Book Review: Zero Limit

Zero Limit by Jeremy K. Brown

My rating: 3 1/2 of 5 stars

There are a lot of comparisons that can be made here. From an asteroid that needs to be 're-directed' in order to save Earth (Armageddon anyone?), to a war over planetary control and mining (Firefly's brown-coats), to sarcastic quips about trying to stay alive (The Martian). And yet Jeremy K. Brown has still managed to write an enjoyable novel.

Fast paced!
Without a doubt the best part of Brown's Zero Limit is that it's quick. A lot of things happen in a short amount of time. There's not a lot of wasted time setting up our characters, their personalities or even our unique asteroid setting. Instead Brown has taken advantage of the assumption that the average person knows and understands some basic space science. For example; how and when gravity plays a factor, orbits, blowing stuff up can move it, and so forth. As a seasoned science fiction reader I was okay with these assumptions. Now that may not work for everyone but for the average reader I think it's a pretty safe bet.

Science
I'm not an astrophysicist. Nor am I even a science major or all that well versed in science that isn't taught on the Big Bang Theory (I'll never forget Schroeder's cat). So for me as long as the science seems to make some sense I'm happy. It may be that there are lots of scientific inaccuracies in Zero Limit. Given that I wouldn't know even if there were, my naive self enjoys just plugging along with the story

Motherhood
The emotional attachment between characters that Brown sets-up is between our lead gal (a mom) and her daughter. There are some bittersweet moments between the two of them and the daughter ultimately provides the 'why' that is required to buy into the story. However overall I could have done without this portion of the story. It wasn't really anything new and the relationship felt a bit forced.

Overall
This is a fun, fast paced science fiction read. If you're not looking for too much depth or emotional connections and would rather just experience some crazy ideas on how to stop an asteroid from hitting earth then you are likely to enjoy this story. While I wouldn't necessarily read it again; I'm not unhappy I read it in the first place.


Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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