Won in a Goodreads giveaway

If I hadn't won a copy of Heart Of Granite it is never a book I would have chosen to read so I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it! Set in an unspecified future where the whole of Earth is in the throes of a 1984-style war, this novel is set within a giant 1 kilometre long lizard (yes, you read that correctly!) named the Heart Of Granite which has been bioengineered as a giant troop carrier. Once I got over the 'ewwww' factor of people living and fighting from inside reptiles this idea really worked well and I was intrigued by concepts such as bone architecture, stairs that change gradient with neck angles and flight decks that open out by tail lift - literally!

The story itself has a fairly predictable overall arc although with unexpected details along the way. I loved the Market. Our maverick fighter pilot hero, Max, thumbing his nose at authority could have been taken from any number of American films, but I liked that men and women have equally strong characters and positions of power and the relationship between Max and Martha is deftly portrayed. Barclay keeps up a fantastic pace throughout the novel and the prose is easy so Heart Of Granite is a thrilling ride into an exciting alien future.

On the book exchange shelves in Reception