiction
Purchase on: Amazon
Rating: 5/5

Review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

   

The Earth is suffocating under toxic skies and there’s only one way for those left behind to escape – the space elevator that sits atop the massive structure known as the Reach.

Knile Oberend is an outcast, a man exiled for the crimes of his past. Thrown an unlikely lifeline, he has less than forty-eight hours to cash in his ticket at the top of the Reach and escape off-world.

Disgraced cop Alec Duran had a bright future until he made one fateful mistake. Now his last shot at redemption becomes entwined with the fate of the very man who ruined his life three years ago.

Alton Wilt, an underworld boss desperate to leave Earth, falls upon a rare find – the name of a man who is about to be granted passage off-world. With his minions in tow he is hell bent on stealing that privilege for himself.

As time runs out, these three men find themselves on a collision course that will lead to a confrontation from which only one can emerge victorious.

The first part of Earthbound felt a little slow to me but before I knew it this book had me hooked and refused to let me go. I loved it!

This was my first book by this author and I got to say that I'm impressed. The writing was excellent, the story was amazing and unpredictable. This is the kind of book that I will never get tired of.

With multiple points of view, with three characters in the spotlight, it gave us different insights to this world the author created. Earth is slowly dying and all characters came from different places. Most of the story takes place in the Reach, which on top has a space elevator that people would do anything for to be on to get off-world.

Like I said the book has multiple points of view but it still mainly revolves about Knile Oberend, who more than anything wants to leave Earth behind and start a new life somewhere else. With the dishonered cop Alec Duran and criminal Alton Wilt chasing after him for constrasting reasons, this is no easy feat. Especially when he has to drag a kid around who isn't all what she seems.

I loved the action and the various characters Knile comes across on his journey to the top of the reach. There was never a dull moment. It also hit home how if mankind isn't careful, this might become our impending future. I also loved the twists at the end. I thought it was very clever and very unexpected!

Overall, Earthbound by Mark R. Healy was fast-paced, thrilling and action-packed. The story was a race against time that introduced us to some strong and memorable characters that I sure won't forget.

       About the Author:

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Mark R Healy is an author and musician from Brisbane, Australia. From an early age he loved to create, and often assembled his own illustrated books with accompanying stories – and then forced his parents to buy them.

Unfortunately this model was not scalable and Mark now seeks to promote his works to a wider audience.

Mark has also combined his storytelling prowess with music, creating a project called ‘Hibernal’ through which he interweaves original sci-fi stories with his own music to create an immersive theatrical experience for the listener. Combined with a professional voice cast and sound effects, these “audio movies” are available online through iTunes, Bandcamp and Amazon under the name ‘Hibernal’.\