West of the Earth, the showdown begins.
Mars Sheriff Genesis Torrez faces one question every day: is this planet big enough for two colonies? With one populated by nigh-incomprehensible and occasionally violent alien creatures, there’s no easy answer.
When a catastrophic horror threatens the settlers with annihilation, Genesis must turn to her team of mecha riders to prepare for the showdown.
Author Raffael Coronelli (Daikaiju Yuki) and illustrator Alex Gayhart (All Your Ruins) invite you to ride out with the Slinger squad into the red desert to meet what terrors have hatched from the BIG EGG.
Title: Big Egg | Author: Raffael Coronelli | Publisher: Self Published | Pub. Date: 2 April 2019 | Pages: 309 | ISBN: 9781796449525 | Genre: Sci Fi | Language: English | Triggers: None | Rating: 2 Stars | Source: We received a copy of this book from the author for review consideration
Big Egg Review
Humans living on Mars, Aliens living on Mars, and one big threat is headed their way.
I really wanted to enjoy this one, but unfortunately this missed the mark for me in so many places.
The characters are okay, but I don’t think they have enough of their backstory explained to really get why ‘events that are happening’ are taken in a certain way. Torrez, leader of the Slinger Squad, clearly has some mental health issues but knowing what and why and how would have cleared up a lot of questions in my opinion. I get that it’s to tie in with what is happening with the Creature-that-has-hatched-from-the-Egg, but I think that would have helped to clarify a few things. For me, the main characters needed fleshing out a bit more, as it didn’t help me to connect enough with them, for instance, I often choose books with lots of character development and it is a huge driver in what gets me excited in a book. One commonality with Torrez I will highlight: our ability to wolf down an entire pizza in minutes.
The plot idea, with mental health themes is interesting and intriguing, but I think there is too much plot trying to happen in such a short space of time. Some parts feel quite slow, and some feel a bit rushed. That’s not to say I didn’t fly through the book, because it does read quickly and the underlying messages of hope and working together get thumbs up from me.
I am a sucker for a good cover, and I really liked this one for Big Egg. The illustrations inside are also good, but I am greedy and would have liked even more, or some consistency in the frequency or size.
Maybe this one just wasn’t for me, it’s a bit ‘too good to be true’, I give it 2.5 slices of pizza.
It’s not to say I wouldn’t want to check out any of the kaiju books by Raffael, the covers alone would look great on my shelves.
You can find this book at many retailers via clicking on the appropriate link on Goodreads (Buying direct from retailers is a good way to support indie authors); however, in the spirit of supporting literacy programs, we would like to point out that you may be able to purchase this book through BetterWorldBooks.
Sian joined the Coolthulu crew in March 2019 and reviews horror and science fiction books for the site.
She’s trying hard to play it cool but she’s more excited than Lilyn’s new puppy to be part of the crew. PS we got T-shirts!
