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Thursday, 26 September 2019
#BlogTour The Guardian by J.D. Moyer
Today it's my turn on the BlogTour The Guardian, the second book in the Reclaimed Earth series, by J.D. Moyer. It's sci-fi, post-apocalyptic and speculative fiction.
About the Author
J.D. Moyer lives in Oakland, California, with his wife, daughter,and mystery-breed dog. He writes science fiction, produces electronic music in two groups (Jondi & Spesh and Momu), runs a record label (Loöq Records), and blogs at jdmoyer.com. His previous occupations include dolphin cognition researcher, martial arts instructor, Renaissance Faire actor, dance music event promoter, and DJ.
His favorite authors include Iain Banks, Octavia Butler, William Gibson, Kim Stanley Robinson, Margaret Atwood, and David Mitchell.
His short stories have appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, The InterGalactic Medicine Show, Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores, and Compelling Science Fiction. His novelette The Icelandic Cure won the 2016 Omnidawn Fabulist Fiction contest. His debut science fiction novel The Sky Woman was published by Flame Tree Press in 2018.
Recurring themes in his fiction include genetic engineering, the sociological effects of climate change, virtualized consciousness,and evolutionary divergence.
Follow @johndavidmoyer on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon, Visit jdmoyer.com, Buy The Guardian
About the book
The Guardian, the sequel to the The Sky Woman, is a story of colliding worlds and the contested repopulation of a wild Earth. Tem really struggles as the only brown-skinned child in the village. His mother Car-En decides that the family should spend some time on the Stanford ringstation, but Tem gets caught up in the battle against Umana, the tentacle-enhanced ‘Squid Woman’, while protecting a secret that could change the course of civilization.
Review
This is the second book in the Reclaimed Earth series. The Guardian and The Sky Woman can both be read as standalone novels.
After catastrophic events decimated the population of Earth the post-apocalyptic world is now inhabited predominantly by two groups, those who live on earth and those who live in the sky, the ringstation inhabitants.
The groups on earth appear to have devolved into more of tribal driven life, whereas the ringstations appear to be the silent scientific observer, who choose to intervene when it suits them. Never the twain shall meet is the general consensus of the two groups, which puts Tem in a peculiar position because he belongs to both groups. His father is part of the earth dwellers and his mother is an ex-ringstation dweller.
Said mother decides it is time for Tem to get to know life in the ringstation, which is when the action starts. An old enemy steps back into Car-En's life and it turns out he once again has an ulterior motive. There is a reason Car-En has been hiding from him for a decade.
The title of the book doesn't seem to have a connection to the story, however I do have a theory on that. Keeping in mind that book three is in the works - I think this book was a way of introducing Tem as said Guardian. His role as someone who belongs to both groups and can successfully navigate either one will probably become poignant as we move into the next part of the story.
It's sci-fi, post-apocalyptic and speculative fiction. Moyer melds the more complex aspects of the story with good ol' riveting storytelling. Which I find quite important, because many authors make the mistake of creating a level of complexity that is so dense and unforgivably pretentious the reader loses interest. Moyer balances both exactly right.
Buy The Guardian at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Flame Tree Press; pub date 26 Sept. 2019. Buy at Amazon com.
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