Singularity Dawn

Quinn Barlow has just said goodbye to his brothers after their annual camping trip after they dropped him home. Quinn, settling back into his house suddenly can’t find his mobile, but is sure he only just had it. His neighbour's dog suddenly appears, distracting him from his phone, and is anxious for him to follow. He heads over to Kai’s house and finds him collapsed in pain. An old operation with pins and screws is acting up, and he is struggling to stand. Quinn helps him to the couch and gets his meds. The remote is missing. Thinking nothing of it at first, they soon realise more items are going missing. Including the pins in Kai’s old injury. The vanishing objects quickly make the news. It is not just phones and remotes that are going missing, landmarks, large items, and entire towns are starting to vanish. Lights appear in the sky. Quinn and his brothers had been joking about the lights during their camping weekend, with two of the brothers advocating for UFOs. Little did they know that the lights were an ominous warning. The neighbours are becoming increasingly uneasy, and then the visions start. Quinn and Kai both start seeing the same place and somehow know that if they get to the location, they will be safe. They only have to convince their loved ones of this, and then manage to get their loved ones to this location, before they also vanish.

This was an absolutely brilliant read that I devoured in one sitting. It kept up a steady pace from the beginning, with the tension really ramping up all throughout. You could feel the sense of urgency building, the sense of hopelessness building as the main characters struggled with what to do as the world quite literally vanished around them, in a manner reminiscent of Stephen King’s Langoliers. I really liked the characters we were introduced to, and how they were developed. We got to know them well enough to feel connected to them and to feel like we were on this incredibly tense journey with them. We were as flummoxed as they were by what was going on in the world, hoping for answers when they go to the ‘safe’ destination. As for the ending. We got some answers, but also got many more questions, which has me really looking forward to the next instalment in this series. This was a really fantastic sci-fi take on the rapture/end of days, and I can’t wait for more from the author!

*I received this book from NetGalley for review, but all opinions are my own.

This was really good!

I'm so happy I gave this one a chance, because I now need to know what happens in the next one. The writing was good, a few things bothered me but I think those are just the author trying to find his style and pace, and they didn't distract from the story - which really is the important thing.

The story itself was fast paced, a lot happened quickly and it was a bit difficult to figure out where/who you were following, once in a while. I liked the idea though, and the perspectives were fun albeit a bit too many to keep good track in such a short story.

I wanted a few more explanations about things, like one character who randomly showed up, randomly went evil, randomly was suddenly good, it was confusing. Also some names where thrown around that I felt like I missed out on an explanation of who they were and how they came to be there.

One thing I really did love about the book that made a huge impact on my liking it, was that the focus was not on how evil everyone suddenly gets or how everyone is only after to save themselves, because that's just not how it would work. Most apocalyptic stories tend to portray humans as being inherently justifiably shitty, but this book actually highlights a lot of the good that can happen when people work together and think of others while doing the best they can to survive. Thank you for that, author!

I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a fast paced, thrilling read. It's science fiction, but it's not heavy as such, I think it would fit most people except the ones only looking for romance.

An interesting story, with some new ideas in there. I enjoyed reading this, and may read the next book - there was no cliffhanger, fortunately, but the story is incomplete.
A star lost for the slightly simplistic style of writing, but perhaps I am just being fussy.

I enjoyed the imaginative approach of this novel. I was glued to the book until the end. the characters in the book are well developed. I look forward to Dalton Roberts next book.

Good sci-fi with elements of the genres thrown in. I like the author's imagination, along with good writing skills. Nicely done.

Thanks very much for the free copy for review!!