The amazing sequel to World of Fire. Dev Harmer has landed in a new body on a new planet. He has gills and fins and a chronic malfunction in his genes. With only 72 hours to bring the settlers and natives of a colonised world to peace before his temporary body expires, murder and corruption are the least of his worries.
With the indigenous 'mer-folk' on the seabed and the human settlers in floating cities on the ocean surface cannibalising the mer-tech in an attempt to force their way into the eco-system, Harmer is in a race against the clock to ensure his mission doesn't end in abject disaster, a Polis+ coup or genocide.
James Lovegrove is the author of several acclaimed novels and books for children.
James was born on Christmas Eve 1965 and, having dabbled in writing at school, first took to it seriously while at university. A short story of his won a college competition. The prize was £15, and it had cost £18 to get the story professionally typed. This taught him a hard but necessary lesson in the harsh economic realities of a literary career.
Straight after graduating from Oxford with a degree in English Literature, James set himself the goal of getting a novel written and sold within two years. In the event, it took two months. The Hope was completed in six weeks and accepted by Macmillan a fortnight later. The seed for the idea for the novel — a world in microcosm on an ocean liner — was planted during a cross-Channel ferry journey.
James blew his modest advance for The Hope on a round-the-world trip which took him to, among other places, Thailand. His experiences there, particularly what he witnessed of the sex industry in Bangkok, provided much of the inspiration for The Foreigners.
Escardy Gap was co-written with Pete Crowther over a period of a year and a half, the two authors playing a game of creative tag, each completing a section in turn and leaving the other to carry the story on. The result has proved a cult favourite, and was voted by readers of SFX one of the top fifty SF/Fantasy novels of all time.
Days, a satire on consumerism, was shortlisted for the 1998 Arthur C. Clarke Award (losing to Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow). The book’s genesis most probably lies in the many visits James used to make as a child to the Oxford Street department store owned by his grandfather. It was written over a period of nine months while James was living in the north-west suburbs of Chicago.
Subsequent works have all been published to great acclaim. These include Untied Kingdom, Worldstorm, Provender Gleed, The Age Of Ra and the back-to-back double-novella Gig. James has also written for children. Wings, a short novel for reluctant readers, was short-listed for several awards, while his fantasy series for teens, The Clouded World, written under the pseudonym Jay Amory, has been translated into 7 other languages so far. A five-book series for reluctant readers, The 5 Lords Of Pain, is appearing at two-monthly intervals throughout 2010.
He also reviews fiction for the Financial Times, specialising in the Young Adult, children’s, science fiction, fantasy, horror and graphic novel genres.
Currently James resides in Eastbourne on the Sussex Coast, having moved there in August 2007 with his wife Lou, sons Monty and Theo, and cat Ozzy. He has a terrific view of the sea from his study window, which he doesn’t sit staring out at all day when he should be working. Honest.
Publishers Description: Special agents like Dev Harmer, grievously injured military veteran whose only hope for salvation is to travel from world to world as a professional troubleshooter, his brain patterns beamed into cloned host bodies, until he has earned enough credit to return home and be restored to full health.
Review: The idea that brain patterns can be beamed into cloned bodies is great, as it opens up alien interactions and cultures while creating a great platform for world building. The movement was constant with threatening alien life forms and militaristic interventions.
The novel was a bit weak on justifying (scientifically) how a once frozen solid planet is now completely covered in water and supports a profundity of life. Captain Maddoxs’ character as well as some of his marines came off more “Marvel Comic” than true to life. There was quite a bit of spelling and grammatical errors which didn’t detract from the novel too much. Additionally the Commlink conversations were annoying as there were no breaks to indicate who was speaking; and when conversing with the alien Tritonian’s, the font changed to this weird unreadable glyph.
In its entirety, this was a fun, fast paced read that leaves me wanting (strangely) more.
World of Water is the second book in the Dev Harmer Missions series, from English author James Lovegrove. In it we follow ISS agent Dev Harmer as he turns up on another new world with some sort of mostly unknown problem to solve, and most things stacked against him. In other words, exactly where you want to see a sass-talking, ass-kicking intelligence operative. Picking up where World of Fire left off with excellent pacing, great action sequences, and a protagonist that hits all the right action buttons, World of Water continues to bring the spy thriller soundly into the realm of science fiction. You can also read my review of the first book in this series, the aforementioned World of Firehere.
Up to the last ten pages it was identical as the first book. First time it was unique to me, now it’s just a deja vue. Move the action to another word, put some aliens not so different and frankly not very interesting and you have a new book. Even you have different deaths, I didn’t invest in those characters and it felt light. The oppressive sea in the first world was almost funny with mermaids characters. And apparently the number one enemy wasn’t to blame. I am thinking about reading the next book.
Acquired: Barnes & Nobel Booksellers Series: Dev Harmer Missions Paperback: 464 pages Publisher: Solaris (August 26, 2014) Language: English
****
The Story: In this stellar sequel to World of Fire, Dev Harmer has landed in a new body on a new planet...
Dev Harmer, reluctant agent of Interstellar Security Solutions, has travelled to ocean world Robinson D, nicknamed Triton.
Here, settlements belonging to the Terran Diaspora have been coming under attack by members of the planet’s sub-aquatic indigenous race. ISS suspects the involvement of an agent provocateur working for humankind's galactic rivals, the artificial intelligence civilization known as Polis+.
As the violence escalates, Dev finds himself battling to restore order - but he has only seventy-two hours before his genetically engineered host form breaks down irreversibly. And all as an ancient god-beast rises from the depths to usher in an apocalypse…
The Review: After his adventures on Alighieri, Dev Harmer takes a complete 180 and ends up on completely different planet. While the water-world is a staple of science fiction, Triton was built well enough to seem fresh and engaging. As far as the book mentions: there are no landmasses on the planet
Some say characters, not story is what makes or breaks a book. Others say characters are only as good as the story. Its probably something in the middle but nonetheless characters are just as important to any story. The characters we have here are superb. Perhaps they are not the most complicated of personas but this is not a complicated book.
The most memorable characters are the squad of Marines that accompany Dev Harmer on his mission and all of them are women. That deserves a clap from the reader. The life of the soldier has long been the domain of menfolk and seeing women in that role is a step forward. Having the whole platoon be made of women is a even bigger step.
If there is a problem with this arrangement, is that only too of them are really that memorable and Bookworm can only recall the name of one. That happens a lot when it comes to situations like this, every army has its faceless grunts.
One of the funniest portions of the book is the big boned Marine who hits on the male waiter and male patrons of the cafe the squad visits midway through to book. An interesting turnaround, as it is normally men who do that in creative media. An interesting look on flirting and, lets face it, sexual harassment. While we are on that topic, it deserves mentioning the relationship between Dev and the leader of the Marines, Eydis Sigursdottir. First of all…making her Icelandic is rather creative, for one thing, that country’s strong nautical tradition. More than that though, the relationship between her and Dev is worthy of mention, in spite of not being the focus. Sigursdottir starts off being rather standoffish and dismissive of Dev. It’s clear Dev is attracted to her but when he talks to her, she accuses him of hitting on her. Sexism is a stubborn beast and even in the distant future the idea of female soldiers is still not universally accepted and Sigursdottir knows that. The other reason, for the defensiveness is the common resentfulness that arises when professional soldiers have to answer to civilians, even if the said civilian is a veteran turned interstellar agent.
In the first book, Dev had a similar encounter with the Police Chief on Alighieri and in true detective story fashion, he ends up in bed with her. This does not happen with Dev and Sigursdottir and that is a good thing. They have earned each other’s respect but that does not need to be expressed with sex. Very progressive move on the author’s part.
Most of this book swims but there are few parts that sink.
There is one detail right of the bat that really bugs Bookworm. The planet is called Triton, which fits as Triton is a god of the sea. There’s just one problem: That name’s taken! It’s the name of Neptune’s largest moon. Its not that big a deal but it does stand out.
Bookworm will not give it away here, but the at the very end there is a confrontation that is extremely cliched. Its one that more and more writers are becoming more aware off and trying to go in a different direction. It could be argued that this book is basically a B-Movie on another planet and thus the cliches are part of form but still, Bookworm found himself skimming this part as not only was it cliched, it was a bit predictable as well.
Final Verdict: World of Water is a perfect sequel. A new body, a new planet, and a new adventure. Similar style but unique in its own way. This series is great! It may be a bit too uncomplicated for some readers but its a nice balm for those looking for some fun.
Who Might Like This book: I would suggest this book to someone who likes action books, without a lot of back story needed in their series’. It was very easy to follow without having read the first book. Anyone who has read authors like James Rollins, Steve Berry, Clive Cussler or has read another James Lovegrove book would probably like this book as long as they are okay with a hint of science fiction.
Summary: Dev Harmer is the main character. Dev was recruited into the Interstellar Security Solutions to purchase himself a body of his own again (which is not very central to the story). He traveled to an ocean world whose nickname is Triton, to find out if the group called Polis+ is behind the current unrest between the Tritonians and Humans. He is also on a time limit due to failings of his genetically engineered host form and must resolve the conflict during that time.
The book opens with Dev being downloaded in his host form and immediately feeling terrible. Very quick it becomes apparent that the unrest on Triton is getting worse all the time and Dev needs to race against the clock of his own body and only has three days until his body will fall apart. From there Dev and his allies quickly must find out where the insurgency is coming from and if Polis + is behind it. It is an easy, semi-action packed book. I highly enjoyed this book and found that I got so drawn into the main plot of the book that I did not even see the hidden plot at all until it just popped up. I found the surprises and the big bad guy to be extremely awesome. I do not want to give anything away because this was a wonderful book.
**Drawbacks**: I am really only adding this because I am nitpicky. I did find a few small spelling/grammar errors, but nothing too horrible. The other thing is that I noticed the middle part of this book was a little slow with just a lot of building up to the big finish and big reveal.
What Distinguishes This Book: The setting! I loved seeing the setting of this book. It is very unique for most books to be set in an entirely different world, which this definitely was. By having the book in a water world it posed an entirely different set of problems that were interesting to experience. The other thing about this book which was wonderful was the characterizations; not just of Dev, but of the other secondary characters. Dev is wonderfully intelligent and sarcastic which just makes him more likeable to me.
Overall would I recommend this book: Yes
Will I Read the Sequel: Most likely, yes, though I do have many on my to-read shelf.
I enjoyed World of Water, by James Lovegrove. I saw that it was the second book in a series, and I requested book one from the publisher. Unfortunately, the electronic edition the publisher sent was incompatible with my Kindle app, so I was unable to read it.
You don’t need to read World of Fire to read World of Water. If Fire is as good as Water, then I highly recommend reading them both. After finishing Water, I was sad that I couldn’t continue the adventures of Dev Harmer. The ending of Water sets up another book in the series, and I could see this continuing and being as popular as the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, just sci-fi instead of chick lit.
Not a lot of back-story is needed for this adventure. You just read, and let the narrative take hold. At times, suspenseful, humorous, humorless, and even reflective, World of Water is a 4.5-star read, and worthy of picking up the first two books, and keeping an eye on the author, James Lovegrove.
Another great adventure in the Dev Harmer series. This time, as you can guess from the title, the world is all water all the time. There is a rebellion going on but who is behind it ?
We have battles with sea creatures and bring out the Marines to save the day. Except there is an insider who is actually creating the chaos and Dev is on the job to find out who exactly has the planet on the brink of all out war.
CAUTION: For some reason the publisher decided to differentiate the various people talking by printing their conversations in light grey on off white paper or small curly fonts. Both of which are VERY hard to read (I have 20/20 vision). I have complained directly to the publisher about this.
Other than this MASSIVE gaffe the story is outstanding
When I read my first James Lovegrove book I became an instant fan. He captures not just exciting stories that are reminiscent of classic SF stories but the story becomes cleverly modern. His characters are so believable so instantly charming. Dev harmer is an agent sent out into the galaxy part spy part soldier part dirty tricks agent Fighting the ENEMY OF HUMANITY the AI species seeking to forcibly convert us to their religion. This book was Exciting. Fun. And a reminder of why we all read SF.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Without knowing this was part 2 of James Lovegrove's saga, I must say that I read it without feeling I was missing anything. Dev Harmer is basically a brain-for-hire, traveling through the universe in different bodies, using his extensive knowledge to benefit various civilizations, usually with the odds stacked against him. On this water planet, he is equipped with gills, and finds himself on a race against time. Really enjoyable and believable, I will await the next installation.
Second in the series, with a lead in to the third. Kind of a high tech, spy thriller. The hook being that only the protagonist's identity travels from planet to planet, with his consciousness being implanted in a new body at each stop. I'm enjoying these, but am thinking it's going to be a pretty limited series as he'll run out of elements soon. :-) World of Air is apparently next.