Author: Tam Linsey
Series: The Botanicaust series - Book 1
Type of read: eARC
Star rating:
Available from Amazon US Amazon UK
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The only crop left ... is human.
In an all-too-plausible future where Earth has been overrun by invasive, genetically modified weeds, a doctor with photosynthetic skin risks everything to save a man who refuses to be genetically modified. Together, can they find sanctuary in a cannibal wasteland?
I was lucky enough to be offered an eARC of the second novel
in the Botanicaust series, called Doomseeds. The author, Tam Linsey, also gave
me a copy of the first novel so I could better judge the series. The review of
that novel is to come shortly, however I wanted to give a review to this
promising novel in its own right.
The first thing that hit me with this novel was the
extensive world building right from the first page. A world barren of life as
we know it with humans split off into almost separate species, all trying to
keep away from the others and live their way of life. The introduction was
quick, making clever use of actions to do this, thus avoiding an infodump.
The protagonist was easy to identify with, a single father
desperately trying to find a cure for his terminal son from fabled beings
living in their world. He drew the story forth, drawing emotions clearly on the
page. Almost all of his interaction with other people were written very skillfully,
especially when there was no common language and they had to resort to
rudimentary sign language.
My only issue was the lack of sexual tension between him and
another character, where I believe it was intended. They'd have sex then carry
on as if nothing ever happened. Some of this was explained away later in the
book as you came to understand the species better, but I still feel it could
have been handled better.
I was very impressed with this novel, it ticked all the
boxes, and shows an extremely promising writer.
