I read Benjamin Percy’s The Ninth Metal little while ago, but somehow completely forgot to write a review! It’s the first novel in his Comet Cycle trilogy, and it’s quite the start, too: it’s the story of a devastating natural calamity, and its impact on the inhabitants of Northfall. Coupled with greed, small-town and national politics, this makes for a very intriguing start. I very much enjoyed this.

I’ve been a fan of Percy’s since I read an early copy of Red Moon — he’s been a must-read author ever since. The Ninth Metal offers much of what fans have come to expect from Percy: great characters, an intriguing and engaging plot, some tantalizing mysteries, all told in excellent prose. Woven into the narrative are moments of humanity’s best and worst tendencies and impulses, making for a substantial and satisfying read.

While there are many who have swooped in on Northfall to exploit the catastrophe and the strange new metal that was deposited all over the area following the comet-fall, there are nevertheless plenty of residents who are just trying to get by and help out others wherever and whenever they can. With the US government and military’s gaze firmly on the town, though, things have the potential to change dramatically.

At the centre is the Frontier family, who have risen to the top of the heap. The aging patriarch of the family has mandated a no-weapons policy for their expansive industrial portfolio, which has generated some resentments — from the US military, but also within the family. (Some of these rich people have… issues.) The family’s internal politics will have a profound impact on the people of Northfall, as well as the possibilities for further exploiting the omnimetal. John is the primary perspective from that family, and he’s a great guide to the town and its residents. He’s been away for a while, in the military, and returning to the town he has come to resent and wants to avoid.

The story is also told from a number of other varied perspectives, giving readers a wide-ranging picture and impression of the community and the various “factions” trying to make it (or just survive) in Northfall. Percy offers a nuanced and often generous portrait of small-town life in the shadow of voracious corporations and outside interests — the latter of which are almost all determined to exploit the town for every last cent they can. Government scientist Victoria Lennon’s storyline is another stand-out, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing how her story — and that of her… ward — unfolds.

This is just the first book in the series, so much of the story is set-up for the larger events to come. However, Percy does a great job of giving us a plot to keep us gripped and engaged — this isn’t just world-building and intro stuff. For example, the murder investigation mentioned in the synopsis was excellently written and paced, and in conjunction with the other threads, makes for a very satisfying read. By the end of The Ninth Metal, Percy has maneuvered his primary actors nicely for what promises to be an excellent and epic trilogy (the final two books are also out now). I hope to get caught up as soon as I can.

Definitely recommended.

A modern day gold rush.....times ten. Northfall, Minnesota will become the site of a modern day war for resources. The debris field from a comet too close to Earth will bring every type of speculator into the rush for omnimetal. Imagine the current pricing and availability of lithium and you will get a taste of what would happen when omnimetal is found to be an unimaginable source of energy. Then there is the question of military use, can it be made into weapons or armor? Then dip a toe into the pool of horror.....a young man has developed extrasensory talents when he's exposed to omnimetal. All of these questions make for an engrossing read.

Benjamin Percy has promised us a trilogy, we will definitely hold him to it as this is as good as any sci fi/ horror/ paranormal/ thriller/ spy title on the market today.

What a great read! Great sci- fi with careful attention to character development and location setting in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota. Loved this and looking forward to the next one in the series!
Highly recommended for sci- fi fans.

Ninth Metal is a disappointing read that is heavily influenced by other popular works, such as Yellowstone. While the premise of the book is intriguing, the execution falls flat. The characters lack depth and the plot is predictable, making it difficult to become fully invested in the story.

Furthermore, the writing style is lackluster, failing to engage the reader or create a sense of tension. The world-building is underdeveloped, with many questions left unanswered. The comparison to Yellowstone is unavoidable, and Ninth Metal simply cannot measure up in terms of quality.

Overall, I cannot recommend Ninth Metal. There are far better sci-fi books out there that are well worth your time.

One of my favorite sci-fi reads from 2021 (and the second book in the series is great too!) It explores the implications of a comet hitting the earth in the US Midwest, namely the ensuing struggle over the resources left by this comet in the form of mineral deposits. If I remember correctly it may be prudent to seek out the content warnings on this one (child endangerment comes to mind.) If you enjoy alternate history sci-fi and/or near future dystopias, this may be for you!

+Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for granting me access to an advanced copy*

DNF at roughly 25%

Going into this one I initially thought it was going to be more soft science fiction story, focusing on the impact of this new metal on humanity and individuals. What I did not expect, and did not want, was a superpowered human origin story featuring child abuse and a stale legal thriller featuring organized crime. These storylines fall under genres that I personally am very uninterested in and normally would not pick up a book featuring those unless there was something that clicked with me. In the brief time that I spent with this book, nothing was working for me and did not feel the drive to complete this book only to have, at best, lukewarm feelings toward it, so I decided to part ways. This was very much a case of the book just not being to my taste and I hope it can find an audience who enjoys it more than I did

#The Ninth Metal is by #Benjamin Percy a Sci Fi & Fantasy. A great pick for this holiday weekend. Great characters, and just a fun, fun book!!
Description:
IT BEGAN WITH A COMET.....
In the town of North fall, Minnesota the people gazed in wonder. A year later, Earth was in a planetary crisis. The sky rained fire......
Thank you for the advance copy,
#Netgalley, # Benjamin Percy, and # Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 💜🐾🐾

2.5 stars rounded up. On the surface, this plot is fascinating. A comet, a new metal, how this changes life and all the implications. I was drawn in by the idea of learning about all that. But the story itself was very dry to me. The characters weren't flushed out - I barely understood their motivations. When characters were frustrated or yelled out, I was baffled because I wasn't rolling through the story with their emotions or motivations. I found a few of the subplots a bit hard to follow or unnecessary but I did enjoy the ending. I read this with a book club. I can't wait to see what they all think!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2022 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2022/01/readers-advisory-announce-2022-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

I’m judging the L.A. Times 2021 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’m doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got me to read on even though it was among 296 other books I’m charged to read.

“These are the same sort of people that think you’re killing a carrot when you eat it,” his father would say. “I look at a tree, I see a house. I look at a deer, I see venison sausage. I look at a hill packed with iron, I see a skyscraper and a fleet of fighter jets and a club cab pickup with a chrome nut sack hanging from the hitch.”

Exciting first book in Comet Cycle trilogy

First the Cain comet passed by the Earth. Then a year later the Earth passed through its debris field with mixed results.

There was lots of damage but there was also the discovery of a new metal - omnimetal - mostly in northeastern Minnesota and the rush was on.

Omnimetal is a new energy source plus the Department of Defense is looking at it as possibly a new weapon and thousands of people are pouring into Minnesota searching for meteor fragments.

Death, murder, and all sorts of chaos follow as people search for omnimetal.

I thoroughly enjoyed this first book of this trilogy and highly recommend it. I am now off to read the second book THE UNFAMILIAR GARDEN.

I received this book from HMH Company through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this wild west apocalyptic fantasy novel. It surprised me with the hints of what is to come. I thought it would be more scifi than fantasy because of the metal, but it leaned more fantasy. The interplay of the characters was great even though I didn't like many of them. I liked how the stories intersected. I look forward to the next book in the series!

If you would have asked me before I read this novel if I wanted to read an X-men-like origin novel about humans being transformed by a space material crashing to Earth, I would have firmly answered "no." However, I loved Benjamin Percy's The Dead Lands and now, after reading this The Ninth Metal, I'm firmly invested in The Comet Cycle series. There is warring between and within families, a town cult, government experiments, police drama, and political power plays all set within a modern-day gold rush. Multiple subplots would make this a great option for a television series. I especially loved honest and determined policewoman Stacie Toal and can't wait to see where her storyline leads in future installments.

Rather than sci-fi centered around an alien encounter, in this novel a huge Comet sweeps past Earth depositing a powerful new Ninth noble metal on our planet, named Omnimetal for both its power and endless potential uses. The largest debris field is in the small, remote Northern Minnesota town, which becomes transformed by a modern-day gold rush.

The book opens with a lightening-fast bullet train running on Omnimetal-rails arriving in the small town Northfall that’s become transformed into the new wild West: everyone looking to cash in on any found Ninth Metal nugget, each worth a fortune. With each gram worth millions, the metal has become more valuable than any other precious resources form gold to diamonds. Just as boomtowns developed around the gold rush, so small town Minnesota becomes the epicenter of fortune hunters from around the globe.

Landowners become embattled with one another, and outside interested parties descend to bully their way in. The warring factions include two greedy corporations gunning for dominance and profits: the local Frontier Metal company owned by the Frontier family, and an opportunistic, aggressive Texan company, Black Dog Energy, who will seemingly stop at nothing to get what they want.

Then there’s the military, who want to figure out how they can weaponize the Ninth Metal.
They have started conducting abusive experiments on Hawkin, a young teen who’s developed superpowers based on his exposure and body’s absorption of the metal. Helping them with increasing reluctance is Victoria, a leading scientist who feels guilty at the inhumanity of it all.

John Frontier is the returning wayward son the Frontier family back for his sister’s wedding, who like young Hawkin has secretly acquired Superman strength. John gets swept up in trying to rescue Hawkin. He’s bereft at seeing his ex-finance, whom he ran away from once exposed to the omnimetal. John’s also disgusted by the intense greed surrounding Ninth Metal, and starts to uncover his own family’s unsavory involvement.

Let’s not leave out Hawkin’s Mom, who has become the leader of religious cult who worships the metal, even to the point of smoking or snorting it. Their prime directive besides waiting in rapture for an alien power to find them is to get Hawkin back into their fold.

And lastly, there’s the police, who may have been swept up into corruption. Rookie detective Stacie Toal starts investigating on her own, with the tracking abilities of her hunter Dad, to figure out what’s really going on in the disappearance of her police partner as well as Hawkin.

All these stories crescendo together like the twisted powerful metal of the debris field, leaving you scrambling to keep up.

The plot summary had me expecting far more sci-fi, so I was a little disappointed that after an attention-grabbing opening, the story seemed to veer into small-town family dysfunction. Luckily, it doesn't take too long to follow up on the opening scene and the stated premise in a propulsive push to a climactic showdown that feels abrupt and a mild letdown. So while the beginning and ending were not my favorite, the tasty middle was worth the read. I especially loved all the tantalizing hints about what the meteors have wrought elsewhere in the world and the Lovecraftian forces behind the meteors. I do know the former will be addressed partly in the remaining books of the trilogy, but I truly hope that more books will be added to the series so we can fully explore the latter

Sci-fi western meets super hero origin story.

10-year-old Hawkin has already been in the middle of the scariest night of his life when a comet crashes into Earth and a new element--omnimetal--is distributed throughout Northern Minnesota. As he gets enveloped in this molten alien substance, the metal is already taking hold throughout his community in myriad ways, destined to change his life and many others' forever.

In five years time, omnimetal has reshaped intercity transportation, brought a rural Minnesotan town from dying to thriving, brought down even the most politically untouchable environmental regulations, and brewed corruption and strife in a once tight-knit community. But for Hawkin, it has done something much, much scarier. Something that requires he be locked away in a government facility, trading what should be a happy childhood for a world of unimaginable torture in the name of national security.

Meanwhile, Hawkin's mother has developed a cult following as she preaches the doctrine of "Metal is." Omnimetal, known as "space dust" on the street, is a drug of choice for many community members as they slowly become indoctrinated into the ways of the metal. For those bound up with the material, visions of other worlds and dreams of unimaginable monsters are a force to be reckoned with. But what does it all mean?

Truthfully, I was not a huge fan of this novel, although I can see the appeal for some. I felt like it borrowed too much from too many places and wasn't original enough or scientific enough to really keep me engaged. For a large part in the first third, I also kept wondering when we would be getting back to Hawkin, since the book was clearly about him, but instead we got a lot of development of characters who seemed much less important or interesting to me, like a naive rookie cop and a battleworn mercenary. It felt like every character was a trope, and every plot device came right out existing material in the genre. Mutant children the government is afraid of and determined to control at all costs, evil male government scientist meets warmhearted female government scientist who wants to rescue the child, rookie cop wants to change the force but it ends up changing her. Give me a break. But if that's totally your jam, this book should be too.

My sincere appreciation to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the eARC.

There's nothing really wrong with this title, but it isn't holding my attention as I'd hoped. It's reminding me strongly of a lesser Green Bone Saga novel. If you're looking for nouveau Gold Rush, freaky cults, and a Frontier Corleone family, it might be for you.

The comet's crash brought omnimetal to the Boundary Waters of Minnesota. It also brought the DoD, and the attention of two rival mining companies.

People make bad choices. Lots and lot of bad choices.

Throw in some corporate espionage, corrupt cops, and a metal-eating cult.

Then add in a young boy who's ripped from his parents, attempted patricide, the prodigal son returning home.

Then add in mothers searching for their children, lost mothers, substitute mothers, redemption, peacekeeping.

This book is dense with characters who you hate and others to love. It's a little speculative, a little western, a little thriller, a little romance.

All in all, it adds up to an action-packed can't-put-it-down story that is engaging from cover to cover.

4.5/5

Only read two chapters, really not my cup of tea. It didn't grip me in any way, pity because it had an interesting premise. Nice cover though.

I thought this book was so interesting and inventive. I was interested in the various cast of characters, and loved the background on the main big bad. I do think for a sci-fi, this felt a bit rushed. I wanted to live in the world more, get into the family's dynamics more, and really level up on the intrigue and questions. Overall, it felt like there just wasn't enough time to really enjoy the world.