Dead World

by Lucas Pederson

Dr. Alyx Wick. College professor, archeologist, explorer...pirate. Alyx has seen her fair share of strange planets and is known for finding the unfindable. But she's come to loath this life and only wants to make enough money for an early retirement. A way to slip quietly away into the peaceful life. But when her friend and mentor disappears during a military funded exploration on a dark planet in another galaxy she's hired by Marine General Hunt to find him, a special artifact and the missing Marines. And yet, when Alyx and a squad of Marines sent as protection land on the planet they discover it's much more than they thought. A world full of darkness, narrow tunnels, and death. Now, trapped in a sacrificial temple, Alyx must find a way out before the awakened beasts devour them all.

In similar tone as the Indiana Jones series, DEAD WORLD has arrived...

155 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 28, 2018

About the author

Lucas Pederson is an American novelist and short story writer of horror, dark fantasy, young adult and science fiction. He lives in a small Iowa town with his family and they're all pretty sure their cat is an alien. He can be reached at lucaspederson@yahoo.com, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Reviews

[Peter Topside · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I hate repeating other people's reviews, but this time I had zero choice in the matter. This truly felt like Indiana Jones met Aliens. A futuristic, highly advanced world where we explore other planets for rare artifacts, encountering dangerous, unprecedented alien species. Do they invite us in for tea and scones? Nope, aggressive as can be. And all hell breaks loose! This wasn't a bad story, but was way too science fiction for me. Lots of action and suspense, but light on the plot and characters. Then again, science fiction fans can really go for this type of premise, so it may greatly appeal to them. It did seem a little short and could have finessed parts of the story a bit, mostly with character development, but otherwise it wasn't bad. Lucas Pederson demonstrated some of his range with his writing skills here, which is never a bad thing.

[Charlotte R.S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't get into this one. The titular Dead World isn't actually dead--far from it. I found this irritating since it's right there in the title, and characters call it dead when it's really not, then later acknowledge that it isn't. Plenty of grammar mistakes, contradictory writing, flat humor, and too many baseless assumptions and theories on the part of the characters. I don't feel like much thought was put into the science or world-building, as most of it was nonsensical and in some ways plain wrong. That might have been the point--it seems like the writing was trying for wry humor, a kind of Indiana Jones-in-space parody, but it just didn't work for me this time.

[John R. Dailey Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A TALE OF FAR AWAY PLACES AND HOME GROWN GREED.....

Hello, this story was good. It could have been great if it had been a full length novel or possibly even two. A very original story crammed into 200 pages was fun but over way too fast. Thanks.

[Amanda Rostami · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love adventure you will love this book. In his Indiana Jones style of writing Pederson weaves an incredible story of heroics and suspense!

[ShingetsuMoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rather enjoyed the setting of this book and its unsettling progress as the story moved on. Alyx was an interesting enough main character and the planet itself curious enough to keep me reading. I read it in about a day and a half and it wasn't amazing but it was a fun and satisfying read all the same.