Zero World by Jason M. Hough

Published by Del Rey on August 18, 2015

My reaction to Zero World is much like my reaction to Jason Hough's Dire Earth novels. I thought the trilogy told a fun action-adventure story that lacked depth and strong characters. I also thought the novels seemed padded and could have been condensed into a tighter, stronger, single novel.

So it is with Zero World. The novel sets up a sequel. It seems longer than it needs to be. The characters are bland and the story isn’t thought-provoking. But as an action-adventure novel, it is fun, easy reading with a couple of surprising moments.

Peter Caswell is an assassin. His memory is wiped after each assassination, so he starts fresh every time. He has 206 kills as the novel starts (a statistic he knows only because of a little trick he plays with beer bottles).

Peter is sent through something like a wormhole to track down Alia Valix, who is making mischief on an Earthlike planet called Garta where people conveniently speak English. Hot on the trail of her mischief is ace reporter Melni Tavan, who seems to be the Lois Lane of the planet Garta although she may not be what she seems.

In fact, none of the major characters, including Peter, his boss, and Alia are necessarily the people they appear to be. Hence the surprising moments. In addition to some interesting plot twists, the story moves with a good pace despite the apparent padding. I suspect that, after reading the sequel, I will again think that the same ground could have been covered in a single novel, but I enjoyed this one despite its wordiness.

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