If you’ve been searching for an adult science fiction that tests the boundaries with cinematic horror, look no further. The Immortality Thief felt like watching a SF horror unfold before my eyes. This chunky book delivers scenes with jump scares – or the literary equivalent – and some very terrifying suspense. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
Summary
Far off the edge of human existence, beside a dying star lies a nameless ship abandoned and hidden, lost for a millennium. But there are secrets there, terrible secrets that would change the fate of humanity, and eventually someone will come looking.
Refugee, criminal and linguist Sean Wren is made an offer he knows he can’t refuse: life in prison, “voluntary” military service – or salvaging data in a long-dead language from an abandoned ship filled with traps and monsters, just days before it’s destroyed in a supernova. Data connected to the Philosopher’s Stone experiments, into unlocking the secrets of immortality.
And he’s not the only one looking for the derelict ship. The Ministers, mysterious undying aliens that have ruled over humanity for centuries, want the data – as does The Republic, humanity’s last free government. And time is running out.
In the bowels of the derelict ship, surrounded by horrors and dead men, Sean slowly uncovers the truth of what happened on the ship, in its final days… and the terrible secret it’s hiding.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the author. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
From the beginning, I knew I’d like The Immortality Thief. With a translator main character and set up which felt almost like the Suicide Squad, I was intrigued immediately. There is a gritty feeling to the world and it only gets more complex as the book continues. The Immortality Thief is one of those rare gems which has it all: world, pacing, and action. And the intrigue only builds and spikes the more you read as we realize that there secrets, deadly ones, on the ship with them.
And that’s only the beginning of the horror like quality. There’s a distinct sense of pacing and action, reveals and memories haunting them, which would be great on the screen. Because even though the ship is hiding a dangerous past Sean has his own haunts as he’s brought back to scenes of truth and dare, and scores to settle. The Immortality Thief crosses genres from horror, to mystery, to SF all at once.
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And after finishing, I know I need book two immediately. Because Hunt knows how to hook a reader and keep us wriggling. While the action, SF world, and pacing were the main reasons I enjoyed The Immortality Thief, I also am invested in the characters and how Sean will figure out how to survive – if he can. Find The Immortality Thief on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound, Bookshop.org & The Book Depository.