Rex Burke

Another fantastic outing from one of the rising stars of light hearted British comic sci fi. This is a rail trip like no other, as three students - Sully, Hutch and Jed - decide to go on an all out bender throughout as many pubs in Europe as they can cram in and end up meeting someone very unexpected. Unless you're Jed - he was always expecting this to happen.

The unfolding premise is familiar to anyone who has watched a Simon Pegg/Nick Frost collaboration and it is almost entirely one long back and forth of banter filled dialogue from start to finish. If you thought the back and forth between Reeves and Jordan in the author's Odyssey Earth series was amusing, this cranks up the juvenility to eleven and will keep you laughing through every chapter (and in between with the brilliant X-Team). And every time you think you can't cringe or chuckle any more, there's always just something else that happens to make your mind boggle. And it might just involve a rogue selfie stick.

I loved the authenticity of the rail trip - clearly written with first hand knowledge (there's a particular museum I don't want to know more about it's existance mind you!). There's also plenty of the usual nods to pop culture as we have come to expect from Rex's writing - taking the mick out of everything from films to conspiracy theories- but as always it's the raw wit and heart warming nature of the people involved that are the hallmark of his story. It may be very silly at times, but with so much darkness and seriousness around us, stories such as this are the perfect tonic.

If you want something that blends the immature best of The World's End and Paul, the reluctant camaraderie from Red Dwarf and the light hearted fun of Hitchhiker's Guide- all thrown together with intelligence and warmth - then this is not so much "The Wrong Stop", as very much the right one.… (más)

In Twin Landing by Rex Burke, a meteor strike catapults Jordan and his six teenage charges into space in a survival pod. Isolated from the colony ship, they crash-land on the system’s second earthlike planet. Jordan struggles to teach survival skills to the ship-born kids, while on New Earth, Captain Juno works hard to shift from starship captain to colonial leader, a task made more difficult when the industrial magnate who financed the mission wakes up convinced he is still in charge. The AI, Reeves, provides comic relief on both planets.
Three-point-five.… (más)

History teacher Jordan Booth is leading a life of quiet desperation when he leaves it all behind and signs up to be an archivist on a new interstellar colony. His plans go awry when the captain revives him from stasis years early to tutor six bright teenagers, the unplanned result of a glitch in the crew’s birth control meds. His position is made especially awkward because he has no skills they need to learn and because he is replacing a much-loved teacher who died of a rare cancer. The characters speak with individualized voices, and the novel avoids most of the usual pitfalls of YA fiction. I especially like the snarky AI. Rex Burke has an unassuming genial style that is a refreshing change from the typical space opera bombast.… (más)