Review: The Scorching: Just Press Play by Nick Snape
Blurb:
Joshua Nkosi, cop, joker, vlogger and an octopus's best friend…but Earth’s saviour?
On an Earth devastated by The Scorching climate event, the Drathken land their giant plantships with the promise of healing the planet. Joshua Nkosi vlogs and jokes his way through an easy life guarding a deep-sea mining operation while watching old vids. That is until he, and his modded octopus partner, Marc, get caught up in a plot to steal radiation rich materials from the seabed, fuelling the terrorists’ plan to destroy a Drathken plantship, and ultimately put an end to the alien/human alliance.
Nkosi and his sarcastic tentacled buddy are forced to enter the Burnout Zone, only to come face to face with humanity’s stark future when the hunt for the terrorists' lab takes a devastating twist. As conspiracies deepen and the jokes fly, Nkosi and Marc enter a dark journey of discovery—one they decide humanity desperately needs to listen to.
Review:
The Scorching: Just Press Play by Nick Snape is a fast paced, action packed science fiction novel set in a post climate-catastrophe vision of Earth. Where the surface has become a brutal place, with many of the survivors of the human race crushed into feudal gangs, and others resorting to cannibalism for survival. Whilst the rich and famous fled in ships, Earth’s salvation came in the form of the Drathken, an insectoid alien race that made groundfall to assist humanity in saving the planet. But do the Drathken have humanity’s best interests at heart? Or do they have another agenda?
The story follows Joshua Nkosi, a submarine pilot who spends his days guarding heavy sea-bed trawlers from the HLA: A rebel human element who protest the Drathken and the ruling class of humans who facilitate their agenda. Accompanying him is his trusty octopus, MARC, bonded to him by a kind of neural-link that allows them to hear each other’s thoughts and see through each other’s eyes. With Josh acting as narrator, and MARC as commentator, the story is presented as if the protagonist is streaming, or vlogging. Giving the story, at least in its first half, a slightly jovial and familiar tone.
Things take a turn when a particular failure to prevent the theft of some exotic materials sends Joshua on an adventure to track down the thieves, taking him out of his comfortable life into an all out military action romp which is a real thrill to read. Fans of quick pacing and military action are in for a treat here.
Avoiding spoilers, I will say that Nick Snape has a knack for subverting expectations. The characters never failed to surprise me. I particularly enjoyed the protagonist's character progression, particularly in the second half of the book, with the finale leaving me reeling and racing to finish it. It was unexpectedly emotional, full of twists and events that came way out of left-field, and surprising moments that made me wonder whether I was rooting for Joshua or not.
I love a book that leaves you with mixed feelings about its protagonist, and this one certainly left me with a sense of wonder. Snape has set up a character and world here that leaves space for a series based around Joshua alone.
One the whole, and with the exception of a few ‘blink and you miss it moments,’ This is a standout indie read. I’m looking forward to checking out Snape’s Weapons of Choice series and I can’t wait to see what else the Scorching has in store for us.
