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The Razor
J. Barton Mitchell's The Razor is a riveting science fiction thriller about a man struggling to survive the chaos on a prison planet.
Brilliant engineer Marcus Flynn has been sentenced to 11-H37 alongside the galaxy's most dangerous criminals. A hard labor prison planet better known as the Razor, where life expectancy is short and all roads are dead ends.
At least until the Lost Prophet goes active...
In a few hours, prison guards and staff are evacuated, the prisoners are left to die, and dark mysteries begin to surface.
Only Flynn has the skills and knowledge to unravel them, but he will have to rely on the most unlikely of allies--killers, assassins, pirates and smugglers. If they can survive each other they just might survive the Razor...and claim it for their own.
Brilliant engineer Marcus Flynn has been sentenced to 11-H37 alongside the galaxy's most dangerous criminals. A hard labor prison planet better known as the Razor, where life expectancy is short and all roads are dead ends.
At least until the Lost Prophet goes active...
In a few hours, prison guards and staff are evacuated, the prisoners are left to die, and dark mysteries begin to surface.
Only Flynn has the skills and knowledge to unravel them, but he will have to rely on the most unlikely of allies--killers, assassins, pirates and smugglers. If they can survive each other they just might survive the Razor...and claim it for their own.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published November 27, 2018
26 people are currently reading
1136 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews
December 11, 2018
The Razor by J. Barton Mitchell and narrated by Travis Baldree is an audible book I requested and the review is voluntary. This book starts out very raw, gritty, and terrifying as the reader is introduced to the prison planet. The characters, the projects, and lives of those that live there are revealed slowly as chaos erupts due to certain events! Suspense, action, and the unknown kept me on the edge of my seat...creatures also abound...and the razor thin area of habitable zone is about to be destroyed. Pretty exciting.
The narration was totally on top of it! The voices of men, women, emotions, and everything else was excellent as usual for this narrator! As always, great job!
The narration was totally on top of it! The voices of men, women, emotions, and everything else was excellent as usual for this narrator! As always, great job!
November 6, 2018
Publishing Date: November 2018
Publisher: Tor
ISBN: 9780765387929
Genre: SciFi
Rating: 4.9/5
Publisher’s Description: Brilliant engineer Marcus Flynn has been sentenced to 11-H37 alongside the galaxy’s most dangerous criminals. A hard labor prison planet better known as the Razor, where life expectancy is short and all roads are dead ends.
Review: The idea that this tidally locked planet supports life in a thin band between the hot and cold sides is, pretty thin, almost razor like. Ha. What we know about tidally locked planets (that are not gas giants) is that life would find a hard purchase. Not impossible just not very likely. I like that this author takes a step off an established scientific idea and ramps it up. Gives it that “Ringworld” feel that I have been missing. I think Mathew Costello said it best in reference to this novel, “Cutting-edge SciFI “.
This is a fantastic novel. Period. It has everything you could hope for and is nice and long so the ride lasts a good long time. This definitely has a few more sequels to get through and I am exited as fuk for them. Only minor misstep: A firing pin is not pulled back to charge a gun as it is inside the bolt carrier.
p.s. The author photo on Goodreads is hilarious. Who poses like that? What is he looking at? Is that a bus stop for lost gay writers?
Check out my reviews,here.
Publisher: Tor
ISBN: 9780765387929
Genre: SciFi
Rating: 4.9/5
Publisher’s Description: Brilliant engineer Marcus Flynn has been sentenced to 11-H37 alongside the galaxy’s most dangerous criminals. A hard labor prison planet better known as the Razor, where life expectancy is short and all roads are dead ends.
Review: The idea that this tidally locked planet supports life in a thin band between the hot and cold sides is, pretty thin, almost razor like. Ha. What we know about tidally locked planets (that are not gas giants) is that life would find a hard purchase. Not impossible just not very likely. I like that this author takes a step off an established scientific idea and ramps it up. Gives it that “Ringworld” feel that I have been missing. I think Mathew Costello said it best in reference to this novel, “Cutting-edge SciFI “.
This is a fantastic novel. Period. It has everything you could hope for and is nice and long so the ride lasts a good long time. This definitely has a few more sequels to get through and I am exited as fuk for them. Only minor misstep: A firing pin is not pulled back to charge a gun as it is inside the bolt carrier.
p.s. The author photo on Goodreads is hilarious. Who poses like that? What is he looking at? Is that a bus stop for lost gay writers?
Check out my reviews,here.
November 27, 2018
Ahoy there me mateys! I received this sci-fi eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. So here be me honest musings . . .
This book takes place on the planet prison 11-H37, otherwise known as the razor. Those who are sentenced there stay there for the rest of their short lives. The prisoners are disposable tools used to mine the galaxy's primary energy source. The more useful ye are, the longer ye might live. Gang affiliations are recommended and corruption is the norm.
This was just an okay read for me. I loved the weird prison culture that was set up. Unfortunately, the story doesn't take place within that culture because a problem breaks out fairly quickly that leads to the evacuation of the prison planet and the breakdown of the social structure. The planet itself has an odd habitat in that there is a hot side and cold side of the planet with a small livable region in the middle of the two. However that region is becoming unstable and a small group of prisoners must try to get off the planet before the balance tips towards total annihilation.
The highlight of this book for me was in the characterization. I liked the six main characters that ye end up following. In particular, Key and Zane were favourites. The characters are what kept me reading. The book was engaging up until the half-way point and then slowed down significantly. Part of it was the gaps in plot structure and the other part was the unbelievably of the action sequences. I also didn't like the ready-made romance elements. There is an evil monster that is conveniently added in so the main characters have a lot of chase scenes with last minute close calls.
What I wanted was for the characters to cleverly use their set of talents to escape. Instead there was a continual series of close calls and escapes by chance. The main characters should have died over and over again and yet none did. The plot was sloppy and the tech, while interesting, didn't make sense.
And yet I did want the characters to succeed. And I did want Zane to get answers. So I kept readin' to find out why. I didn't get answers to Zane's questions. But I did get an ending that I wasn't expecting. The set-up for the next book does seem promising but I am hesitant to pick up the rest of the series because I didn't like the plot elements. I think this book has potential but it just wasn't completely to me taste. Arrr!
So lastly . . .
Thank you Macmillian-Tor/Forge!
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordp...
This book takes place on the planet prison 11-H37, otherwise known as the razor. Those who are sentenced there stay there for the rest of their short lives. The prisoners are disposable tools used to mine the galaxy's primary energy source. The more useful ye are, the longer ye might live. Gang affiliations are recommended and corruption is the norm.
This was just an okay read for me. I loved the weird prison culture that was set up. Unfortunately, the story doesn't take place within that culture because a problem breaks out fairly quickly that leads to the evacuation of the prison planet and the breakdown of the social structure. The planet itself has an odd habitat in that there is a hot side and cold side of the planet with a small livable region in the middle of the two. However that region is becoming unstable and a small group of prisoners must try to get off the planet before the balance tips towards total annihilation.
The highlight of this book for me was in the characterization. I liked the six main characters that ye end up following. In particular, Key and Zane were favourites. The characters are what kept me reading. The book was engaging up until the half-way point and then slowed down significantly. Part of it was the gaps in plot structure and the other part was the unbelievably of the action sequences. I also didn't like the ready-made romance elements. There is an evil monster that is conveniently added in so the main characters have a lot of chase scenes with last minute close calls.
What I wanted was for the characters to cleverly use their set of talents to escape. Instead there was a continual series of close calls and escapes by chance. The main characters should have died over and over again and yet none did. The plot was sloppy and the tech, while interesting, didn't make sense.
And yet I did want the characters to succeed. And I did want Zane to get answers. So I kept readin' to find out why. I didn't get answers to Zane's questions. But I did get an ending that I wasn't expecting. The set-up for the next book does seem promising but I am hesitant to pick up the rest of the series because I didn't like the plot elements. I think this book has potential but it just wasn't completely to me taste. Arrr!
So lastly . . .
Thank you Macmillian-Tor/Forge!
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordp...
October 19, 2021
Mitchell's The Razor definitely had a screen play feel, just dying to be made into a movie, but I guess that is par for the course as Mitchell is a screenwriter. The Razor is a prison planet for humanity's most hard-core. An odd planet to be sure, it does not rotate, but given the distance to the local red star, it can still support life on a narrow band between the hot/baking side and the cold/freezing side. The main activity on the planet is mining X, a substance that has become humanity's main power source; the convicts are their by the thousands to do the actual mining. X is found/produced by some anomaly from the radiation given off by red stars, and the Razor is the galaxies best source by far.
With that as background, lets get to the actual story. The book starts off with two people (Flynn and Maddox) seated across from each other on a shuttle bound for the Razor. Flynn is a high-flying engineer who got framed for murder (you will find out why) and Maddox is a former Ranger (elite military of the United Earth Government, or the UEG) who, upon 'retirement' became a prison guard on Razor. Why is he now heading back to Razor as a prisoner? You will find out soon enough.
We are quickly introduced to the 'culture' of Razor-- a mean nasty, corrupt jail, where inmates are basically imprisoned on 'crawlers', or massive vehicles that venture out to the 'hot side' to mine X, where it exists in its purest form. A few other characters are also introduced-- a nurse in the same crawler as Maddox and Flynn, and a rough and tough (so cliche!) young woman prisoner trying to help her friend and former crew mate (they were space pirates) suffering from a X related disease. Flynn is 'soft', never one to survive the harsh prison with its numerous gangs and hard-core inmates. During processing, Maddox tells Flynn to 'cut a deal' with someone as fast as he can. It turns out Flynn helped design much of the equipment for the mining, which was produced by the same company he worked for.
After some trials and tribulations (lots of them!), both Flynn and 'Key', the ex-pirate, along with Maddox and the nurse, discover that the crawler they are on is on a self-destruct course and they need to escape ASAP. When they end up back in the habitable zone, they soon find out that something is seriously wrong...
This is a bit over the top 'popcorn' space opera/thriller that just never lets up. As soon as our group of stragglers overcomes one hurdle, another, even more daunting soon pops up. Each chapter is basically an action sequence-- like I said at the start, this is a high octane thriller dying to be made into an action flick. Mild spoiler-- it also involves some strange aliens that some mad scientists managed to 'awake' on the planet and whatever they are, they are nasty as well. Toss in some human scientific experiments that are bizarre (Zane, the 'gray man' and Gable, herself a mad scientist how 'modified' herself in strange ways), add them to Flynn's and Maddox's group and cut them loose. Definitely not much thinking involved here, but if you like action/space opera, and popcorn, this may be for you. 3 warmed over stars.
With that as background, lets get to the actual story. The book starts off with two people (Flynn and Maddox) seated across from each other on a shuttle bound for the Razor. Flynn is a high-flying engineer who got framed for murder (you will find out why) and Maddox is a former Ranger (elite military of the United Earth Government, or the UEG) who, upon 'retirement' became a prison guard on Razor. Why is he now heading back to Razor as a prisoner? You will find out soon enough.
We are quickly introduced to the 'culture' of Razor-- a mean nasty, corrupt jail, where inmates are basically imprisoned on 'crawlers', or massive vehicles that venture out to the 'hot side' to mine X, where it exists in its purest form. A few other characters are also introduced-- a nurse in the same crawler as Maddox and Flynn, and a rough and tough (so cliche!) young woman prisoner trying to help her friend and former crew mate (they were space pirates) suffering from a X related disease. Flynn is 'soft', never one to survive the harsh prison with its numerous gangs and hard-core inmates. During processing, Maddox tells Flynn to 'cut a deal' with someone as fast as he can. It turns out Flynn helped design much of the equipment for the mining, which was produced by the same company he worked for.
After some trials and tribulations (lots of them!), both Flynn and 'Key', the ex-pirate, along with Maddox and the nurse, discover that the crawler they are on is on a self-destruct course and they need to escape ASAP. When they end up back in the habitable zone, they soon find out that something is seriously wrong...
This is a bit over the top 'popcorn' space opera/thriller that just never lets up. As soon as our group of stragglers overcomes one hurdle, another, even more daunting soon pops up. Each chapter is basically an action sequence-- like I said at the start, this is a high octane thriller dying to be made into an action flick. Mild spoiler-- it also involves some strange aliens that some mad scientists managed to 'awake' on the planet and whatever they are, they are nasty as well. Toss in some human scientific experiments that are bizarre (Zane, the 'gray man' and Gable, herself a mad scientist how 'modified' herself in strange ways), add them to Flynn's and Maddox's group and cut them loose. Definitely not much thinking involved here, but if you like action/space opera, and popcorn, this may be for you. 3 warmed over stars.
August 6, 2018
The action starts from the very first pages, has plenty of twists and will not let you go until the very end. It's a prison break novel mixed with cutting-edge science fiction.
Marcus Flynn, an engineer for the high-tech Maas-Dorian company and MC of this novel, was framed for murder and sentenced to life in a maximum-security prison on 11-H37, a mining planet (powerful energy source: xytrilium) known as The Razor, where life is possible only on a thin band between its too cold and too hot sides. Then the Lost Prophet goes active and this “Ringworld like” planet quickly becomes very unstable. All prison staff and guards are fleeing, as are other inhabitants who can, abandoning on the spot the prisoners. So Flynn must also find a way to escape.
This is when he is offered a way out: he has to find very restricted data about xitrilium in a quarantine research laboratory. Flynn joins a band of inept convicts like Key, a quarrelsome Latino who knows well the Razor and those who lived there, as well as Zane, a massive bionic killer who has vengeful thoughts against certain inhabitants of 11-H37, which is about to implode.
But in addition to all these difficulties, Flynn and his gang have to do with a giant insectoid, which went hunting after all living beings, and other bioaugmented and aggressive prisoners, who also are eager for revenge and wanting to escape.
The plot is further complicated when Flynn discovers that this apocalypse, the Maas-Dorian company and everything happening on the Razor are strangely related. But that's what will allow him to find a way to escape.
Anyone who loves science fiction, jailbreak, mystery and adventure stories will love this action-packed novel.
Jack Barton Mitchell:
Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an eARC of this great book !
Marcus Flynn, an engineer for the high-tech Maas-Dorian company and MC of this novel, was framed for murder and sentenced to life in a maximum-security prison on 11-H37, a mining planet (powerful energy source: xytrilium) known as The Razor, where life is possible only on a thin band between its too cold and too hot sides. Then the Lost Prophet goes active and this “Ringworld like” planet quickly becomes very unstable. All prison staff and guards are fleeing, as are other inhabitants who can, abandoning on the spot the prisoners. So Flynn must also find a way to escape.
This is when he is offered a way out: he has to find very restricted data about xitrilium in a quarantine research laboratory. Flynn joins a band of inept convicts like Key, a quarrelsome Latino who knows well the Razor and those who lived there, as well as Zane, a massive bionic killer who has vengeful thoughts against certain inhabitants of 11-H37, which is about to implode.
But in addition to all these difficulties, Flynn and his gang have to do with a giant insectoid, which went hunting after all living beings, and other bioaugmented and aggressive prisoners, who also are eager for revenge and wanting to escape.
The plot is further complicated when Flynn discovers that this apocalypse, the Maas-Dorian company and everything happening on the Razor are strangely related. But that's what will allow him to find a way to escape.
Anyone who loves science fiction, jailbreak, mystery and adventure stories will love this action-packed novel.
Jack Barton Mitchell:
Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an eARC of this great book !
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 10, 2019
The book began as a potential scifi update of 'The Shawshank Redemption'. Unfortunately, the portrayal of the characters as simultaneously kick-ass and vulnerable didn’t come off as expected. And then the weird stuff happened, plunging the story into extremely formulaic rota.
The writing is crisp. And there is a distinct possibility of a sequel. Nevertheless, I have a feeling of quiet dissatisfaction now, as the story ended.
Perhaps you might enjoy it more.
The writing is crisp. And there is a distinct possibility of a sequel. Nevertheless, I have a feeling of quiet dissatisfaction now, as the story ended.
Perhaps you might enjoy it more.
August 11, 2023
I absolutely loved reading The Razor! The characters that Marcus meets in this story are exceptional. They are all unique and in no way what I would consider good. I would say morally grey or conflicted at best and each one is definitely looking out for their best interests. There are some unique pairings in this story and other characters who make no apologies for their behavior. Overall, reading The Razor was a fun experience and I am certainly going to be keeping my fingers crossed for a sequel.
This review is based on a complimentary book I received from NetGalley. It is an honest and voluntary review. The complimentary receipt of it in no way affected my review or rating.
This review is based on a complimentary book I received from NetGalley. It is an honest and voluntary review. The complimentary receipt of it in no way affected my review or rating.
May 22, 2019
Within its sub-genre, this is actually quite competent and occasionally thoughtful. However, that sub-genre is the one in which Independence Day and Battlefield Earth are great movies.
The hellish prison planet that mines Impossibilium is nothing new, no problem with that. I only had trouble with everything after that.
We got Zane, whose body absorbs metal and heals itself. Oops, we're into comic-book territory. Nanites, huh; guess that makes it science after all. I suppose there will be a nerdy scientist genius soon. Bet he's an engineer who can understand anything that moves with a glance. Yep. Later on he decides that the alien codes he's reading are actually numbers, and they spell out advanced equations, yeah, doing advanced scientific formulas USING ONLY NUMBERS. Good luck with that in Earth Math.
Everyone goes by surname, except Raelyn and Gable. I hope Key is a surname, or we might have a pattern here. One character does say they're using surnames out of formality. On a prison planet?
Here we are in another solar system, with augmented humans, near-magic X power etc. Yet we're using data drives and trains that have 1990 electronics, with wires and circuit boards. Why? Because if they were embedded in plasma on epoxy wafers how could Hero Engineer cut the red wire and hotwire the doors and trains? Pfui.
Two women, not counting Gable who's post-human. Both end up swooning with love for their manly men, and vice versa. Sheesh.
Big scene at the end. Author is careful to establish a reason for needing several cars to remain on the train as they cut away the rest to allow a faster escape. Wasn't it LUCKY that one of the ones they kept happened to be the refrigerator car that they needed on the next scene?
The copy editor must have been killed in GenPop. We have "A phenomena," and something put through the ringer (wringer), and several other sloppies. NOT author's fault though.
I will admit that I draw back my lips from, but still admire the sheer audacity of the execution of, two things.
One is the breakneck pace that is maintained throughout–no one sleeps, eats, drinks, pees, or even has 20 seconds for rational thought; every escape is just in time, every countdown timer gets to 0:01, every crisis contains "we're not gonna make it!" and every injury is almost fatal until someone performs some form of unusual field first aid.
The other is the truly amazing handwaving near the end as we get explanations for how everything works: the all-numeric algebra, the Giant Beam, the augmentations, and much more. It just proves that in this genre if you keep the throttle wide open at all times you'll somehow make it through all the curves.
And by golly, I did finish the book. I may file it under "so bad it's good," but I really did have to find out how it ended. And again, just because *I* didn't care for it doesn't mean you won't like it.
The hellish prison planet that mines Impossibilium is nothing new, no problem with that. I only had trouble with everything after that.
We got Zane, whose body absorbs metal and heals itself. Oops, we're into comic-book territory. Nanites, huh; guess that makes it science after all. I suppose there will be a nerdy scientist genius soon. Bet he's an engineer who can understand anything that moves with a glance. Yep. Later on he decides that the alien codes he's reading are actually numbers, and they spell out advanced equations, yeah, doing advanced scientific formulas USING ONLY NUMBERS. Good luck with that in Earth Math.
Everyone goes by surname, except Raelyn and Gable. I hope Key is a surname, or we might have a pattern here. One character does say they're using surnames out of formality. On a prison planet?
Here we are in another solar system, with augmented humans, near-magic X power etc. Yet we're using data drives and trains that have 1990 electronics, with wires and circuit boards. Why? Because if they were embedded in plasma on epoxy wafers how could Hero Engineer cut the red wire and hotwire the doors and trains? Pfui.
Two women, not counting Gable who's post-human. Both end up swooning with love for their manly men, and vice versa. Sheesh.
Big scene at the end. Author is careful to establish a reason for needing several cars to remain on the train as they cut away the rest to allow a faster escape. Wasn't it LUCKY that one of the ones they kept happened to be the refrigerator car that they needed on the next scene?
The copy editor must have been killed in GenPop. We have "A phenomena," and something put through the ringer (wringer), and several other sloppies. NOT author's fault though.
I will admit that I draw back my lips from, but still admire the sheer audacity of the execution of, two things.
One is the breakneck pace that is maintained throughout–no one sleeps, eats, drinks, pees, or even has 20 seconds for rational thought; every escape is just in time, every countdown timer gets to 0:01, every crisis contains "we're not gonna make it!" and every injury is almost fatal until someone performs some form of unusual field first aid.
The other is the truly amazing handwaving near the end as we get explanations for how everything works: the all-numeric algebra, the Giant Beam, the augmentations, and much more. It just proves that in this genre if you keep the throttle wide open at all times you'll somehow make it through all the curves.
And by golly, I did finish the book. I may file it under "so bad it's good," but I really did have to find out how it ended. And again, just because *I* didn't care for it doesn't mean you won't like it.
December 2, 2018
I really wanted to like this book. The promise of the Razor itself sounded promising. Unfortunately the author just simply fails with the story. There are several major issues with the story: a man beaten nearly to death, unable to stand unassisted, is ejected onto a hostile plant only tolerable with an environment suit is suddenly able to drag a compatriot miles through horrid dessert and continue to to battle and, well, enough of that. A very basic lack of understanding of economics especially with regards to space transportation (even in his own fictitious world) and human life: life is so cheap that lawbreakers are shipped to this slave mine world by the thousands, killed with impunity, yet are so valuable that women are smuggled off as sex slaves a few at a time? No. And then the mythical humans 'created' by humanity. Well. Too bad no editor pointed out any of this.
November 20, 2018
The Razor
J. Barton Mitchell
Mitchell’s latest is a sensational scare your socks off, fast paced adult sci-fi apocalyptic thriller set roughly 150 years in the future on an unwelcoming penal colony planet and staring the most unlikely rag tag group of heroes ever to grace the pages of fiction. The backdrops are beautifully brutal and the author’s narrative brings the amazing alien landscapes to life for his readers complete with strange lifeforms, altered humans from both successful and failed bio-experiments plus your requisite sci-fi nerdy engineer/scientist. The first-rate tale is tightly plotted, inventive with believably unbelievable futuristic people places and things that will keep the audience on their toes, hearts pounding while constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. The real standouts of the story are his main players, Flynn, Key, Maddox, Raelyn, Zane and Gable. And the ending leads one to believe that fans will hopefully be making a return trip to The Razor in the future. Well-done Mr. Mitchell, well done!
SUMMARY:
When you’re sent to planet 11-H37 there’s one thing for sure, you will die there. It's a hard labor penal planet an unforgiving inhospitable place where half the planet is boiling in constant heat and the other half is dark and colder than a freezer and dividing the two uninhabitable parts where the prison is located is a tiny green space called The Razor. A place that Dr. Marcus Flynn helped build and design and now a place that will become his ultimate final resting place because someone needed him gone– framed him for a crime and made sure he got sent there. Then without warning all hell breaks loose and while the alarms are screaming all prison personnel evacuated the planet leaving the inmates to perish. Flynn and a few other inmates make their escape. But where are they escaping to and who can be trusted?
J. Barton Mitchell
Mitchell’s latest is a sensational scare your socks off, fast paced adult sci-fi apocalyptic thriller set roughly 150 years in the future on an unwelcoming penal colony planet and staring the most unlikely rag tag group of heroes ever to grace the pages of fiction. The backdrops are beautifully brutal and the author’s narrative brings the amazing alien landscapes to life for his readers complete with strange lifeforms, altered humans from both successful and failed bio-experiments plus your requisite sci-fi nerdy engineer/scientist. The first-rate tale is tightly plotted, inventive with believably unbelievable futuristic people places and things that will keep the audience on their toes, hearts pounding while constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. The real standouts of the story are his main players, Flynn, Key, Maddox, Raelyn, Zane and Gable. And the ending leads one to believe that fans will hopefully be making a return trip to The Razor in the future. Well-done Mr. Mitchell, well done!
SUMMARY:
When you’re sent to planet 11-H37 there’s one thing for sure, you will die there. It's a hard labor penal planet an unforgiving inhospitable place where half the planet is boiling in constant heat and the other half is dark and colder than a freezer and dividing the two uninhabitable parts where the prison is located is a tiny green space called The Razor. A place that Dr. Marcus Flynn helped build and design and now a place that will become his ultimate final resting place because someone needed him gone– framed him for a crime and made sure he got sent there. Then without warning all hell breaks loose and while the alarms are screaming all prison personnel evacuated the planet leaving the inmates to perish. Flynn and a few other inmates make their escape. But where are they escaping to and who can be trusted?
November 17, 2018
Originally reviewed by malrubius on Grimdark Magazine.
The Razor is the new science fiction novel by J. Barton Mitchell, author of the acclaimed YA sci-fi series The Conquered Earth. This one’s not YA, but it won’t cause you any adult discomfort either. It’s the story of four people—three prisoners and one doctor—on the prison mining planet 11-H37. As in most good science fiction, the setting plays an instrumental role in the plot. In this one the setting is the Razor, a thin line on the 11-H37 between the Cindersphere, the burnt hemispheric wasteland that always faces the planet’s star and the Shadowsphere, the frozen hemispheric wasteland that never faces its star. The overlapping area between these two spheres manages to have an atmosphere similar to our own earth. Prisoners on the planet use high-tech machinery to mine xytrillium, the most powerful fuel in the galaxy. When something goes wrong with the planet’s main space station, all the staff and guards evacuate leaving the prisoners there to die. Can the four heroes save themselves? Well, we don’t really find out, but that doesn’t prevent The Razor from being a wicked fast-paced, action-packed read that, although not perfect, is a helluva ride from start to finish.
The Razor has four main characters. Foremost among them is Flynn, a genius engineer and former employee of Maas-Dorian, the company with mining rights to the planet. He has been sent to 11-H37 for murder. The other main male character is Maddox, a former ranger-guard on the planet, also imprisoned for murder. There are also two main female characters. Key is a longtime prisoner and total baddass. And Raelyn is a doctor in the Razor’s medical facility. I mention the characters’ genders because they will inevitably get involved in predictably normative love relationships, which is the one element of The Razor that I found as cheesy as a stuffed–crust pizza. There’s nothing wrong with it overall, I guess, but the coincidence that the main characters are all beautiful and neatly self-divide into obvious couples made me sceptical of the novel’s grim sincerity. Nevertheless, it didn’t ruin the novel for me. It has, as they say, other qualities. Here are some of them:
The Razor reads at warp speed. Despite being a hefty 400 pages, it is written with short sentences, short paragraphs, and short character interactions that race along as fast as your eyes can absorb them. This technique, in this particular book, is very effective. The story moves very quickly, and as it does the writing gets choppier and more frantic in a good way, creating a very tense atmosphere. Mitchell wastes no words in pushing the plot along to its ultimate fiery finish. By the time the characters are desperate to escape, and the heat is out of control, and the creatively imagined monsters are after them, and the thousands of other prisoners want to kill them, and they want to kill the other prisoners, and one crazy lady might kill them all, it’s like a train wreck you can’t peel your eyes from.
Likewise, the setting of The Razor is extremely well executed. Although the characters never make it to the Shadowsphere, the Razor area is nicely described and believable enough, and the Cindersphere is brutally well realized. Readers will feel the love that Mitchell put into this setting. Everything is fucking hot as hell, and Mitchell shows it by having his characters stuck out there at various times (in specially designed suits of course) with complications trying to get in and out of their giant mining rovers and supply carriers. Not to mention a giant firestorm that is rapidly approaching. And because the setting is so fundamental to the characters’ reasons for being there in the first place, for their reasons to get the hell out of there, presumably for the anomaly that creates xytrillium, and for other atmospheric problems that prevent movement to and from 11-H37, it is a major highlight of the novel and no doubt why the novel is named for its setting. I must say here, though, that I am not a scientist, so I cannot say that any of this setting could actually happen. For example, 11-H37 revolves around its star but does not rotate, as such. Is it possible for a planet to always have the same hemisphere face its star? Who knows? And if you do know, don’t tell me and ruin it.
The action scenes in The Razor are brutal, fast-paced, tense, and exciting. Mitchell really knows how to pace the action to make it feel real. Each mini-climax builds from a tense creepiness to all-out mayhem in way that relentlessly pulls the reader into the maelstrom. Whether the conflict is between characters, the characters and the blistering environment, the characters and the other prisoners, or the characters and the original inhabitants of 11-H37, it is extremely well paced and described with stripped down language that has a certain menacing brutality of its own. If anything in The Razor should please grimdark fans, it should be the nearly constant barrage of action and violence, none of it gratuitous, all in support of the conflict that forms the backbone of the story. It’s good stuff.
So is it grimdark? I had my doubts at first. In the beginning Flynn really seems like a goody-two-shoes who has been victimized, but by the end, he begins to question what is right and what is wrong. He must balance a couple of enticing, selfish interests with the interests of his friends and the world at large. Key also factors in the grimdarkness of the story since she has lived a life of irredeemable badness, and even Flynn’s love for her can’t change that. Even though the four main characters, and at least one other secondary character, seem to be trying to do the right thing, the ending of the book is inconclusive, and its openness definitely leaves room for an ultimately full-fledged grimdark ending of the series that I expect to follow.
Whether it spawns a series or not, though, I think readers of grim sci-fi will definitely enjoy The Razor despite its slightly corny romance subplots. I recommend picking it up if grimdark sci-fi is your thing.
The Razor by J. Barton Mitchell is scheduled for publication on 27 November 2018 by Tor Books.
The Razor is the new science fiction novel by J. Barton Mitchell, author of the acclaimed YA sci-fi series The Conquered Earth. This one’s not YA, but it won’t cause you any adult discomfort either. It’s the story of four people—three prisoners and one doctor—on the prison mining planet 11-H37. As in most good science fiction, the setting plays an instrumental role in the plot. In this one the setting is the Razor, a thin line on the 11-H37 between the Cindersphere, the burnt hemispheric wasteland that always faces the planet’s star and the Shadowsphere, the frozen hemispheric wasteland that never faces its star. The overlapping area between these two spheres manages to have an atmosphere similar to our own earth. Prisoners on the planet use high-tech machinery to mine xytrillium, the most powerful fuel in the galaxy. When something goes wrong with the planet’s main space station, all the staff and guards evacuate leaving the prisoners there to die. Can the four heroes save themselves? Well, we don’t really find out, but that doesn’t prevent The Razor from being a wicked fast-paced, action-packed read that, although not perfect, is a helluva ride from start to finish.
The Razor has four main characters. Foremost among them is Flynn, a genius engineer and former employee of Maas-Dorian, the company with mining rights to the planet. He has been sent to 11-H37 for murder. The other main male character is Maddox, a former ranger-guard on the planet, also imprisoned for murder. There are also two main female characters. Key is a longtime prisoner and total baddass. And Raelyn is a doctor in the Razor’s medical facility. I mention the characters’ genders because they will inevitably get involved in predictably normative love relationships, which is the one element of The Razor that I found as cheesy as a stuffed–crust pizza. There’s nothing wrong with it overall, I guess, but the coincidence that the main characters are all beautiful and neatly self-divide into obvious couples made me sceptical of the novel’s grim sincerity. Nevertheless, it didn’t ruin the novel for me. It has, as they say, other qualities. Here are some of them:
The Razor reads at warp speed. Despite being a hefty 400 pages, it is written with short sentences, short paragraphs, and short character interactions that race along as fast as your eyes can absorb them. This technique, in this particular book, is very effective. The story moves very quickly, and as it does the writing gets choppier and more frantic in a good way, creating a very tense atmosphere. Mitchell wastes no words in pushing the plot along to its ultimate fiery finish. By the time the characters are desperate to escape, and the heat is out of control, and the creatively imagined monsters are after them, and the thousands of other prisoners want to kill them, and they want to kill the other prisoners, and one crazy lady might kill them all, it’s like a train wreck you can’t peel your eyes from.
Likewise, the setting of The Razor is extremely well executed. Although the characters never make it to the Shadowsphere, the Razor area is nicely described and believable enough, and the Cindersphere is brutally well realized. Readers will feel the love that Mitchell put into this setting. Everything is fucking hot as hell, and Mitchell shows it by having his characters stuck out there at various times (in specially designed suits of course) with complications trying to get in and out of their giant mining rovers and supply carriers. Not to mention a giant firestorm that is rapidly approaching. And because the setting is so fundamental to the characters’ reasons for being there in the first place, for their reasons to get the hell out of there, presumably for the anomaly that creates xytrillium, and for other atmospheric problems that prevent movement to and from 11-H37, it is a major highlight of the novel and no doubt why the novel is named for its setting. I must say here, though, that I am not a scientist, so I cannot say that any of this setting could actually happen. For example, 11-H37 revolves around its star but does not rotate, as such. Is it possible for a planet to always have the same hemisphere face its star? Who knows? And if you do know, don’t tell me and ruin it.
The action scenes in The Razor are brutal, fast-paced, tense, and exciting. Mitchell really knows how to pace the action to make it feel real. Each mini-climax builds from a tense creepiness to all-out mayhem in way that relentlessly pulls the reader into the maelstrom. Whether the conflict is between characters, the characters and the blistering environment, the characters and the other prisoners, or the characters and the original inhabitants of 11-H37, it is extremely well paced and described with stripped down language that has a certain menacing brutality of its own. If anything in The Razor should please grimdark fans, it should be the nearly constant barrage of action and violence, none of it gratuitous, all in support of the conflict that forms the backbone of the story. It’s good stuff.
So is it grimdark? I had my doubts at first. In the beginning Flynn really seems like a goody-two-shoes who has been victimized, but by the end, he begins to question what is right and what is wrong. He must balance a couple of enticing, selfish interests with the interests of his friends and the world at large. Key also factors in the grimdarkness of the story since she has lived a life of irredeemable badness, and even Flynn’s love for her can’t change that. Even though the four main characters, and at least one other secondary character, seem to be trying to do the right thing, the ending of the book is inconclusive, and its openness definitely leaves room for an ultimately full-fledged grimdark ending of the series that I expect to follow.
Whether it spawns a series or not, though, I think readers of grim sci-fi will definitely enjoy The Razor despite its slightly corny romance subplots. I recommend picking it up if grimdark sci-fi is your thing.
The Razor by J. Barton Mitchell is scheduled for publication on 27 November 2018 by Tor Books.
August 14, 2019
The Razor was a fun and fast-paced sci fi. My favorite part was the setting; it takes place on a tidally-locked planet, where the half that faces the sun is burning up and the half that faces away is frozen. Only a thin strip in the middle balances on the fragile threshold of supporting life—and they call that strip the Razor. It’s told thriller-style, with prison inmates and mysterious scientific experiments and strange monsters and hidden secrets. Great for readers who like hard-edged sci fi with snappy writing.
October 29, 2018
Overall, it falls in between the run-and-gun scifi prison story, and the in-depth techno-thriller. Just too many things forced into this one. The reveals were more head-scratchers than aha moments.
For the full review: https://paulspicks.blog/2018/10/28/th...
For all my reviews: https://paulspicks.blog
For the full review: https://paulspicks.blog/2018/10/28/th...
For all my reviews: https://paulspicks.blog
April 15, 2019
Turn-your-brain-off, derivative (pretty sure I saw the hot side of the planet Razor in Chronicles of Riddick), all-combat, testosterone-driven SF.
A reasonably well-written example of the above, but cut zero new ground. At a certain point I wound up asking myself why I bothered to read it ... and couldn't come up with an answer.
A reasonably well-written example of the above, but cut zero new ground. At a certain point I wound up asking myself why I bothered to read it ... and couldn't come up with an answer.
October 18, 2020
The Razor, by J. Barton Mitchell, is a science fiction novel about a prison planet, 11-H37 a.k.a. the Razor, where the prisoners are used as slave labor to mine Xytrilium, the most potent mineral for power production in the galaxy. Only the worst criminals are sent here and it is a one-way trip. Marcus Flynn, however, is sent to the Razor because the Mass-Dorian Corporation, owners of the Razor, want him under wraps and under control. Flynn will need all his knowledge and the help of some of the most dangerous people in the galaxy if he is to survive the Razor!
A blurb on the cover compares this book to the Shawshank Redemption if it had been written by Quentin Tarantino and James Cameron. Do not believe it! The best comparison is the Dred Chronicles series by Ann Aguirre. There is plenty of room for a sequel of the book and I hope one is forthcoming!
A blurb on the cover compares this book to the Shawshank Redemption if it had been written by Quentin Tarantino and James Cameron. Do not believe it! The best comparison is the Dred Chronicles series by Ann Aguirre. There is plenty of room for a sequel of the book and I hope one is forthcoming!
May 12, 2024
Intriguing premise and an exciting first half, but the second half is bogged down by too much action and increasingly unbelievable plot twists. It's also hampered by the presence of two super humans in its small cast of characters. How do you make someone who can't die interesting in a life-or-death situation? The author does okay with the super soldier but does not succeed with the evil mad super scientist (yawn).
The worse thing, though, is that this book is advertised as a novel but was clearly intended to be the first in a series. It was published in 2018 so I don't think we are getting that sequel. Annoying.
The worse thing, though, is that this book is advertised as a novel but was clearly intended to be the first in a series. It was published in 2018 so I don't think we are getting that sequel. Annoying.
October 19, 2020
A great story about what happens when a natural disaster starts to overwhelm a prison world that also hold wildly unsanctioned human enhancement experiments, Two distinct small groups struggle to escape and eventually meet at the only location to leave the planet.
Lots of action. Great character development. A Great Read.
Lots of action. Great character development. A Great Read.
July 28, 2019
Wonderful read. It was a ride. Never dull. Very entertaining! Just because the characters weren’t very deep doesn’t mean the five stars aren’t well deserved.
I enjoyed this very much.
I enjoyed this very much.
February 4, 2020
It's ok, a light SF action adventure that has some moments but ends up ultimately feeling like a nerd power fantasy. The audiobook is well narrated, presented clearly and with good voices.
April 17, 2019
Couldn't tell is this was "relentless action" or just poor writing, but wasn't impressed by late-appearing characters and tv pilot-like plot developements. Corporate-controlled mining planet with a fixed orbit and narrow temperate band is also a prison planet for an interplanetary government that is conducting crimes against humanity in the name of security research. Genius-level serial killers are being researched in black site, as well as other things like extreme strength and psionic powers. Meanwhile the corporation uses slave labor in the form of prisoners to mine an essential element, sort of a super-uranium, that gives it the leading edge for the energy sector and nearly limitless power and influence. The main characters are caught in an odyssy after the planet is abandoned after one of the black sites is breached. A former warden with a cris on conscience, a research doctor whose mistakes led to the death of her team, an engineering genius out of touch with power politics who was taken out of play by the mining company when his ideas became threatening, a genuine hardened criminal, and one of the black site escapees who had been re-engineered to use the super element as a way to power himself. Added later is the serial killer/biological scientist, a mysterious corporate power broker from some other company, and one fo the founders of the mining company. Not bad world-builing, but is just doesn't add up. Surprised this was issued as a hardcoverm to give you an idea.
January 5, 2019
Engineer Marcus Flynn has been sentenced to 11-H37 alongside the galaxy's most dangerous criminals. A hard labor prison planet better known as the Razor, where life expectancy is short all roads lead to dead ends.
At least until the Lost Prophet goes active...
In a few hours, prison guards and staff are evacuated, the prisoners are left to die, and dark mysteries begin to surface.
Yes, Razor is a prison planet. Well, more accurately the thin strip of land between the Cindersphere and eternal night. Prisoners are forced to mine xytrilium, the most sought after power source, one that fuels everything to the Crawlers used to mine xytrilium to computers and space ships. It's valuable and the Razor has the largest known deposit.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
Marcus Flynn had been convicted of murder, a murder he didn't commit because he was planning to leave Mass-Dorian the company that designs and builds all equipment to mine xytrilium. On arriving on Razor, he meets James Maddox, a former Ranger prison guard who used to work on Razor until he killed his CO. Key, a prisoner on the Crawler Charon, has been tasked with killing Flynn. That doesn't go as planned and he and Key end up shackled together. Maddox is also nearly killed by one of the gangs on Charon.
It's not long until Lost Prophet, an evacuation protocol activates and everything turns into chaos. From there, they meet science experiments gone wrong and a planet about to be destroyed.
While the characters aren't that deep, they do keep the story going. Gable is a very dark character that has no morals or ethics. Zane seems like he should be the worst thing to exist ends up being a more morally inclined person than Gable. Key is angry at the universe. And others have contrary motives.
The plot is a bit predictable (messing around with alien artifacts that end up blowing up in your face and science experiments that backfire). This could easily translate into a movie with lots of explosions, guns, and gore.
Still, a decent enough read to be entertaining.
At least until the Lost Prophet goes active...
In a few hours, prison guards and staff are evacuated, the prisoners are left to die, and dark mysteries begin to surface.
Yes, Razor is a prison planet. Well, more accurately the thin strip of land between the Cindersphere and eternal night. Prisoners are forced to mine xytrilium, the most sought after power source, one that fuels everything to the Crawlers used to mine xytrilium to computers and space ships. It's valuable and the Razor has the largest known deposit.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
Marcus Flynn had been convicted of murder, a murder he didn't commit because he was planning to leave Mass-Dorian the company that designs and builds all equipment to mine xytrilium. On arriving on Razor, he meets James Maddox, a former Ranger prison guard who used to work on Razor until he killed his CO. Key, a prisoner on the Crawler Charon, has been tasked with killing Flynn. That doesn't go as planned and he and Key end up shackled together. Maddox is also nearly killed by one of the gangs on Charon.
It's not long until Lost Prophet, an evacuation protocol activates and everything turns into chaos. From there, they meet science experiments gone wrong and a planet about to be destroyed.
While the characters aren't that deep, they do keep the story going. Gable is a very dark character that has no morals or ethics. Zane seems like he should be the worst thing to exist ends up being a more morally inclined person than Gable. Key is angry at the universe. And others have contrary motives.
The plot is a bit predictable (messing around with alien artifacts that end up blowing up in your face and science experiments that backfire). This could easily translate into a movie with lots of explosions, guns, and gore.
Still, a decent enough read to be entertaining.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 18, 2018
I received a copy of The Razor through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
The Razor is the newest work by J. Barton Mitchell. It’s a science fiction novel focusing primarily on just a few characters. It also reads a bit like a post-apocalyptic novel, thanks to the setting the characters are forced into. I fell in love with it because of the way a couple of the characters in particular either started with or had to find a drive to live and survive. It was a fascinating study in the human experience…all while the events unfolding around them seem painfully inhumane.
The Razor is a location in the book. More accurately, it’s a planet. A very valuable planet thanks to the minerals buried deep within. Unfortunately it’s also very dangerous. So naturally the best people to get sent down there to mine it all out would be convicts and prisoners. It isn’t an ethical solution, but it’s one we’ve seen pictured before in this sort of society. This is the world our characters must survive on.
For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
The Razor is the newest work by J. Barton Mitchell. It’s a science fiction novel focusing primarily on just a few characters. It also reads a bit like a post-apocalyptic novel, thanks to the setting the characters are forced into. I fell in love with it because of the way a couple of the characters in particular either started with or had to find a drive to live and survive. It was a fascinating study in the human experience…all while the events unfolding around them seem painfully inhumane.
The Razor is a location in the book. More accurately, it’s a planet. A very valuable planet thanks to the minerals buried deep within. Unfortunately it’s also very dangerous. So naturally the best people to get sent down there to mine it all out would be convicts and prisoners. It isn’t an ethical solution, but it’s one we’ve seen pictured before in this sort of society. This is the world our characters must survive on.
For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
August 29, 2018
"The Razor" eBook was published in 2018 (November) and was written by J. Barton Mitchell (http://jbartonmitchell.com). Mr. Mitchell has published five novels.
I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence and Mature Language. The story is set in the far future. Humanity has spread throughout the stars and one planet, Razor, has been designated as a prison planet for the galaxy's most dangerous criminals. The main character is Marcus Flynn, a brilliant engineer.
Flynn has been sentenced to Razor, though he contends that he has been set up. Being sentenced to Razor is usually a one-way trip, and conditions there are severe and the work dangerous. .nexpectedly 'Lost Prophet' - a catastrophic failure - is declared and before long most guards and civilians have been evacuated from the planet surface. The prisoners though are expendable and are left behind.
Chaos and anarchy reign as the prisoners free themselves and struggle to gain power and settle old grudges. They may have only days left before the barely habitable zone on Razor ceases to exist. Flynn may have an answer, but he must ally himself with murderers, assassins, pirates, and smugglers in order to survive and find a solution.
Will Flynn and his allies survive long enough to save the planet, and more importantly themselves? What will the hidden secrets of Razor they uncover mean for their future? Will there be any kind of future with the young woman Flynn has met, or will she turn on him and slit his throat? Even if Flynn is able to save the planet, will there be any future for those sentenced to Razor?
I enjoyed the 10.5+ hours I spent reading this 400-page science fiction thriller. While this is science fiction, because of the dark setting for much of the story and the savages that Flynn and his allies must face, this almost has a horror feel to it. It also reminded me of some of the first person shooter computer games I have watched my son play where you must make your way through some deserted facility filled with crazies that want to kill you. I do like the characters and would enjoy reading a sequel to this novel. The cover art is OK. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.
Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence and Mature Language. The story is set in the far future. Humanity has spread throughout the stars and one planet, Razor, has been designated as a prison planet for the galaxy's most dangerous criminals. The main character is Marcus Flynn, a brilliant engineer.
Flynn has been sentenced to Razor, though he contends that he has been set up. Being sentenced to Razor is usually a one-way trip, and conditions there are severe and the work dangerous. .nexpectedly 'Lost Prophet' - a catastrophic failure - is declared and before long most guards and civilians have been evacuated from the planet surface. The prisoners though are expendable and are left behind.
Chaos and anarchy reign as the prisoners free themselves and struggle to gain power and settle old grudges. They may have only days left before the barely habitable zone on Razor ceases to exist. Flynn may have an answer, but he must ally himself with murderers, assassins, pirates, and smugglers in order to survive and find a solution.
Will Flynn and his allies survive long enough to save the planet, and more importantly themselves? What will the hidden secrets of Razor they uncover mean for their future? Will there be any kind of future with the young woman Flynn has met, or will she turn on him and slit his throat? Even if Flynn is able to save the planet, will there be any future for those sentenced to Razor?
I enjoyed the 10.5+ hours I spent reading this 400-page science fiction thriller. While this is science fiction, because of the dark setting for much of the story and the savages that Flynn and his allies must face, this almost has a horror feel to it. It also reminded me of some of the first person shooter computer games I have watched my son play where you must make your way through some deserted facility filled with crazies that want to kill you. I do like the characters and would enjoy reading a sequel to this novel. The cover art is OK. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.
Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
January 2, 2019
Originally posted at www.archeddoorway.com
This was one of those books where I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started reading it. I’m not that big of a fan of science fiction so I don’t read much in the genre, but this book sounded too good to pass up when I received it in the mail. Happily, The Razor by J. Barton Mitchell was a fun read full of suspense and some intense edge of your seat action that actually had me putting down the book momentarily so I could pace around the room to calm my nerves a bit before diving back in. I made the mistake of starting this book around right before bed thinking I would read a chapter or two and put it down but I kept telling myself one more chapter until it was finished.
I loved the whole ‘prison planet’ concept of this book because it just seems like something we would actually do once we had started colonizing or mining new worlds, especially when we found planets as dangerous as 11-H37 is. So not only does the story start off on a great concept, but it only gets better when all the guards and staff are evacuated and we get to see the prisoners left to try and somehow survive on their own. It honestly sounds a bit ridiculous when I think about it, but J. Barton Mitchell is a great author and he really makes the story work.
I do have to say though, that while I think the writing and plot of The Razor is superb, I found it to be a little weak in the character department. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Marcus Flynn as a character and didn’t have any problems connecting with him or his unexpected partner and rooting for their survival, but I just didn’t enjoy any of the other characters all that much. I know that they are all convicts and we probably aren’t meant to like them much, but I just didn’t care what happened to them one way or another.
Though, all in all, I would say that I enjoyed this book a lot and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for something new to read. I know I’ll definitely be reading any follow up books that J. Barton Mitchell writes and probably checking out the other Sci-Fi series that I know he writes.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review.
This was one of those books where I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started reading it. I’m not that big of a fan of science fiction so I don’t read much in the genre, but this book sounded too good to pass up when I received it in the mail. Happily, The Razor by J. Barton Mitchell was a fun read full of suspense and some intense edge of your seat action that actually had me putting down the book momentarily so I could pace around the room to calm my nerves a bit before diving back in. I made the mistake of starting this book around right before bed thinking I would read a chapter or two and put it down but I kept telling myself one more chapter until it was finished.
I loved the whole ‘prison planet’ concept of this book because it just seems like something we would actually do once we had started colonizing or mining new worlds, especially when we found planets as dangerous as 11-H37 is. So not only does the story start off on a great concept, but it only gets better when all the guards and staff are evacuated and we get to see the prisoners left to try and somehow survive on their own. It honestly sounds a bit ridiculous when I think about it, but J. Barton Mitchell is a great author and he really makes the story work.
I do have to say though, that while I think the writing and plot of The Razor is superb, I found it to be a little weak in the character department. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Marcus Flynn as a character and didn’t have any problems connecting with him or his unexpected partner and rooting for their survival, but I just didn’t enjoy any of the other characters all that much. I know that they are all convicts and we probably aren’t meant to like them much, but I just didn’t care what happened to them one way or another.
Though, all in all, I would say that I enjoyed this book a lot and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for something new to read. I know I’ll definitely be reading any follow up books that J. Barton Mitchell writes and probably checking out the other Sci-Fi series that I know he writes.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review.
November 2, 2019
I don't usually read genre fiction, especially sci-fi. I met J. Barton Mitchell at a Vail Symposium panel discussion this summer, that included two other sci-fi writers, Rebecca Roanhorse and Emily Tippetts. All three impressed me with their writing knowledge, intelligence and creativity. I decided to try The Razor first mostly because the chapter Mitchell read from his book that evening was gripping and very well written. I was not disappointed.
This is far from literary fiction as Mitchell readily admits. He writes to entertain. And this is superb entertainment. Mitchell spent some time in Hollywood writing movie scripts: this novel reads like an action movie. It is fast paced, exciting with a very creative plot. You can find plot summaries on other posts. I will only say that the story takes place on a planet in another galaxie, with a unique orbit around its sun that creates a world with two uninhabitable halves: one freezing cold and the other blazing hot. There is a thin strip in between that circles the planet and is habitable- The Razor. The planet is a prison and the inmates are required to mine a very rare and powerful mineral that gives its owners control of the universe. The book follows six very well developed characters who are trying to survive a catastrophe on the planet that unleashes not only the prison population but also the results of clandestine studies that have been taking place in secret labs owned by the owners.
Some readers have complained that the science in the book is not logical or believable. Mitchell explained during the panel discussion that he does not place many limits on his imagination. To one lawyer in the audience who challenged the legitimacy of such imaginative science Mitchell replied, "Come on man, let yourself go. Have some fun!" I fully agree. The Razor was a rollicking ride, with nary a pause over almost 400 pages. If this is ever made into a movie, I will be first in line to see it.
This is far from literary fiction as Mitchell readily admits. He writes to entertain. And this is superb entertainment. Mitchell spent some time in Hollywood writing movie scripts: this novel reads like an action movie. It is fast paced, exciting with a very creative plot. You can find plot summaries on other posts. I will only say that the story takes place on a planet in another galaxie, with a unique orbit around its sun that creates a world with two uninhabitable halves: one freezing cold and the other blazing hot. There is a thin strip in between that circles the planet and is habitable- The Razor. The planet is a prison and the inmates are required to mine a very rare and powerful mineral that gives its owners control of the universe. The book follows six very well developed characters who are trying to survive a catastrophe on the planet that unleashes not only the prison population but also the results of clandestine studies that have been taking place in secret labs owned by the owners.
Some readers have complained that the science in the book is not logical or believable. Mitchell explained during the panel discussion that he does not place many limits on his imagination. To one lawyer in the audience who challenged the legitimacy of such imaginative science Mitchell replied, "Come on man, let yourself go. Have some fun!" I fully agree. The Razor was a rollicking ride, with nary a pause over almost 400 pages. If this is ever made into a movie, I will be first in line to see it.
January 24, 2019
Another incredibly exciting sci-fi adventure from J Barton Mitchell. I loved his previous trilogy and had greatly looked forward to this one. A space prison, a planet with vastly differing landscapes, a group of misfits, an alien monster, and a few genetically altered superhumans; basically a dream list for me. A very snappy read but the characters were still well fleshed out with enough just below the surface that leaves the reader still wondering who's good, who's bad, or if they're all a mix of the two. As always, Mitchell paints a world that is easily imagined with some beautiful imagery and some nightmarish ones as well.
The one and only drawback for me was the oddly placed, duo romances. One pairing of near strangers in death defying situations is a staple I guess. But everyone buddying up felt like an uncomfortable double date on some futuristic do or die reality show. Also a teeny bit of overdone male-gaze that was never matched from the female characters POV made otherwise strong women appear to only be there as prizes.
BUT that aside honestly I loved it and I am really hoping for a sequel. There is potential for multiple other stories, both going forward and going back to tell how some of them came to be; Zane and Gable (she's cray and terrifying and I love it) in particular. I just finished the book and I miss many of the characters already. I may just start again :)
The one and only drawback for me was the oddly placed, duo romances. One pairing of near strangers in death defying situations is a staple I guess. But everyone buddying up felt like an uncomfortable double date on some futuristic do or die reality show. Also a teeny bit of overdone male-gaze that was never matched from the female characters POV made otherwise strong women appear to only be there as prizes.
BUT that aside honestly I loved it and I am really hoping for a sequel. There is potential for multiple other stories, both going forward and going back to tell how some of them came to be; Zane and Gable (she's cray and terrifying and I love it) in particular. I just finished the book and I miss many of the characters already. I may just start again :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 19, 2018
Oh my, this book! THIS BOOK. Sci-fi lovers, you are in for a treat. This book is tightly plotted, and keeps you on the edge of your seat. The Razor is absolutely engaging, and I had trouble putting it down.
The world-building in this is awesome. We are on planet 11-H37, where prisoners are forced to mine in incredibly dangerous conditions. Of course, our main character, Marcus is sent here after being framed.
I loved the characters. Each delivered solid dialogue, and moved the plot forward. I loved our main character Marcus and the journey he embarks on.
The struggle to survive, the well-developed characters and the fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride makes The Razor one book I think you should pick up and read.
*I received a copy of this book as part of a blog tour. All opinions are my own.*
The world-building in this is awesome. We are on planet 11-H37, where prisoners are forced to mine in incredibly dangerous conditions. Of course, our main character, Marcus is sent here after being framed.
I loved the characters. Each delivered solid dialogue, and moved the plot forward. I loved our main character Marcus and the journey he embarks on.
The struggle to survive, the well-developed characters and the fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride makes The Razor one book I think you should pick up and read.
*I received a copy of this book as part of a blog tour. All opinions are my own.*
January 5, 2019
Prison Break in space is a concept that comes at a high risk of been buried in a piles of cliches. Fortunately The Razor avoids these by the simple move of having everything go down the toilet early in the story so after the characters are established it becomes a survival/puzzlebox story with a group of very diverse characters having to learn to trust each other in order to survive. The setting is very well done as it allows situations to be explained without becoming too intrusive. The story is well paced and there are some interesting twists that cause the characters to change their priorities as the story progresses and results in some natural character development and the story finishes at a natural place but is clearly set up for a sequel. If you like your space opera dystopian, gritty and fast paced, you'll enjoy this book.
November 27, 2018
If I had to use one word to describe The Razor it would be unexpected. Why? I have read several maximum prison stories and they seem to follow the same pattern. This one does not. The plot is complicated, the characters different, and the goal is not escape but to live. The action is nonstop and the danger always around. There are flash backs to explain the actions of some of the main characters. The one reason for four stars and not five - several of the characters are just dropped in and it takes a while to find out how they fit into the story line. This looks like the first in a series as the ending leaves some things up in the air.
I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.
I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.
February 13, 2022
I'm so glad I found this author! I started with his YA series Conquered Earth which is now one of my favorite series! After finishing it, I immediately ordered this adult Sci-fi to try it out!
I ended up only giving it 4 stars because there was a LOT of cursing. However, I do understand why it was in there. The story is set on a maximum security prison planet where things aren't always ran up to code (money means power).
There are 5 main characters, some are guilty of their crimes, some not so much. We follow them as their planet (space station?) begins to fall apart due to a mess up somewhere hidden from knowledge.
Definitely a really good action packed Sci-fi! I really appreciated the different levels of characters and intricacies in the story. I'd love to see what happens next because I can definitely see the possibility of a follow-up story!
I ended up only giving it 4 stars because there was a LOT of cursing. However, I do understand why it was in there. The story is set on a maximum security prison planet where things aren't always ran up to code (money means power).
There are 5 main characters, some are guilty of their crimes, some not so much. We follow them as their planet (space station?) begins to fall apart due to a mess up somewhere hidden from knowledge.
Definitely a really good action packed Sci-fi! I really appreciated the different levels of characters and intricacies in the story. I'd love to see what happens next because I can definitely see the possibility of a follow-up story!
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