NOPHEK GLOSS

RELEASED OUT NOW! 464 pages | Paperback/ebook

Author Essa Hansen

Publisher Orbit Books

Part Iain M Banks, part ’60s cosmic Marvel, this first entry in new series The Graven is an ambitious, but not entirely successful, debut.

Set in a multiverse awash with bubble universes that characters pop in and out of like they’re taking trips to the supermarket, the action begins with young Caiden’s home planet being destroyed by the evil overlords who have been keeping his people enslaved. He escapes in a curious ship of ancient origin that just happens to be lying on the planet’s surface, and is joined by a crew of misfits who just happen to have crash-landed there. Yep, there are a lot of coincidences here, as Caiden embarks on a universe-hopping journey of revenge against the evil overlords. Nopheks, by the way, are kind of killer cattle, with a sandworm-like significance to the plot.

There’s a lot to like here, including a Serenity-style vibe to the crew, an inclusive cast of supporting characters, exciting action sequences and fun bad guys. Sadly, a lot of the concepts feel hand-me-down, while a prose style that’s somewhere between Ernest Hemingway and a Japanese instruction manual Google-translated into English leaves the worldbuilding rather abstract and difficult to visualise. Caiden, meanwhile, has less of an emotional spectrum than the Nopheks. It’s a perfectly readable novel, but promises more than it delivers. Dave Golder