Furnace by Joseph Williams
On a routine escort mission to a human colony, Lieutenant Michael Chalmers is pulled out of hyper-sleep a month early. The RSA Rockne Hummel is well off course and—as the ship’s navigator—it’s up to him to figure out why. It’s supposed to be a simple fix, but when he attempts to identify their position in the known universe, nothing registers on his scans. Nothing at all. The vessel has catapulted beyond the reach of starlight by at least a hundred trillion light-years. Then a planetary-mass object materializes behind them. It’s burning brightly even without a star to heat it. Hundreds of damaged ships are locked in its orbit, but before the scanners go offline, the crew discovers there are no life-signs aboard any of them. As system failures sweep through the Hummel, neither Chalmers nor the pilot can prevent the vessel from crashing into the surface near a mysterious ancient city. And that’s where the real nightmare begins.
Purchase Link: Amazon.com
Review
*I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review *
Rating: 4 stars
When the ship RSA Rockne Hummel goes dramatically off-course, navigator Lieutenant Michael Chalmers is woken early from hyper-sleep to figure out why. Lost at the edge of space, they crash into the planet Furnace. And that’s where the horrors truly begin.
Furnace is told completely from Chalmers’ perspective as he fights for survival on a planet inhabited by demons. Whilst stranded on the planet’s surface the ship’s captain orders that Chalmers accompanies other crew members on a reconnaissance mission which goes terribly wrong. Knowing that there is no hope of rescue, Chalmers’ only chance of survival is to travel through an ancient demon city to reach his ship before it departs.
Furnace is a blend of science fiction, horror and a fast-paced thriller that never falters and keeps the reader gripped from the first page to the last. The main character is well-developed and his internal dialogue brings some dark humour to the situations that he finds himself in. I really enjoyed reading Furnace. The concept is very clever and unique, and the author successfully manages to bring together three genres in one great read.
Shari Sakurai 