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Gravity's Arrow
Set several thousand years in the future, Gravity’s Arrow follows 12-year-old Fhiro and his family as they are forced to confront divided loyalties, powerful empires and zealots who will stop at nothing. Hoping to find safety on an unremarkable planet, they find themselves under threat again when a remarkable secret is uncovered in an archaeological dig. Faced with enemies who want only their destruction, stampeding wild beasts, betrayal and fear, the family hides out as best it can but as events spiral out of control and different fundamentalist factions clash, it is Fhiro himself who must dig deep and face his own inner demons.
498 pages, Paperback
Published July 19, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 28, 2019
This complex and intriguing book is full of action. It’s also packed with thought-provoking discussions among the many fascinating characters. These come as natural parts of the story and we are led into them through both the action and the well-drawn natural exchanges of the players.
Imagination is used to great effect in this story, with multiple settings and a huge array of characters all backed up by their individual and tribal cultures and belief systems. Most of the story is told through the eyes of Fhiro, a young lad with unusual parents and idiosyncratic siblings. These, and the friends they make along their route through the universe, using fabulous technologies and traversing huge distances, tell a tale of war, hope, death, betrayal, love, and divided loyalties. The different faiths portrayed highlight the essentially divisive nature of religion and expose the hypocrisies so frequently displayed by advocates and, especially, those in authority.
Add to this the many strange beasts, some monsters and others acting as servants of the sentient masters in various guises, and you have some idea of the depth of this novel. Multi-layered, and enjoyable at whatever level the reader chooses, this is a book with much to say.
It is adventure, fantasy, science fiction at its most imaginative, romance, coming of age and action all rolled into one cohesive and remarkable story.
This book, along with the sequel already under way, will entertain all who read fiction with an open mind, a love of adventure, and a youthful outlook.
Imagination is used to great effect in this story, with multiple settings and a huge array of characters all backed up by their individual and tribal cultures and belief systems. Most of the story is told through the eyes of Fhiro, a young lad with unusual parents and idiosyncratic siblings. These, and the friends they make along their route through the universe, using fabulous technologies and traversing huge distances, tell a tale of war, hope, death, betrayal, love, and divided loyalties. The different faiths portrayed highlight the essentially divisive nature of religion and expose the hypocrisies so frequently displayed by advocates and, especially, those in authority.
Add to this the many strange beasts, some monsters and others acting as servants of the sentient masters in various guises, and you have some idea of the depth of this novel. Multi-layered, and enjoyable at whatever level the reader chooses, this is a book with much to say.
It is adventure, fantasy, science fiction at its most imaginative, romance, coming of age and action all rolled into one cohesive and remarkable story.
This book, along with the sequel already under way, will entertain all who read fiction with an open mind, a love of adventure, and a youthful outlook.
October 19, 2019
This is a young adult space adventure. The protagonist is 12-year-old Fhiro who thinks of his life as pretty mundane - hemmed in by parental rules, envious of an older brother who has so much more freedom, and pestered by a younger sister who is as irritating as only a younger sister can be. He yearns for adventure.
Fhiro has no clue that his whole family has been living on a knife-edge, a hair's breadth from calamity. When the axe falls, it falls suddenly and hard, and they are all running for their lives. When Fhiro wished for adventure, this was emphatically not what he had in mind.
Gravity's Arrow is fast moving and wide ranging with plenty of drama.
Fhiro has no clue that his whole family has been living on a knife-edge, a hair's breadth from calamity. When the axe falls, it falls suddenly and hard, and they are all running for their lives. When Fhiro wished for adventure, this was emphatically not what he had in mind.
Gravity's Arrow is fast moving and wide ranging with plenty of drama.
June 1, 2022
I've just finished reading Jack Mann's sci-fi novel Gravity's Arrow. Even if you're not a sci-fi fan (I'm not!), try this one. I recommend it.
Gravity’s Arrow is a long novel but it doesn’t feel long to the reader. At no point does it ‘drag’, and the final quarter of the book is a white-knuckle ride that kept me reading long after my usual bedtime. There are several features that make it work well. First and foremost, there’s an engaging protagonist, Fhilo, whose family is highly eccentric but loving. An empathetic central character is essential in any genre of fiction. Second, it's driven by conflict, as all good novels are: there is betrayal and there are divided loyalties, and there’s also an element of romance. Third, the book works very well just as an adventure story, with a good deal of fighting (some of it fairly bloody, and with occasional horror-fiction scenes). Fourth, on a different level, it addresses questions that should concern us all on our own little planet. How ought we to deal with other species that we might regard as monsters, and with species we choose to exploit? What part does (or can) religion play in driving conflict – or in mitigating it? In other words, this is a multi-level story, at once entertaining and thought-provoking.
The writing is of high quality but generally within the grasp of the intended young-adult readership. In the early pages there are a lot of names, and that could deter some readers, but given the very large cast of characters (which the story needs) there’s no way round this, and Dr Mann doesn’t commit the all too common sci-fi and fantasy faux pas of paralysing the action with excess world-building. Nor does he allow his medical expertise to intrude on his story-telling; he makes good but subtle use of it.
I enjoyed the book on more than one level. I believe it would merit a second reading – when I have time! – but if the promised sequel appears then I’ll probably read that first.
Gravity’s Arrow is a long novel but it doesn’t feel long to the reader. At no point does it ‘drag’, and the final quarter of the book is a white-knuckle ride that kept me reading long after my usual bedtime. There are several features that make it work well. First and foremost, there’s an engaging protagonist, Fhilo, whose family is highly eccentric but loving. An empathetic central character is essential in any genre of fiction. Second, it's driven by conflict, as all good novels are: there is betrayal and there are divided loyalties, and there’s also an element of romance. Third, the book works very well just as an adventure story, with a good deal of fighting (some of it fairly bloody, and with occasional horror-fiction scenes). Fourth, on a different level, it addresses questions that should concern us all on our own little planet. How ought we to deal with other species that we might regard as monsters, and with species we choose to exploit? What part does (or can) religion play in driving conflict – or in mitigating it? In other words, this is a multi-level story, at once entertaining and thought-provoking.
The writing is of high quality but generally within the grasp of the intended young-adult readership. In the early pages there are a lot of names, and that could deter some readers, but given the very large cast of characters (which the story needs) there’s no way round this, and Dr Mann doesn’t commit the all too common sci-fi and fantasy faux pas of paralysing the action with excess world-building. Nor does he allow his medical expertise to intrude on his story-telling; he makes good but subtle use of it.
I enjoyed the book on more than one level. I believe it would merit a second reading – when I have time! – but if the promised sequel appears then I’ll probably read that first.
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July 6, 2024A gripping adventure through space, following the life of young Fhiro and his family as they flee for their lives across the galaxy. Creative, vivid and exciting - highly recommended!
November 26, 2019
Just when you think he is safe, another twist in the tale expands the danger for young Fhiro and his family. This 12 year old hero is full of questions about the future of his galaxy, which is falling into the grip of the warmongers of the Creedate religion.
Tough experiences teach him who to trust.
Written in a clear style, this novel is a compulsive read. I gasped aloud in fear at several scenes in this thought provoking and entertaining novel. Enjoy!
Tough experiences teach him who to trust.
Written in a clear style, this novel is a compulsive read. I gasped aloud in fear at several scenes in this thought provoking and entertaining novel. Enjoy!
August 21, 2019
This was an excellent read, starting small and focused but quickly building in intensity as the characters develop and the setting and stakes are revealed. The scope of the story is vast with potential and kept me guessing until the very end. Based on this first novel there should be more to come, and I look forward to discovering more about this world and the characters in it.
Thoroughly recommended!
Thoroughly recommended!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews