The arrival of the aliens (The Kethani) would normally be the final chapter in a science fiction book, but Eric Brown has them turning up in the first few pages (and only about 5 miles from my house, bit of a worry!). The narrative is more focused on the reaction and impact to the local residents than the aliens themselves, and their stories and histories form the rest of the novel. This is a well constructed and well paced novel although I did have the feeling that the stories may well have been written at different times as short stories and then 'shoehorned' into this longer book. The stories all seem to take place in quite severe winter ...  Read the complete review

There are broadly speaking two viewpoints from which science fiction is written. Let's call one Executive and the other Blue-collar. Executive science fiction is the high level, galaxy-shaping stuff. Star Wars would be an example, as would Frank Herbert's Due series. Both of these deal with inter-galactic politics, the shaping and destruction of worlds and the movement of millions of lives, moved around namelessly like a game of Risk. Blue-collar science fiction is at the other end of the scale. The frequently confused, usually isolated character caught up in something they don't understand. Alien is an example, as is John Wyndham's The Day ...  Read the complete review