Friday 8 January 2016

The Lost Thorn by Joshua P. Aguayo

Reviewer: JW Hicks

What we thought: The Lost Thorn is a sci-fi tale seeped in cyberpunk strangeness delivering a fast-moving shockingly tense narrative that grips to to the very last page.

The author gives the reader a fabulously realistic and horrifically descriptive portrait of an addict hooked on the toxic drug Obsidian Dust; a poison she needs to ‘stay alive’, escape reality and be taken to another place. Despite knowing the consequences: the after burn agony, the holes drilled into her memory, and the bleeding and disorientation that follows a dust-blitz, she submits willingly to the burn. She has no choice, as the reader will discover.

Sam – Samantha Merling Thorn de la Rosa – orphaned by the mega corporation ClearSightEnterprises and shadowed by a corporation watchdog, is daughter to a mage, murdered because of his amazing talent. After his death she allies herself to the criminal drug producers, enemies of CSE. The story-thread, the hows and whys of what Sam is and what she does, winds through a rich and exciting narrative like a poisonous scary-coloured serpent, leading readers through secret upon secret until they arrive at the dramatic and complex conclusion of this terrific and so very satisfying futuristic novel.

The strong, even compulsive storyline easily overcomes the occasional translation glitch. Three quarter way through with the tension ratcheting tighter and tighter, I found my heartbeat racing as I devoured Aguayo’s words like a starving raptor its prey.

A terrific read. Highly recommended.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: William Gibson. Pat Cadigan.

Ideal accompaniments: A fortifying fruit punch and a large dish of nibbles.

Genre: Futuristic fiction. Cyberpunk.

Available from Amazon

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