Congratulations to author Rhett Bruno for scoring First Place for this novel in the annual Editors and Preditors poll!

Malcolm and Zhaff immortalized the story of Saturn and Titan in "Titanborn," which I reviewed at Perihelion Science Fiction ezine in 2015. "Ringers" are a tall, thin, pale, new line of humans, descended from Trass, the visionary who built a space ship to deliver 300-some humans to a colony on Saturn before a meteorite would destroy life on Earth. Many generations later, "Earthers" -- humans who survived the Meteorite -- have colonized Saturn and taken over Titan, turning the "Ringers" into a marginalized people who are practically enslaved to Earthers. Pervenio is one of the corporations that turn a new colony on a new planet into another scenario of corporate greed. "Collectors" like Malcolm have the dirty job of killing those who threaten the interests of those in power.

Book Two, "From Ice to Ashes," is even better than Book One. The POV character is 18-year-old Kale, who'll do anything to protect his mother, even give up his life of crime, but crime is about the only way he'll ever come up with the credits to pay her medical bills.

The immune systems of "Ringers" is an interesting parallel to Native Americans exposed to the germs of European invaders. There are so many interesting themes swirling through the fast-paced narrative, it's extremely challenging for a book reviewer to cover even a fraction of them - least of all without Spoilers!

I'll write a review of this novel for the March 2017 issue of Perihelion. For now, I'll stop here, but will add onto it later.

From Ice to Ashes by Rhett C. Bruno

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In some ways this is a superior book to Titanborn in that the rising action culminates in something much bigger than personal tragedy. Those of the Titanborn revolutionaries finally get their day in this book.


Both are set in the same frame, but don't go expecting much in the way of overlapping characters. The settings, however, are very much characters in themselves. Sickness and exploitation is rampant, as is the sense of deep disparity between the classes (and locations).


The world-building is something very cool to behold, working ever so steadily on our consciousness until it gets firmly rooted and we begin feeling the deep ambiguities inherent in living in a real world. Thievery and desperation and constantly having to wear personal protection sits right up against a deep desire for doing the right thing, finding love and finding purpose.


This is a novel of a rising star. We go from nothing to the top of the food chain and the path is not simple or easy or really that expected. Kale isn't an alpha dog and all he really has going for him is his ancestry and the faith of a bunch of desperate idealists, and yet he finds his way to a really grand resolution. What more can we ask? Explosions? Ah, well, we get those, too. :) A lot of them. :)


This is truly some great Space-Opera, folks. It focuses much more on good storytelling than on technogadgetry, and that's great because it allows us to really get inside the characters. :) Bravo! :)


Thanks goes to Netgalley for the ARC!

I received a free Kindle copy of the book courtesy of the author and Net Galley. It was with the understanding that I would write a review and post it on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus pages.

I requested this book as I really enjoyed the first book in the series - Titanborn. It is the second book by Rhett Bruno that I have read. I have been seeking a new science fiction author to replace some of my favorites who have passed on or have fallen into the trap of cranking our a book for the sake of cranking out a book and I have found him. Two very good ones in a row is enough for me to look forward to future books in the series.

As with the first book this was an engaging and quick read. This one did start out a little slowly, but quickly picked up the pace. While it is the second in the series it does not pick up where the previous novel left off which is alright. The characters are well developed and interesting. There are a few surprises in the plot that will make sense if you have read the first book in the series, but it is not mandatory.

I recommend this book to those of you who are fans of science fiction and are looking for a new author with an engaging storytelling style.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in this universe. I could not get invested in this book. The characters did not click with me, I found it a struggle to keep reading ,and had to give up.

The narrative is well-told and the character development is keenly constructed. It was engaging throughout.