Review of Europa

Title: Europa

Author: Hywell Richard Pinto

Blurb:

The year is 2250 and we are witness to a historical trial of one of the Silver Fleet's youngest and most promising Captain, Richard Sparks who has been accused of murdering a fellow crew member during the Silver Star's lengthy trip to Jupiter's moon - Europa. But the crew are divided as to whether the Captain is to blame for the fiasco or there was a bigger conspiracy on board. The Silver Star was on a search and rescues mission for one of her sister ships - The Silver Wind and if they locate the missing ship or finding any surviving crew the mission wouldthen move onto becoming a research mission. Is this the reason there is a murderer on board the Silver Star? The key suspect / conspirator of the murder is 1st Officer Mario Grant, who is thought to be dead by the end of the mission. However, his version of the story shows just how he was cheated and was coerced into smuggling resources off the Silver Star. Is he truly as innocent as he shows others he is?

My Views:

They say, Never Judge a book by its cover, I agree. However, the cover of the book is the first thing that forces me to know more about the book, moving towards the blurb and then the story. I think the designer could have done a lot more with the cover, as the story holds so many things to tell which can be illustrated on the cover so as to gather the crowd. I think a great story deserves a great cover. Well, in this case, something more creative would do a great good to reach to a few more audiences.

'Europa' is the first book for me that took me to space. When I say this took me to space, then it literally took me. The minute yet balanced details that Hywel provided for his reader did a great job for me to be in the protagonist's shoes. I liked experiencing the time in space which I never did before. Plus that, the story that took place there didn't bring confusion for me, as I got familiar with the characters participating there pretty soon.

The story is designed with great effort, could be easily noticed by the work he had put up in his book. I liked the way traced has been left in mid-way, and how it unfolded later on. There was always a drop of curiosity that pushed me further into the story. Also, Hywel has a way with words. It seemed like he expresses his thoughts with great ease, that it occurred effortlessly to the readers.

I was all lost in the story but the only hiccup I had during the journey is remembering all the characters by their name and recognizing who is who. As the story is not limited to few characters, there are a good number of participants who participated in the story, and keeping note of all of them at the same time was a task, especially if you are not much familiar with the names. Most of them are English names, so it was quite difficult to keep hold of all of them. There were quick changes in the stories, from space to earth, then from present to past, at times I felt lost in a maze, created by the author himself. I was looking for more clarity so that I could be more involved in the story rather than pondering what is actually happening and how is it related.

Rating: 4.3/5

Reviewer: Shweta Kesari