EarthUnder: The Meteorite Chronicles

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In the first book of The Meteorite Chronicles, space-rock specialist Bryce Monroe finds himself on the hunt for a mythical piece of stone that holds more importance than he ever could have imagined. When Bryce is attacked in the middle of the night and left wounded and alone, where our story first begins, he is immediately made aware that this particular trip is already more dangerous than usual. He wanders to find safety and keeps moving until he eventually finds himself among friends, including his guide and, unexpectedly, a childhood friend and first love, Kadishya. In their care, Bryce finds himself face to face with a new quest and with the legendary stone he seeks, a meteorite that fell to Earth many years ago and is believed to have clues about the beginnings of life. His task is to get a sample into the hands of scientists, which leads him to beautiful Jasmina, Kadishya’s sister, and a truth about Earth that changes everything about the planet as we know it. EarthUnder is at once a treasure hunt, a battle between good and evil, and a lesson in the importance of keeping our planet and our precious resources safe. Bryce and Jasmina embark on the task of securing the meteorite and helping to save Earth in the process.

The high-stakes beginning was reminiscent of a race-against-time type of mystery. Our protagonist is already injured and being chased, there is a mythical stone and a race to figure out what it does and what it could mean, and its biggest secret is protected by a core group of select people. But that story dropped in pace relatively quickly as it settled into a world-building role where we are introduced to the Terans, a race of evolved humanoids, at the juncture where Bryce finally meets Jasmina. When Jasmina explains who the Terans are and where they live, EarthUnder, we are shown a whole new world and a very interesting idea that everything we have come to learn and know about our planet can be explained as a construct of this Teran race. The idea of EarthUnder and the explanations for concepts such as gravity and the extinction of the dinosaurs are definitely imaginative. But there was so much stage-setting in this book to lay the foundation that it felt more like a prequel at times rather than a first installment of a three-part trilogy.

While likable, Bryce Monroe is an archetype. He is the chosen one, unbeknownst to him, for an important mission of which he has zero knowledge. And his otherwise routine job gets himself involved in a larger problem than he bargained for. That being said, overall it was a fun read, and anyone who likes stories in which other worlds are built would probably find themselves enjoying the discovery of EarthUnder. The author’s expertise for the science of rocks and meteorites shows through, and it was nice to see one passion help fuel another. It was easy to believe the excitement behind Bryce finding something fascinating that could unlock more mysteries of science.


Reviewed By:

Author Edwin Thompson
Star Count /5
Format Hard
Page Count 316 pages
Publisher Inkwater Press
Publish Date 2015-01-01
ISBN 9781629011967
Bookshop.org Buy this Book
Issue November 2016
Category Science Fiction & Fantasy
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