I read this book on the way over to California. There’s not a lot of obvious science fiction being published these days – much of what is published gets disguised as fantasy, for example Ken Scholes’ books. Colin Harvey, however, is not afraid to write SF, and Angry Robot is not afraid to publish it.

The book tells the tale of Karl Allman, who crash lands on an uncharted planet and discovers the remnants of a colony of what might be called viking re-enactors. The locals don’t think much of him, and he doesn’t think much of their society. His only hope is to brave an unforgiving geography in search of the fabled ancient starship, Winter Song.

There’s nothing excitingly new here, but Colin does a good job telling the story. I’m delighted that there’s still a market for books like this.

Oh, and I really love the ending, though other people may hate it.