Crater’s Edge

Crater’s Edge

by Lucy Andrews

Review by Barry Boy

Crater’s Edge is a well-edited novel written in the third person in the genre of futuristic, off-world, fantasy or science-fiction.

The main protagonist is Kalen Trinner, an experienced mining engineer-cum-trouble-shooter. In the course of his job, the mining company sends him to a mine at Area 20 in Three Craters on the planet Taidor, because the population is experiencing an unusual amount of adverse phenomena. For some reason, sickness is growing among the miners, and malfunctions in the plant and equipment are becoming a more and more common experience.

Futuristic

In the time of this story at Crater’s Edge, mankind has still not managed to control the birth rate, but they have come up with an ingenious method to adapt to it. They have the population living in shifts! That is, people have their own homes, but they share the streets, amenities and even their jobs. In essence, there are two such shifts, which people call (time) Zones – Unity and Early.

These two Zones exist completely apart. The people from each are prohibited from meeting each other, which means that all public places have to be cleared at the end of each shift. Presumably, because of this, each Zone develops a distinct character, feel, or way of behaving.

In a strange way, the only point of contact is through the notes that the person doing your job in the other Zone – called one’s Duplicate – leaves at the end of the day. In this way, plant, offices and businesses are running twenty-four hours a day every day.

Crater’s Edge

Crater’s Edge portrays a unique answer to the problems of overcrowding that reminds me of some of the situations that the crew of the Star Ship Enterprise encountered during their voyages. Weird, outlandish solutions that don’t quite work, which allows us, from our present-day, Earthly perspective to wonder how those other-planetary leaders came up with them!

I thoroughly enjoyed Crater’s Edge by Lucy Andrews. I really enjoyed Miss Andrews’ unique storyline and the well-drawn characters and locations. Furthermore, I also thought that there was the right amount of detail concerning the mining operations themselves. Nevertheless, if I have a criticism, it is personal and small. I thought that the cliff-hanger ending was a little abrupt.

However, the cover and the title also match the storyline of Crater’s Edge. Therefore, I have no hesitation in giving Lucy  Andrews five out of five stars for her novel Crater’s Edge.

Well done!

You can find a unique interview with this author on this blog by clicking her name: Lucy Andrews .