First in the new series THE COMET CYCLE by acclaimed author Benjamin Percy, THE NINTH METAL (release June 1, 2021) is an expansive work of very near-future SciFi, Speculative Fiction of high order. I applaud the Science, the Speculation, the character evolution and devolution. Additionally Mr. Percy performs some seriously Lovecraftian rifts hinting at potential Cosmic Horror, through Portals [question: do you REALLY want to walk through that doorway?] and even a Stonehenge similarity (and oh, t...

"The Ninth Metal" is a trip into a speculative universe that is in one sense very recognizable and in another sense entirely unrecognizable. The book is at once science fiction, but also contains old themes of warring Hatfield and McCoys and of the prodigal son returning to his hometown, but finding himself a stranger in a strange land. The world suddenly changed forever when meteors rained down from the sky, meteors so large that they obliterated big things, particularly in the economically dis...

3.5*s. I really enjoyed the first two-thirds of this book; I felt rather let down by the last third. It was the character building that won me over and the world-building that lost me. There was huge potential for change and transformation, but we only see a little and hear of a little more. Perhaps this is something Percy will build upon in the next book. I'd be tempted to read it.'Take one look and you think you're in a piny postcard advertising Vactionland. Blink a few times and you realise y...

A superhero origin story in disguise as a rough family drama. Only, the superheroes are more anti-hero. There's really no likeable characters in this book. John, arguably, the main character is a murderer and his family is basically the local mafia. Stacie, the rookie cop, is a wholesome character but is changed by the events of the book. Victoria basically tortures a kid "for science" but knows it's wrong and wants to free him. There are other characters that come and go, all are driven to extr...

3.5 starsThis is the first book in the Comet Cycle Series, about the consequences of a comet passing close to the Earth.*****Northfall, Minnesota was a quiet mining town until planet Earth spun through the debris field of the comet Cain.As millions of meteorites fell to the ground, the sky flared, the ground shook, electricity went dark, radio signals scrambled, dogs howled, and people screamed. The debris landed everywhere, but Northfall got the largest deposits of a substance called 'omnimetal...

In a Comet of Doom , Green Rocks (The Ninth Metal), Government Conspiracy , Redemption Earns Life and New Old West (in Minnesota) cross-over two mutants find peace. First book in the The Comet Cycle continuing series. The Ninth Metal My audiobook was 10 ½ hours long. It had a US copyright of 2021. A dead tree version would be about 300-pages. Julia Whelan was the narrator. Whelan is a good narrator that can ably change her voice with the characters internal and external narr...

If you're as old as I am, you remember when the animated Batman show first launched on Fox, and the animators explained that the difference between their show and every other show on tv was that they were drawing on black cels instead of white ones? Well, THE NINTH METAL is a novel, but it is drawn on black cels in every sense of the word. It's like Benjamin Percy crushed an issue of Batman, rolled it up in a crazy, Lovecraft-inspired SF universe, and jammed it into a Minnesota snowman. It's dar...

Synopsis: Earth crossed a comet’s debris field and down came wondrous omnimetal which is a perfect energy source but can also be consumed as a drug.The story follows John Frontier, heir to a iron-mining dynasty in Minnesota. He returns for his sister’s wedding and finds his family in a cutthroat war for mining rights. The other protagonist is physicist Victoria Lennon who works for the Department of Defense to research omnimetal. In this case, a living one, as a boy has been covered with the met...

Meteorites fall to earth, changing the landscape and giving some people super powers. This is mostly a story about a small town and its residents trying to deal with a boom in population and businesses when corporations set up to mine the new 9th noble metal which fell from space, and seems to be able to help humanity in countless ways. Shady government facilities also pop up to test the metal, and the people affected by it.The world building was great and I look forward to reading the second bo...

A scifi gold rush, and the effects it would have on a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. Very, very violent and bloody, and I feel like the Evil Scientist character was a little over the top (his name was Thaddeus, for crying out loud) but taken as a comic book-inspired scifi drama, it definitely pays off.

A comet has left deposits of a new mineral called omnimetal on Earth. The mineral is a source of power, has superior conductive ability, is addictive if smoked or snorted and has had an unusual impact on some of the people who were exposed to it. Two mineral companies are warring over control of the large omnimetal supply in Minnesota. A large deposit is controlled by a weird cult that refuses to sell. At the same time, the Defense Department is conducting extreme experiments on a 15 year old bo...

This is an unexpectedly pleasant mix of backwoods good-ole-boys with all their country poverty and an SF-tainted goldrush.In most respect, the novel is entirely about the characters, their hopes and fears, their sense of belonging, or their need to find justice or even exploit the hell out of people's weaknesses. It's about being a fish out of water. Of coming home to a place that doesn't want you any longer. It's also about the complete and ugly transformation of your home once the sharks smell...

I always want to enjoy Benjamin Percy more than I do. On a technical level, the man is impeccable. The sentences are katana-sharp, the characters drawn in vibrant color, and the genre-blending an imaginative mosaic. Really, there is a lot to admire here, and juggling this many genres is a stupendous feat, one that most authors wouldn't even bother to attempt.However, I admire more than I enjoy, typically. I'm never fully enthralled with the story. For 278 pages, there are too many subplots for m...

An enjoyable if somewhat flawed romp. You’ve read the spiel. The earth passes through the debris field of a comet which results in huge meteor showers. These comprise of what is eventually called the ninth metal -omnimetal. With super conductive powers, it is a new source of energy that will change the world forever. Huge deposits lan in Minnesota and what was once a small mining town suddenly becomes the centre of a modern day gold rush. It also can be ground down and used as a highly addictive...

Okay, now that was an unexpectedly pleasant reading surprise: A popcorn novel that combines Western, SF, horror and thriller elements in an old-fashioned, yet surprisingly effective, manner. Think ‘Stranger Things’ combined with some of the darker and crazier ‘The X-Files’ episodes, and you’ll get a sense of what a fantastic read this is.Also, if you enjoyed ‘The Institute’ by Stephen King, where a dastardly top-secret government organisation experiments on inculcating latent superpowers in vuln...

In The Ninth Metal, the first book in the new trilogy The Comet Cycle by Benjamin Percy, what starts as a beautiful phenomenon turns into a planet-changing event. As the Cain Comet passes by Earth, people everywhere gaze at this once-in-a-lifetime sight. But a year later, the Earth’s orbit takes it through the debris field trailing the comet, and suddenly, life on Earth is permanently changed.The book only hints at the global implications and the variety of natural disasters that occur in the wa...

That was a pretty good read! This from someone who reads one sci fi title a year. I think I was able to stay engaged with the story because there was no world building to negotiate. All the action happens in the north woods of Minnesota. There aren’t any space aliens, just regular messed up humans and a few hapless under dogs. And oh yes, the ninth rare metal called Omni metal. Every one wants a piece of that. A few plot points were wrapped up neatly but I enjoyed the ride. With 2 more books in

Dont waste your money.

I picked up 'The Ninth Metal', a Science Fiction book that looks at what happens when the Earth moves the path of debris from a comet and is hit by large numbers of meteors made of a ninth inert metal with some game-changing attributes, because it was recommended by Stephen King.I can see now why he might have done that. Like his own work, it's original but still linked to a world we all understand. It follows multiple characters, is packed with plot twists and compelling 'what if?' possibilitie...

A sci-fi book with political intrigue and family drama. Percy weaves a great multi-genre story here with vivid characters where good and bad don't really matter. A lot of set up happened here but also a lot of conclusions. I'm looking forward to what the next installment has in store.