“Aestus Book 1: The City” by S.Z. Attwell- An SPSFC2 Semifinalist Review

I’ll be reading and reviewing every semifinalist for the Self-Published Science Fiction Contest! Check out my list with blurbs, covers, links, and first impressions for all the semifinalists here. Please let me know what you think of any/all of these books! I love comments, and love talking about books.

Aestus Book 1: The City by S.Z. Attwell

The City is below the surface of the planet. Whatever is above the surface requires people from the Patrol to deal with it. Jossey and her brother went aboveground when she was 10 years old, but that led to her losing her brother and coming back convinced that whatever is above, it is a serious threat. Now a member of the Patrol, she has signed up to help the City grow and be successful with solar arrays, aboveground farms, and more. But she discovers that everything is not quite as it seems.

Aestus is a lengthy work. Readers follow Jossey on a journey of fear, discovery, finding herself, and renewal. Attwell’s narrative voice is strong. There’s a commanding grip on the narrative that makes it feel directed without being heavy handed. The story itself develops over time, bringing some twists and turns–a few of which I found predictable, but overall quite satisfying–to go with an extended narrative that is a kind of coming of age for Jossey as well as her society.

The setting has a surprisingly lived-in feel despite not always getting fleshed out at times. One scene near the beginning just has Jossey riding a transport, and I was confused about the context. Readers just get dumped into it, but Attwell deftly makes them feel at home in this world of the City and the aboveground. One downside in the novel is that it feels too long to me. While I mentioned the strong narrative voice above, that doesn’t fully cover up the several times in which it felt like the novel could wrap up a scene or a plot thread in a swifter fashion. At times, it feels dragged out for length. On the flip side, several scenes were very impactful and memorable, even more than a week after finishing the book. I kind of wish that some of the length in some scenes had been cut and added to those that were more memorable.

What can’t be denied, though, is that Aestus has “it.” What is “it”? It is that certain feel hat you get when reading a novel that just clicks for you in the right way. It makes you look past whatever flaws might exist because there’s just something about the book that is compelling and compulsive reading from the get-go. That is here in spades. A large part of “it” is, as I said, Attwell’s narrative voice. The strength of the writing is evident throughout the novel.

Overall, Aestus Book 1: The City is a satisfying read. It delivers a realistic sci-fi world with enough invested in it to make readers care about the plight of those living in it.

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SDG.