Review of “Discovery” by J.B. Taylor

I’m a sucker for any opportunity to read about a new alien world, and the one in this book is pretty good.  In a few short pages (most of the book is set on Earth), the author does a great job of describing this alien planet, alien animals, and alien people.  You get little glimpses throughout the book at just how different – and more powerful – these more evolved aliens are, and little bits about their history and abilities were interesting to me so that I’d like to see/read more.

Mostly this book is focused on Earth and the impending danger the aliens might bring.  Poor Eckta gets dropped here and stuck with us, and he’s a good character – a little bit Superman, but with more of an “alien” foreignness.  Other than him, it was a bit difficult to lock down who the main characters were going to be early on because of jumping from one character to the next, and no one was ever safe.  But each character along the way is fleshed out just enough to be believable, giving a well-rounded look at how Earthlings might deal with such an alien as Eckta. The government reaction and what they did with him was all-too believable, if a little predictable.

The movement of the plot was rough for me.  Everything moves really, really fast and could have been fleshed out better.  A lot of the government activity behind the scenes (avoiding spoilers) seemed implausible and forced.  A lot of the story just lacked a feel of reality for me – I know this is about aliens, but how the plot moved and what happened with the characters felt unlikely.  Another round of edits would probably help too, as there were a few goofs.

Overall, though, I enjoyed the story.  It’s quick and full of action, with a likeable character at the center.

See it on Amazon!