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Domino Galaxy #2
Epivision, Vol. 1
In the afterlife, three billion light years from Earth, a rogue guardian vends his future-sight for those who live in fear; an illegal venture for Bright Olsson. One which takes him to Sector HK-909 – a replica of Earth’s Hong Kong – with the mission to earn enough sullo and begin a new life on the planet Coalesce.
Kaye Riley, an agent for the Investigation of Criminality on Angelo, will go above and beyond to arrest a guardian. Partnered with agent Katsuhiro Miike – a man labelled a snitch, and potentially a hindrance to her unorthodox methods – she arrives in HK-909 on a crusade to bring Olsson to justice; her career and personal vendetta rests on it.
Kaye Riley, an agent for the Investigation of Criminality on Angelo, will go above and beyond to arrest a guardian. Partnered with agent Katsuhiro Miike – a man labelled a snitch, and potentially a hindrance to her unorthodox methods – she arrives in HK-909 on a crusade to bring Olsson to justice; her career and personal vendetta rests on it.
- GenresScience Fiction
438 pages, ebook
First published September 4, 2013
1 person is currently reading
13 people want to read
About the author
Matthew Thompson
9 books61 followersMatthew Thompson is a British novelist, born in Sheffield. He primarily writes in the sci-fi and fantasy genres and has self-published several novels. He currently lives in Nottingham, where he works as a QA Analyst at a video game studio.
For more books by the author and to sign up for the latest news and offers, visit: matthewthompsonauthor.com
For more books by the author and to sign up for the latest news and offers, visit: matthewthompsonauthor.com
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 28, 2016
This novel was provided free of charge by the author in exchange for an honest review.
I felt completely lost for the entire book.
Now I know this is Book 2 of the series and having not read book 1 I can only hope that some of that confusion is because of that. But having read the synopsis of Book 1 it doesn't seem to have anything in common with Book 2. There are none of the normal "let's review book 1" parts that always annoy readers that go straight from book 1 to 2. But would have helped me put some things into context. I just got thrown right into the deep end of the pool.
So when we die we end up on the planet Angelo, three billion light years from Earth. In the book, we meet Bright Olsson, who is a defective Angel, who is selling his services to whoever he can. It seems that an angel, once they've blessed you, will have a vision if you are in danger and can then show up and save you. Having an angel bless you is controlled and having it done independently is against the law. Enter Kaye Railey who works for the ICA and is tasked with catching Bright for giving illegal blessings.
The writing isn't great but isn't bad either. Bright Olsson could have been a great character but there was never enough information about how he got injured. This ends up being true for most of the characters. They all have a history that's hinted at but never really delved into with enough depth to make you care about them. The plot is there and does build in tension throughout the book but not to the extent that it should. Then in the last chapter it takes a sudden left turn ending with a cliffhanger.
Honestly I don't think I would have finished the book had I not been asked to read it for a review. Not because it was poorly written but simply because I was so completely lost as to what this world was about and why I should care about the characters in it. Not sure if reading Book 1 first would have helped or not.
February 10, 2017
Epi-G, Domino Galaxy. I love novels that tie into a much larger universe, in general, so even though Twin Souls by the same author is a YA adventure taking place in this universe, it's about as far away as you can get from this novel in tone or subject matter as you can get while still being firmly rooted in the afterlife.
Yup. Afterlife. Of course, the novel reads like a police procedural, a cat and mouse of hunting down unauthorized angel blessings from both sides, but for me, the real joy is in picking up all the details about the half-multiverse/half-galactic colonization feel of the setting, for where else can we dump Marakech and Hong Kong into the center of the USA, copy-and-paste fashion on some distant world and welcome in the newly dead, like Bruce Lee and other Ultimate Celebrities, and generally get on with our lives regardless of language and cultural barriers.
All the mismatches and the inherent conflicts were delicious. Angels who may or may not be human-ish or alien-ish, working for or being used by much more powerful alien entities that set up all these many, many after-death colonies across the galaxy, become just pawns or fugitives rather than the mental-imagery of good and divine winged emissaries. I mean, let's face it, all societies, galactic or otherwise, are subject to bureaucracy and regime changes, too, not to mention failures of Vision and tech. :)
My only complaint was how slow such concepts came to be developed, instead focusing on rather long sequences of rather average police procedural stuff rather than the good stuff. (Or what I'd call the good stuff, the mind blowing stuff, the fast action, the really weird.) It gets good for this by the end, but the times in-between was just... okay.
Oh, and the fact that the end was too cool to end right there. Meany. Of course, two books in the series, now, and I'm hooked. Crazy, crazy good when it's good.
Thanks to the author for the ARC!
Yup. Afterlife. Of course, the novel reads like a police procedural, a cat and mouse of hunting down unauthorized angel blessings from both sides, but for me, the real joy is in picking up all the details about the half-multiverse/half-galactic colonization feel of the setting, for where else can we dump Marakech and Hong Kong into the center of the USA, copy-and-paste fashion on some distant world and welcome in the newly dead, like Bruce Lee and other Ultimate Celebrities, and generally get on with our lives regardless of language and cultural barriers.
All the mismatches and the inherent conflicts were delicious. Angels who may or may not be human-ish or alien-ish, working for or being used by much more powerful alien entities that set up all these many, many after-death colonies across the galaxy, become just pawns or fugitives rather than the mental-imagery of good and divine winged emissaries. I mean, let's face it, all societies, galactic or otherwise, are subject to bureaucracy and regime changes, too, not to mention failures of Vision and tech. :)
My only complaint was how slow such concepts came to be developed, instead focusing on rather long sequences of rather average police procedural stuff rather than the good stuff. (Or what I'd call the good stuff, the mind blowing stuff, the fast action, the really weird.) It gets good for this by the end, but the times in-between was just... okay.
Oh, and the fact that the end was too cool to end right there. Meany. Of course, two books in the series, now, and I'm hooked. Crazy, crazy good when it's good.
Thanks to the author for the ARC!
July 14, 2016
While this novel is set in the same world as the first Domino Galaxy book, it's totally different, tonally. Whereas Twin Spirit was almost pure supernatural fantasy (with science fiction elements), Epivision mixes things up by being a detective/crime novel set in the same world. This took me by surprise but I liked it.
The world of the afterlife has undergone some big changes since the end of the last book (this book is set about a decade later) but the author doesn't get bogged down explaining them; rather, he weaves them seamlessly into the narrative. Actually, one of the things I like about his writing is that he doesn't let the pace of the story suffer by overdoing the exposition. In fact, there is almost no explanation at all; Thompson just presents us with things as they are and trusts the reader is intelligent enough to put the clues together for themselves. This is one of the joys of his writing, as far as I'm concerned, but I can see how it could frustrate some readers.
The characters in this novel are interesting and engaging, heroes and villains alike. I cared about what happened to all of them, even the lowlifes.
Beware, readers who like things to be done-in-one and wrapped up in a nice little bow: this book ends on a rather huge cliffhanger! We're going to have to wait 'till the next book to see how this all ends. I for one am hoping the wait isn't too long.
I received a digital copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy the next book in the series.
The world of the afterlife has undergone some big changes since the end of the last book (this book is set about a decade later) but the author doesn't get bogged down explaining them; rather, he weaves them seamlessly into the narrative. Actually, one of the things I like about his writing is that he doesn't let the pace of the story suffer by overdoing the exposition. In fact, there is almost no explanation at all; Thompson just presents us with things as they are and trusts the reader is intelligent enough to put the clues together for themselves. This is one of the joys of his writing, as far as I'm concerned, but I can see how it could frustrate some readers.
The characters in this novel are interesting and engaging, heroes and villains alike. I cared about what happened to all of them, even the lowlifes.
Beware, readers who like things to be done-in-one and wrapped up in a nice little bow: this book ends on a rather huge cliffhanger! We're going to have to wait 'till the next book to see how this all ends. I for one am hoping the wait isn't too long.
I received a digital copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy the next book in the series.
November 14, 2015
This book was given to me by the author in exchange for a review. This is one of my favorite things to have happen to me, because it gives me the opportunity to read things I might never have otherwise found.
I'm especially glad that this book came into my life, because it might be one of the most original pieces of fiction I've recently come across.
The premise is this: you die, and enter the afterlife. The afterlife is pretty much the same as your old life, except it's not. You remember everything from your life and even how you died. It's a bit as if you died and went to a different part of the universe. To a more advanced civilization. It's a perfect mix between the normal and the otherwordly. I loved it. In this place they both have original sectors, unique to this planet in the afterlife, but they also copy cities from the "real" earth, such as Hong Kong or Morocco. There are also events when famous people die and come to this new place, it's very cool.
What really impresses me is how the author so effortlessly blends fantasy, science fiction, contemporary and crime elements into a story that is entirely its own and doesn't copy, it just... does its own thing and does it really well.
I also loved the idea of angels, and of angels gone rogue. However I wish we'd been given more information on what it means to be an angel, and what those non-rogue angels actually do. What is their function in this afterlife? I also wish we'd been told in just a little more detail what being an angel entails. As you might have guessed one of our protagonists is such a being. The other, Kaye Riley, is a police agent, hell-bent on catching rogue angels, for very personal reasons.
The characters are well-written and interesting. They, along with the world they're in, feel very natural and realistic. I could have used more background information on Kaye Riley - for instance, why did she decide to become an agent? But maybe that'll come in time.
However, background information is pretty much the only thing this story really lacks. The world feels natural, and I never felt anything was left unexplained, I still could have used more details to really get me involved with the characters. I enjoyed reading the book, and was never bored, but I was never thrilled or excited either, because those small things, that make you really care, weren't really there.
I definitely want to read the sequel, I can't wait to see where this takes us, and perhaps be presented to some of the more supernatural occurrences of this complex afterlife. It might be where you go when you die, but it is not paradise and it holds so much mystery I hope I get to explore further. And perhaps I'll get more emotionally involved in the story, now that the tables have truly turned on them both.
In any case, I can only recommend it, and hope the sequel isn't too far behind.
I'm especially glad that this book came into my life, because it might be one of the most original pieces of fiction I've recently come across.
The premise is this: you die, and enter the afterlife. The afterlife is pretty much the same as your old life, except it's not. You remember everything from your life and even how you died. It's a bit as if you died and went to a different part of the universe. To a more advanced civilization. It's a perfect mix between the normal and the otherwordly. I loved it. In this place they both have original sectors, unique to this planet in the afterlife, but they also copy cities from the "real" earth, such as Hong Kong or Morocco. There are also events when famous people die and come to this new place, it's very cool.
What really impresses me is how the author so effortlessly blends fantasy, science fiction, contemporary and crime elements into a story that is entirely its own and doesn't copy, it just... does its own thing and does it really well.
I also loved the idea of angels, and of angels gone rogue. However I wish we'd been given more information on what it means to be an angel, and what those non-rogue angels actually do. What is their function in this afterlife? I also wish we'd been told in just a little more detail what being an angel entails. As you might have guessed one of our protagonists is such a being. The other, Kaye Riley, is a police agent, hell-bent on catching rogue angels, for very personal reasons.
The characters are well-written and interesting. They, along with the world they're in, feel very natural and realistic. I could have used more background information on Kaye Riley - for instance, why did she decide to become an agent? But maybe that'll come in time.
However, background information is pretty much the only thing this story really lacks. The world feels natural, and I never felt anything was left unexplained, I still could have used more details to really get me involved with the characters. I enjoyed reading the book, and was never bored, but I was never thrilled or excited either, because those small things, that make you really care, weren't really there.
I definitely want to read the sequel, I can't wait to see where this takes us, and perhaps be presented to some of the more supernatural occurrences of this complex afterlife. It might be where you go when you die, but it is not paradise and it holds so much mystery I hope I get to explore further. And perhaps I'll get more emotionally involved in the story, now that the tables have truly turned on them both.
In any case, I can only recommend it, and hope the sequel isn't too far behind.
September 15, 2013
3,5 stars
Arc provided by the author
This is quite an original story.
This takes place in Angelo, a Planet of the Dominion Galaxy. What is so remarkable about Angelo, is that according to the author's imagination, every time someone on Earth dies, you get a free ticket to Angelo ;)
Cool... people can grow old, have jobs, have a family, you know, the basics...
Let's face it, it could be worse...but don't go scheduling any trips to the place!! Hold on! There's a lot of books to read here! (and then you could end up sharing a planet with a dictator... who said, Hell wasn't needed?)
The writing:
Very smooth, fluid, with a very cinematographic feel to it. While describing a set featured in Marrocos, the author almost gave us the scent of spices in the air.
The characters:
Generally speaking they felt perfectly developed. The reader gets a firm sense of who they are, and what is it that makes them tick: money, the wish to start over, the need for justice...
I have to say this: normally I dislike the way women are portrayed through the eyes of a male writer. It's true... But that didn't happen here. I have some pet peeves, but they're almost insignificant... for instance, I felt there were too many gender related adjectives, used to assert a character's "masculinity" or "femininity": "womanly curves", "womanly figure", "act manly", "masculine perfume"...
Then the way Mai is described, shy, modest...i'll let that pass due to the decade the story takes place, and her culture.
However, regarding the characters I have to admit that the one I liked the least was Bright, mainly because I didn't get to know (in this volume) what made him turn into a rogue angel, selling his blessings for money. He could use a little more characterization. He's a little too bland, he mostly feels too young.
The plot:
Interesting enough, especially at the beginning, but then it started losing momentum, in fact, dragging a little.
It seemed as if Bright's days were always the same...
He would lie down looking at the ceiling _while sharing a bed with his friend Felix, the one with the gigantic toe nails, lol _ fall asleep, wake up, go to the bathroom, have something to eat, then he would have some meeting with a peddler, have dinner, go home and read the secret message, and so on...
When, to this, one adds the very thorough descriptions, this doesn't allow for an exciting and nerve racking reading... which this could definitely be: since there is a game of cat and mouse between Riley, an agent of ICA (is this supposed to be the angelic version of CIA?), who is trying to catch Bright in the act of illegal blessing (why is it illegal?).
I think the story definitely needed quite a lot more action, with Bright being an active participant, and not just going along with everything that is thrown at him.
I also wouldn't mind more world building. I was left with an awful lot of questions and vague ideas.
I needed more clarification on the whole Epi "subject"...basically some info dump on the experience of people being "reborn" in Angelo, some of them as angels (because they saved someone on earth).
These angels however are unlike our "usual" ones... you know, the ones with feathers and wings.
Did people accept this new reality well? Was there an increase in mental help facilities?
And what happens once someone dies in Angelo?
They talk about being erased... but how can they know for sure that there isn't something more?
I think the story would improve with the addition of different characters. Bright is an Epi G, a rogue one... what do the "big ones" think of his actions?
As you can read, the story really grabbed my interest, and despite some issues that I had with it, I enjoyed reading it.
I just needed something more...
For starters, a "real" romance!!
Brights "fixation" with Mai, because she was pretty, and shy, and modest, didn't work for me. They had nothing going on between them... nada! The whole thing felt very teen-like....
As a reader, I'm just going to say that I wouldn't mind seeing a Moroccan setting on the cover on this book, since I don't feel as if the title or the cover do the book justice.
Oh and on the synopsis the comment about soul mates?
It scared me a little...
As a last note, can I just say how much I hate cliffhangers?
I do!
But I'm curious to read the next one... so I hope it doesn't take too long for it to be released!
Arc provided by the author
This is quite an original story.
This takes place in Angelo, a Planet of the Dominion Galaxy. What is so remarkable about Angelo, is that according to the author's imagination, every time someone on Earth dies, you get a free ticket to Angelo ;)
Cool... people can grow old, have jobs, have a family, you know, the basics...
Let's face it, it could be worse...but don't go scheduling any trips to the place!! Hold on! There's a lot of books to read here! (and then you could end up sharing a planet with a dictator... who said, Hell wasn't needed?)
The writing:
Very smooth, fluid, with a very cinematographic feel to it. While describing a set featured in Marrocos, the author almost gave us the scent of spices in the air.
The characters:
Generally speaking they felt perfectly developed. The reader gets a firm sense of who they are, and what is it that makes them tick: money, the wish to start over, the need for justice...
I have to say this: normally I dislike the way women are portrayed through the eyes of a male writer. It's true... But that didn't happen here. I have some pet peeves, but they're almost insignificant... for instance, I felt there were too many gender related adjectives, used to assert a character's "masculinity" or "femininity": "womanly curves", "womanly figure", "act manly", "masculine perfume"...
Then the way Mai is described, shy, modest...i'll let that pass due to the decade the story takes place, and her culture.
However, regarding the characters I have to admit that the one I liked the least was Bright, mainly because I didn't get to know (in this volume) what made him turn into a rogue angel, selling his blessings for money. He could use a little more characterization. He's a little too bland, he mostly feels too young.
The plot:
Interesting enough, especially at the beginning, but then it started losing momentum, in fact, dragging a little.
It seemed as if Bright's days were always the same...
He would lie down looking at the ceiling _while sharing a bed with his friend Felix, the one with the gigantic toe nails, lol _ fall asleep, wake up, go to the bathroom, have something to eat, then he would have some meeting with a peddler, have dinner, go home and read the secret message, and so on...
When, to this, one adds the very thorough descriptions, this doesn't allow for an exciting and nerve racking reading... which this could definitely be: since there is a game of cat and mouse between Riley, an agent of ICA (is this supposed to be the angelic version of CIA?), who is trying to catch Bright in the act of illegal blessing (why is it illegal?).
I think the story definitely needed quite a lot more action, with Bright being an active participant, and not just going along with everything that is thrown at him.
I also wouldn't mind more world building. I was left with an awful lot of questions and vague ideas.
I needed more clarification on the whole Epi "subject"...basically some info dump on the experience of people being "reborn" in Angelo, some of them as angels (because they saved someone on earth).
These angels however are unlike our "usual" ones... you know, the ones with feathers and wings.
Did people accept this new reality well? Was there an increase in mental help facilities?
And what happens once someone dies in Angelo?
They talk about being erased... but how can they know for sure that there isn't something more?
I think the story would improve with the addition of different characters. Bright is an Epi G, a rogue one... what do the "big ones" think of his actions?
As you can read, the story really grabbed my interest, and despite some issues that I had with it, I enjoyed reading it.
I just needed something more...
For starters, a "real" romance!!
Brights "fixation" with Mai, because she was pretty, and shy, and modest, didn't work for me. They had nothing going on between them... nada! The whole thing felt very teen-like....
As a reader, I'm just going to say that I wouldn't mind seeing a Moroccan setting on the cover on this book, since I don't feel as if the title or the cover do the book justice.
Oh and on the synopsis the comment about soul mates?
It scared me a little...
As a last note, can I just say how much I hate cliffhangers?
I do!
But I'm curious to read the next one... so I hope it doesn't take too long for it to be released!
August 27, 2016
3.5 stars
This novel was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of this book is that it's quite original —at least I haven't read something like Epivision before.
It takes place in Angelo, a planet 3 billion light years away from Earth. When people on Earth die, they go to this planet and start their life over. In this afterlife, there are replicas of places from Earth —like Hong Kong or Marrakesh— and there are angels, among other interesting things. These angels aren't what you're probably thinking, though.
The main characters are Bright Olsson, an angel who does illegal blessings, and Kaye Riley, the agent from the ICA that goes after him. I particularly liked Riley. Normally I don't enjoy female characters as much as I'd like to, but Riley was awesome. However, I think that they were not sufficiently developed. It would have been great to know more about them, their past, in order to emphasise and grow fond of them.
Regarding the worldbuilding, I think it's a bit "deficient". I mean, I felt completely lost for a while. It wasn't until I reached page 250 or 300 that I stopped feeling so confused. I just found out that there's another book in this series, previous to this one and that I have not read, so I wonder if that was the problem. Maybe some of the answers to questions like "why are illegal blessings illegal?" are in that book. And I genuinely want to know what happens to people when they die on Angelo, lol.
The writing isn't outstanding, but it's good. There's something peculiar about the way the author describes everything —places, situations, etc. He describes things how they actually are and in a simple way —you know, without metaphors and that kind of stuff. He doesn't overwrite, which makes the reading pretty smooth.
At first the pace is very slow, but the last 150 pages really got me hooked. And that cliffhanger. Oh, that cliffhanger!
So, this is how I decided to rate this novel:
• 3 stars
• + 0.5 stars for the last 100 pages
• Rating of 4 stars instead of 3 for its originality
This novel was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of this book is that it's quite original —at least I haven't read something like Epivision before.
It takes place in Angelo, a planet 3 billion light years away from Earth. When people on Earth die, they go to this planet and start their life over. In this afterlife, there are replicas of places from Earth —like Hong Kong or Marrakesh— and there are angels, among other interesting things. These angels aren't what you're probably thinking, though.
The main characters are Bright Olsson, an angel who does illegal blessings, and Kaye Riley, the agent from the ICA that goes after him. I particularly liked Riley. Normally I don't enjoy female characters as much as I'd like to, but Riley was awesome. However, I think that they were not sufficiently developed. It would have been great to know more about them, their past, in order to emphasise and grow fond of them.
Regarding the worldbuilding, I think it's a bit "deficient". I mean, I felt completely lost for a while. It wasn't until I reached page 250 or 300 that I stopped feeling so confused. I just found out that there's another book in this series, previous to this one and that I have not read, so I wonder if that was the problem. Maybe some of the answers to questions like "why are illegal blessings illegal?" are in that book. And I genuinely want to know what happens to people when they die on Angelo, lol.
The writing isn't outstanding, but it's good. There's something peculiar about the way the author describes everything —places, situations, etc. He describes things how they actually are and in a simple way —you know, without metaphors and that kind of stuff. He doesn't overwrite, which makes the reading pretty smooth.
At first the pace is very slow, but the last 150 pages really got me hooked. And that cliffhanger. Oh, that cliffhanger!
So, this is how I decided to rate this novel:
• 3 stars
• + 0.5 stars for the last 100 pages
• Rating of 4 stars instead of 3 for its originality
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews