Review: Sci-fi fans rejoice
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 30, 2013
One of the challenges of reading good sci-fi is being able to keep up with an unfamiliar world. Some authors try to compensate for this by describing ad naseum every minute detail, others give you a hundred years of backstory right up front in hopes of bringing you up to speed. Ryan Henry simply dumps you into the Behemoth and demands you grok things like Reverteks and Killchain batteries and mercenary slang... and that you do it quickly. That's one of the things that made Betrayal on Triton impossible to put down; you're in the action from the first page, and you don't leave it until you finish the last.The first person narrative really puts you into Ethan's mind and goes a long way towards helping to visualize the story. One of the things I really appreciated was the dialogue. At no time did it seem stilted or contrived. Yes it's full of profanity but this isn't some Earl Grey sipping Jean-Luc and his band of merry, pacifistic explorers. (with apologies to Patrick Stewart!) These are some seriously bad-a characters, and Ethan Riley as a merc living in a dangerous and unforgiving world is as tough as they come.My ONLY gripe is that Ryan Henry had to go and use Xanadu for the name of a dive bar in Adiri City. That song has now been stuck in my head for three days.Other than infesting my brain with Olivia Newton John lyrics, Betrayal on Triton is one story I wouldn't mind reading more of in the future. It's a killer mix of talented storytelling, complex characters, and some of the best sci-fi I've come across in a while.