My Thoughts: Black Hole Sun by David Macinnis Gill

4 monster cookies.

Cover Love: I actually like this cover.  The original one was just black with the words Black Hole Sun in red font.  This one has more story to it which I like.

Why I Wanted to Read This:
This came out in late summer 2010 when dystopian was big and just becoming huge.  It was also right before Mockingjay came out and I think this one got lost in the shuffle.  I bought it for my library and had been meaning to read it for sometime.  When the egalley for the third book came out I wasn't going to donwload it because I couldn't imagine getting two other books read before it came out.  All I can say is that I am glad I downloaded it because I am just about done with number 2 and I can't wait for number 3.  Here is a sparse synopsis from GoodReads:

Durango is playing the cards he was dealt. And it’s not a good hand.

He’s lost his family.

He’s lost his crew.

And he’s got the scars to prove it.

You don’t want to mess with Durango.

Romance?:  Durango has a thing for his second in command Vienne, but there really isn't any romance.

My Thoughts:
If there wasn't a whole genre of dystopian this one would have been marketed as sci-fi, which is what it totally is.  There is nothing dystopian about their life on Mars (it was probably mean to be a utopia, but that has totally failed).  This is just straight up sci-fi and I loved it.

Durango is the son of a wealthy man who was the CEO of a corporation.  When the story starts Durango's dad is in prison and is dying.  But before he went to prison, he did some experiments to Durango that enhanced him into a super soldier.  The thing I loved about the writing is that we are just thrown into the story.  The author wastes almost no time explaining things, the reader just picks it up as they read.  (Things are explained much more clearly in the second book Invisible Sun, but by then I had already figured it out and didn't need any hand holding).

Mars is a harsh, harsh world.  There are a few sci-fi movies that helped me gain a point of reference--namely Firefly (more for the environment) and Starship Troopers (insects)--but mostly I felt like this was a totally unique vision of Mars and our future.  It must be known, though, that I don't read a ton of sci-fi, it's not at all my favorite genre, so I can't compare it to other sci-fi series.  This one caught me pretty quickly and kept the story moving along.

There is tons of action, futuristic technology, heirarchy that rivals the old British class system and a little bit of romance or desire anyway.  (I really want Durango and Vienne to get together, but that's probably just the woman in me)

I am so glad I discovered this series at the end because I wouldn't hated waiting for each volume.  And I really enjoyed this world and wasn't quite ready to leave it!

To Sum Up:  I cannot believe I waited so long to read this book.  Now that I have I will be able to booktalk it so much more effectively and will be pushing it on several readers.  Really good sci-fi!