Book Reviews – “Children of the Divide” eBook was published in 2017 and was written by Patrick S. Tomlinson (http://www.patrickstomlinson.com/). Mr. Tomlinson has published four novels. This is the third novel in his “Children of a Dead Earth” series.
I received an ARC of this novel through https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence and Mature Language. The story is set in the future. Humanity has fled Earth aboard a generational starship, the Ark. They have arrived at their destination, Gaia, and have begun colonization. The primary character is Bryan Benson.
Benson was police chief on the Ark during the final few years of their journey. Now, on Gaia, he has officially given up law enforcement and is focusing on recreation programs in general and football in particular. Because of his actions that saved the Ark (detailed in earlier books in this series), he is reluctantly a national hero.
During a celebration, there is a terrorist attack and Benson’s adopted daughter is kidnapped. At about the same time, an undiscovered cavern on one of Gaia’s moons is encountered. Inside the remains of a non-native, advanced civilization is discovered. This stirs fear that Gaia and it’s new Earth inhabitants have been discovered by the race that destroyed Earth.
Quickly Benson begins to actively investigate the terrorist bombing and the kidnapping of his adopted child. Far more unrest is discovered among the natives of Gaia as well as within a small portion of the humans now living on Gaia than was understood.
How to react to the alien post of Gaia’s moon is hotly being debated with some wanting to nuke it while others want to investigate it further. Benson pursues one clue after another in pursuit of his kidnapped child.
I really enjoyed the 12 hours I spent reading this science fiction novel. I have read and enjoyed both of the prequels in this series. I like the characters developed for the series. The native race to Gaia and their odd sexuality (neither male or female in our sense) adds to the uniqueness of the plot. The cover art is OK. I give this novel a 4.5 (rounded up to a 5) out of 5.
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John's Notes 