Born on a space ship, JT and his shipmates arrive at their new home, the Rings of Orbis. Excited at first, hope is quickly extinguished when the children discover that their lives will not be exactly as they’d imagined. The situation only deteriorates when Johnny Turnbull (JT) learns that he is the first human Softwire. JT’s ability to interface directly with the ship’s computer, Mother, made him an oddity on their seed ship and it causes quite a furor on Orbis 1 as well.
This is a good Sci-Fi book. I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed this story. I got it from Amazon and read it straight through in one sitting. The author kept a good flow going, using clear descriptions and not overwhelming me with too much sci-fi verbiage. There is violence: the parental deaths and killing but nothing over the top and it’s not gruesome. Some of the background characters, villains and heroes, remind me of Star Wars with a smidgen of Halo tribute, but nothing that detracts from the story.
PJ Haarsma’s greatest feat in this book is his character development. I love these characters! Johnny, his little sister, Ketheria, Max, a very strong, smart girl, and Theodore. Theodore, well, Theodore just counts things but he’s a great supporting actor. I adore them and I couldn’t wait to see what happened to them. I can’t say enough about his character development so I’ll stop there.
This is the first of four planned books and I’m looking forward to reading the next. This one makes a nice stand-alone, though, just in case the others aren’t written.
In a nutshell: interesting characters, sci-fi, computers, translator codecs, intrigue, action, adventure, betrayal, loss, and growth.
The first three chapters of The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1 can be heard here as read by Nathan Fillion.
This is the official website for the book. There is also a RP gaming site here. It’s a very creative site, and I loved seeing the aliens.
Editor's note: Avast! Clicking on the links to the audiofiles, game, or website takes you away from HMS Libris.
Reviewed by Terimaru
Terimaru is an elementary school librarian and an avid fan of children's and YA writing. She lives in East Tennessee with her husband and her very spoiled dog and cat.