I chose to listen to this book in its audiobook format, read by R. With a sequel already set to be released in 2019, Planetside is an extraordinary introduction to an amazing new series. This is the first book from Michael Mammay, but it was more than enough to make me a dedicated fan of this author. Forced into an increasingly desperate situation, Butler must find the answers he needs before it is too late. Under pressure to wrap this investigation up, Butler decides to drop down onto the surface of Cappa, but what he finds down there will change everything. It is also damn suspicious that any time he takes a step in the right direction, somebody tries to have him killed. All the soldiers he speaks to have the same rehearsed story, the head of the base’s military hospital flat out refuses to cooperate with him, the head of Special Ops is continuously unable to come off-planet to speak to him, and any witnesses or evidence that could point him in the right direction mysteriously disappears. Despite knowing that there is more to the case than Serata is letting on, Butler agrees to find the missing officer.Īrriving at Cappa Base, the space station hovering over the planet, Butler soon finds that his investigation is going to be a lot harder than he anticipated. To makes matters worse, the lieutenant is the son of a high councillor, and the disappearance has become a highly publicised affair. By all accounts, the wounded lieutenant was successfully evacuated from the surface, but the military hospital claims that he never arrived at their facility.

Once there, he will head up an investigation into the disappearance of a young lieutenant who went missing after being wounded on the planet. Serata needs him to travel to the planet of Cappa, humanity’s current warzone, where members of a resilient and intelligent alien race known as the Cappans are fighting a gruelling insurgency against the humans attempting to exploit their planet. However, when his old friend General Serata calls him late at night and drags him all the way to headquarters, he obliges for old times’ sake. Set in the far future of Earth’s expansion, Planetside follows Colonel Carl Butler, a war hero living out a peaceful semi-retirement on a training base.

What I was not expecting, however, was one of the best science fiction books of 2018 that easy achieves a five-star rating from me. While I had high hopes for the book, I did somewhat assume that it would just be another solid but enjoyable science fiction mystery.

When I first heard about Planetside I thought it sounded like an interesting concept from first-time author Michael Mammay. Well, that was an unexpectantly awesome book! I am usually pretty good at predicting how good a book is going to be by its plot synopsis or my prior knowledge of the author. Publishers: Harper Voyager HarperAudio Publication Date – 31 July 2018

Planetside by Michael Mammay