Title: Europa
Author: Hywel Richard Pinto
Category: Science Fiction
Rating: 3/5
Overview of the book:
The year is 2250 and we are witness to a historical trial of one of the Silver Fleet’s youngest and most promising Captains, 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 is divided as to whether the Captain is to blame for the fiasco or there was a bigger conspiracy on board.
Can another murder on board the Silver Star be attributed to the unusual mission that the ship is on? Does someone want the crew of the Silver Star to fail in their mission to locate one of her sister ships, reportedly lost near Europa? And just how many of the crew can Captain Richard Sparks trust, if he is to be believed as being innocent?
Meanwhile, a shadowy organization back on Earth contends with a dangerous, corrupt and ambitious Indian politician, with the Europa mission being used as the counterweight. Will this affect the crew on board the Silver Star? All trials are not as simple as they seem – not when the accused has a story to tell and some people will go to great lengths to protect what actually happened in EUROPA.
Review:
Europa is a science fiction written by Hywel Richard Pinto. I was very excited about the read when I received it as the genre of the book is Sci-Fi, one of my favorite genres. The cover of the book is beautiful. By taking a glance at the cover, one can get an idea that the book certainly offers action and adventure. The story is set in the future and the author has done a splendid job in weaving the story by paying attention to minute details. Though the storyline was intriguing many a times the story fell flat or extended.
The story is set in the future, which is in the year 2250 and begins with a courtroom trial with Captain Richard Sparks, who leads Silver Star on a mission to Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons to provide help to the crew of Silver Wind. During the mission, Captain Sparks and some of his crew members find them self out of hibernation which was induced by medicine. He is deemed guilty for the mysterious death of a crew member which puts him in a tough spot. As the story proceeds, the captain and team realize that there is an infiltrator among them, but no one is sure who that is. In parallel to their journey, antagonists of the plot like Draco have alternative motives and play cunning power games on earth. Apart from the main characters many other characters like Pramod, Natalie, Mario and Jewel add weight to the storyline.
The author has done a good job in taking the reader to then and now events with ease. I loved the way he had described monuments like Taj Mahal. The Author takes you on a roller coaster ride wherein one can see many twits in the tale. Many elements like honesty, suspense, action, adventure, mixed emotions and deceit can be felt in the storyline. The book reveals the mystery in a most unexpected way and takes you by surprise.
I wouldn’t say that it didn’t intrigue me at all but may be not as much as I thought, considering a unique story author chose to tell. For sure, storyline is the strong point of the book and keeps the reader hooked in many instances. We get a sense close to reality through the author’s turn of phrase and choice of words.
More attention should have been paid on editing which would have helped avoid flaws like repetitions and printing errors. Writing was straight and simple. I felt the real issue is that given it is a book with fewer pages or say a small book, too many characters caused an unnecessary diversion and also one of the reasons the story went flat, dull and extended in some instances.
On the whole Europa is a well-crafted story and apart from the nominal glitches and unattended loopholes, the author really did capture what it would be like to go on a space mission and not forget the great attention to detail which mirrors the effort author has put in research before writing.
I would recommend this book to readers who are space travel enthusiasts and to those looking for a unique and interesting plot. It fits perfectly in Sci-Fi genre and I sincerely hope Hywel continues to provide us with more such diverse content in future.
Published by: Story Mirror
Publish Year: 2017
Price: 220/-
Grab a copy at Amazon
About Author:
Hywel Richard Pinto, born in Bombay and brought up in Mumbai has always loved reading, right from the time he was in school, beginning with Enid Blyton’s Famous Five and moving on to The Hardy Boys once he had exhausted all of Enid Blyton’s series of mystery novels.
Hywel works full time in a Media agency as a Sr. Director – Media Planning.
In addition to this book, he has also written a murder mystery set in Mumbai by the name of “The Monday Murder” which was shortlisted in the top 20 manuscripts from nearly 300 entries by DNA-Hachette India in January 2013 during their Hunt for the Next Indian Bestseller contest.
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The book sounds more like a murder mystery that happens to occur in the future than a true science fiction story. I think I would have been disappointed, as a long time science fiction reader.
Yeah but I liked the detailing author put in the story when it comes to space exploration. I can give it to him for that.