Give this 10 pages, and you won't want to put it down. The main character is awesome but the universe built by the author is just as good. As you flip the page, you'll find yourself imaging how the script would play out on screen. It's SO big, with a bit of attitude. Think Star Wars or Stargate.
I've been hungry for another sci-fi for some time. Thankfully, I stumbled upon this book after a friend recommended it and I couldn't be happier. The only critique I have is that the author needs to quit his day job and publish full time. I want more!
How long will I have to wait for the next Luminal book!?
Who would have suspected a novel with non-stop adventure could also be a disguised meditation on technology vs. humanity, reason vs. spirituality, authoritarianism vs. freedom, and the nature of the soul. It's philosophy masquerading as cotton candy. The narrative is playful and imaginative, and the prose is vivid and muscular. Mind-bending in every sense of the word, including scenes of space travel that are minutely and artfully constructed and the author's modern take on the Book of Jonah where the protagonist has a run-in with a prehistoric shark. Through it all, there is a deep sense of humanity, and it is clear Couch is having fun with his creation. Highly recommended debut novel.
LUMINAL: The Cosmic Misadventures of an Existential, Intergalactic Assassin
THE LUMINAL CYCLE (Book 1)
Hard-boiled, dark humor Sci-Fi
ISBN: 978-1798874462
Published independently, March 4, 2019
263 pages, available in paperback or an an ebook
$16.99
Daemon, a “luminal,” is a snarky, self-destructive, genetically engineered interstellar assassin who travels through wormholes to carry out hits on enemies of the Imperium. A bad seed, really. But when he betrays his orders because of a chance reunion with a childhood crush and becomes a target himself, he decides to take on the biggest hit of them all – to kill God (aka the universal sentient Internet who has proclaimed herself the ultimate deity.)