Hannah has finally adjusted to life on board the Ventas-341, when a series of strangely catastrophic hull breaches and a devastating viral outbreak decimates the crew. Now she finds herself stranded in the shadows of the asteroid belt. Together with the only other surviving crew-members, Colin, and the robotic Brother Anderson, she must somehow overcome their chaotic relationships if they are to have any chance of escaping the doomed ship.
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Reviews
Symphony of Destruction is a great story! People are stuck on a spaceship in a very difficult situation, and options are limited. One of the people is actually a robot and that makes us wonder what it means to be really human. The human journey of the people runs alongside the technical and engineering struggle to find solutions. Of course information is also limited and most of the time they are just making the best guess they can. If all this sounds like your life, that is because the best stories will mirror the real-life situations of the reader. We all read fiction as an escape, but not to escape all that far. All in all a great read. – Wayne McKinstry
Warning – Spoilers ahead
Stunning story of survival, aboard a spaceship wrecked by viral payload particles. Without warning, a commercial cargo space vessel, modified with a separate deck section for the senior-most official’s daughter to practice her oboe, ploughs into a cloud of particles suspended in their path. Some of the particles penetrate the hull, releasing an airborne virus which rapidly decimates the crew, and leaves the ship damaged.
Secluded in her separate deck section, composing tunes on her oboe, Hanna soon discovers that she’s cut off from the rest of the ship. Until a robot comes and rescues her, and houses her in a dining section, close to food and facilities. She remains there for a few months, sharing the space with the deceased crew who’re enveloped in cocoon-like sheaths. Hanna remains alone, her mind eating itself away, with only the medical and chaplain robot Brother Anderson occasionally checking in on her. Until she discovers there’s another crew member alive.
After spending months in a coma, Colin awakes to find Hanna still holds a grudge against him, from what he knows to be a serious misunderstanding. Brother Anderson is concerned about getting the two to work together, to help with repairs, and to hold the rapidly deteriorating ship together.
The sounds the ship makes while tearing itself apart, sound eerily like music, something that resonates with Hanna. Colin, however, knows the sounds imply impending doom. Can he ever explain his past actions to Hanna? Will Hanna ever be able to connect with Colin? And, would Brother Anderson, now vastly evolved, find a life to live? How will they ever survive?
Symphony of Destruction is a well-paced book with enough action to keep a reader engrossed. The author’s insights into the psychological condition faced by isolated crews is especially gripping. I’ll be looking out for the next book in The Spindown Saga series. – Rashid Ahmed
File Under: emotionally intelligent, hard sci-fi, dark space opera, gritty, strong female lead, robots
Recommended If You Like: the Expanse, Firefly, Star Wars, Asimov, Dune, Alien, Prometheus, 2001