Book Review: Planetside (Planetside #1) by Michael Mammay

Planetside by Michael Mammay
My rating: 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Publisher: Harper Voyager

This was a fun read but it ended on the kind of mid-scene cliffhanger that made me want to toss the book across a room in frustration.
I'm telling you, the tension and anticipation was built all the way up and it just ends. WHAT?!! On the upside, I do have the second book but I'm honestly so peeved, I'm not reading it next. That'll show the narrative!

I'd recommend this because the narrator, Col. Butler is sharp and witty. He made this story a fast mover and also an enjoyable one. The plot unfurls well and the back third is a fast-moving, edge of your page ride. But if abrupt non-endings make you ragey, be advised. Also, several points for very cool cover art. In book likes, this reminded me of James S.A. Corey's The Expanse for the pithy delivery and swift tempo story and C.J. Cherryh's Alliance Space for the whole conspiracy going down with wider corruption themes.

Favourite quotes:

"It might have been my imagination. My brain does funny things when my own people try to kill me in an ambush."

"As expected, mixing a bunch of booze and not enough water with a potential concussion had been a poor idea."

Summary: War heroes aren't usually called out of semi-retirement and sent to the far reaches of the galaxy for a routine investigation. So when Colonel Carl Butler answers the call from an old and powerful friend, he knows it's something big—and he's not being told the whole story. A high councilor's son has gone MIA out of Cappa Base, the space station orbiting a battle-ravaged planet. The young lieutenant had been wounded and evacuated—but there's no record of him having ever arrived at hospital command.


The colonel quickly finds Cappa Base to be a labyrinth of dead ends and sabotage: the hospital commander stonewalls him, the Special Ops leader won't come off the planet, witnesses go missing, radar data disappears, and that’s before he encounters the alien enemy. Butler has no choice but to drop down onto a hostile planet—because someone is using the war zone as a cover. The answers are there—Butler just has to make it back alive…


No comments