At first because of the description of the book you expect to read a simple SF story, but you get so much more than that. You get a book that melds genres into a new unique thing, almost like a smelting pot (pun intended).
The idea behind the main plot is good - meteor hitting the Earth and causing people to develop superpowers. The thing that makes is a bit problematic is the speed at which everything happens, at which the society changes. I mean, there are paradigm shifts in our past but none of them came about instantly. The other problem is the scattered attention of the narration - we get diverted to subplots that are just distracting. A good editor would have made this a much better book in my opinion.
I will, however, check other books this author publishes in the future, that is for sure.

Earth goes through a comet and is showered with omnimetal meteorites and a good portion lands in Northern Minnesota. Omnimental has tremendous military applications which includes the possibility of a Dr. Manhattan being through exposure.

This is a fun, easy to read novel with an entertaining plot. Very cinematic.

I don’t usually read reviews on Amazon before I write my own, but today I looked at the single one star review and then on to other unhappy reviews. I am mystified by the vitriol. No this isn't a great book, but it isn't that bad. It certainly isn't a scientific or political disaster.

Meteors shower the earth. Lots of meteors. An altered civilization arises from the destruction. Some people have super powers, lent to them, it seems, from the novel metal contained in the meteors. So what's the beef? We need an engine of transformation and the metal is it. How is this worse than a spider bite?

My issue with the story is much more prosaic. The timeline is impossible. In only 5 years, the US has pulled itself out of ruin and learned enough about the new element to build it into all kinds of machinery, including a kind of maglev train complex. Sorry, even without planning permissions and permits, a nationwide transport system can't be built that fast. But the short time between the meteor shower and today's story is important, so the author skipped R&D.

Anyway, go ahead and read it if you are into superhero origin stuff.

This genre-bending novel is sure to delight those who can't make up their mind. As the first in a series, The Ninth Metal sets up an interesting concept that will transcend genre definition.

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on June 1, 2021

The Ninth Metal reminded me of the television show Jessica Jones (a show that, like many others, I discovered after Jack Taylor praised it in a Ken Bruen novel). The premise, drawn from a Marvel comic book, is that people have suddenly acquired superhuman abilities. The show succeeds because of the characters’ differing reactions to their unexpected (and sometimes unwanted) powers. Benjamin Percy writes in a note at the end of the novel that he grew up reading comic books, as did I. He apparently intended The Ninth Metal as, in some sense, a tribute to the comic book sensibility. If so, the tribute only partially succeeds, in part because he gives too little attention to the things that matter.

The novel imagines that meteors trailing a comet landed on various parts of the Earth as the planet passed through the comet’s orbit. The meteors change people in different ways — in one part of the world, it turns them into glass, while there are rumors of people flying in another country — but most of those changes are only referenced tangentially. The Ninth Metal is apparently the first book in a series. I imagine that other books will explore other results of the comet’s intersection with Earth. There is a suggestion, mostly in dreams that characters have about tentacles, that the comet might be related to aliens.

Some of the meteors fell in Northfall, Minnesota on land owned by Betsy Gunderson. A kid named Hawkin, whose father has just been killed for reasons Hawkin doesn’t understand, survives the comet strike. Five years later, Hawkin is being held captive in a military facility so that a scientist named Victoria Lennon can study him. Victoria shoots bullets at Hawkin to analyze their negligible effect on him. Victoria has some sympathy for Hawkin but keeps doing her job because she fears that others would be more aggressive in their attempt to kill him. It takes some time before she understands that Hawkin is absorbing the energy from the bullets and that the buildup of absorbed energy is something he will need to unleash.

While Victoria is studying Hawkin, John Frontier returns to Northfall for a family wedding. John’s father owns Frontier Mining, a company that competes with Black Dog Energy. John and Hawkin are a lot alike, although John is concealing his power. John’s crazy sister Talia is at odds with her father, who vowed never to help the military. Talia cares about money more than she cares about her father and is happy to do a deal with the military.

Talia commits a murder that adds nothing to a story that scatters in too many directions to remain cohesive. The portions of the novel that follow a police officer’s search for the missing murder victim, aided by her father, seems divorced from the more consequential story that Percy leaves buried.

Most people in Northfall own land on which the meteors fell, leaving behind deposits of “omnimetal.” Landowners made themselves rich by selling their land to Black Dog or Frontier, but Betsy — whose 400 acres has the mother lode of omnimetal — refuses to sell. The meteors altered her land (a rock formation appeared that resembles a crown) and Betsy is regarded as a priestess by pilgrims who view her land as a religious site. Her followers are largely addicts who snort or smoke omnimetal. They’re called “metal eaters” and they like to use the slogan “Metal Is,” which apparently means something to them. All of that is interesting, but Percy fails to develop that aspect of the plot in enough depth to make a story out of it.

The Northern Minnesota that Percy constructs is more intriguing than the superpowers or the murder that get the bulk of his attention. The “omnimetal” absorbs and releases energy in a way that allows a train fashioned from the metal to generate its own power as it moves along the omnimetal tracks. Omnimetal promises to be “the greatest energy source in the world” and has attracted people to Minnesota in the way that the Gold Rush attracted people to California. The impact of a revolutionary change in energy production is worth exploring in some detail, but Percy ignores that story in favor of developing the rivalry between Frontier and Black Dog. In the real world, a much larger company would swoop down and claim all the ore with the government’s national security blessing, concentrating the wealth in the hands of large corporations rather than owners of local mining companies, but that’s another issue that Percy chose not to address.

The story eventually devolves into a battle between a superhero and a supervillain. The villain’s superpower comes from a high tech “wizard sword” fashioned from omnimetal. That part of the story intentionally mimics epic comic book battles, Hawkin having been shaped by all the Batman comics he has read. While Hawkin explains how Batman’s villains represent the dark side of Bruce Wayne’s personality, the clash contains none of the subtlety that Hawkin found in the accumulated Batman stories.

The Ninth Metal is too ambitious for its own good. Unnecessary subplots and tangents prevent a meaningful story from taking root. The stories of Hawkin and John are underdeveloped, as is the background of omnimetal’s impact on, not just their lives, but the entire world. I appreciated Percy’s clear prose and his love of comic books, but a novel should do more with a story than a 32-page comic can manage. The Ninth Metal does too little by trying to do too much. It barely scratches the surface of the story that Percy apparently meant to tell.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

3.5 stars

This is the first book in the Comet Cycle Series, about the consequences of a comet passing close to the Earth.

*****

Northfall, Minnesota was a quiet mining town until planet Earth spun through the debris field of the comet Cain. As millions of meteorites fell to the ground, the sky flared, the ground shook, electricity went dark, radio signals scrambled, dogs howled, and people screamed. The debris landed everywhere, but Northfall got the largest deposits of a substance called 'omnimetal.'

Omnimetal has a phenomenal ability to hold and deliver energy. If you strike omnimetal, or shake it, or electrify it, it absorbs the energy, stores it, and then releases it. Omnimetal can be used to power cars, trains, planes, cell phones, and other battery-powered appliances. It can disrupt communication and transportation networks. And it can be weaponized.

Thus omnimetal is the most valuable commodity on the planet. Thousands of people rush to Northfall to dig for omnimetal or to work for mining companies.....and merchants, prostitutes, strippers, etc. follow to service the workers. The largest miners of omnimetal are two rival companies, Frontier Metals and Black Dog Energy, both of which have elaborate excavating operations.

Both Frontier Metals and Black Dog Energy are buying up property in Northfall, and both are bidding on an area called Gunderson Woods, which has a GINORMOUS deposit of the valuable material. The competitive owners of Frontier Metals and Black Dog Energy would do ANYTHING to obtain metal-rich holdings, including bribery, coercion, blackmail, physical assault, kidnapping and murder.

To add to omnimetal's mystique, individuals who were bombarded with the material during the meteor shower and SURVIVED were radically changed. After a terribly painful adaptation, the victims became almost indestructible. In addition, they can take in, store, and give off huge amounts of energy.....glowing blue as they do so. One schoolboy named Hawkin was transformed in this manner, and the government has him locked away in inhumane conditions for research purposes.

The main protagonist in the story is a man named John Frontier, whose family owns Frontier Metals. John was a troublemaker as a youth and left Northfall to become a better person. Now, after five years away, John returns to attend his sister's wedding. John wants nothing to do with the family mining company, and plans to leave after the nuptials. Things don't work out that way, however, and John gets drawn into the conflict between Frontier Metals and Black Dog Energy. John also gets involved with other things in Northfall.....things that endanger his life.

The story is an action-packed sci-fi thriller with an eclectic array of characters, a touch of romance, and a superhero vibe. It's a fine beginning to the Comet Cycle series.

Thanks to Netgalley, Benjamin Percy, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishers for a copy of the book.

I am a fan of benjjamin percy, but was put off by the level of violence in this book. I picked it up again when I saw
The listing for the second volume in the series and am glad I did. The ending was intriguing and satisfying. I look foreard to rading book 2

I found this book fascinating and un-put-downable! I hadn't discovered Benjamin Percy yet, but will now be looking for what else he's written, starting with The Unfamiliar Garden, a sequel which appears to be about different people living through the same underlying event. The Ninth Metal is about a new metal from meteorites that has all sorts of commercial uses and also brings about some sort of superhuman capabilities. It's really more about the people whose lives are completely changed and continue to revolve around this new metal though. Percy does something I am always so impressed by, in creating characters that are so complicated, flawed, and conflicted, that during the course of the story and getting to know them better, I come to understand and root for them even though they might be doing or have done some really questionable things. The characters come together and help each other in ways that are deeply satisfying in the end, and even the worst villains have redeeming actions. Well, except for that one utterly creepy dude with the bowtie. The science is pretty stretchy and imaginative, but sets up a really great story. The Boundary Waters area of Minnesota is also presented very beautifully.

Northfall, Minnesota gets hit with debris as the Earth passes through the tail of a comet. While a lot of land and homes are initially destroyed, the metal found in it's wake quickly makes up for that. The people of North fall find themselves in a modern day gold rush.

Families fight other families and amongst themselves for a piece of this boon. Strangers come to town, hoping to make a fortune. There is just too much going on to put it all here.

The Ninth Metal is a great series starter. While it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, it does leave questions that I'd like to see addressed in following books. Such as, learning more about the metal itself. I enjoyed this book and am looked my forward to the sequels.

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The Ninth Metal by Benjamin Percy is a science-fiction book, the first one in The Comet Cycle series. Mr. Percy is a published author and writer of fiction and non-fiction articles, as well as some of my fantastic comic-books.

A meteor shower in Northfall, Minnesota destroyed most of the area. Homes and forests were destroyed, new craters and other geographical features were created.

The meteor shower brought with it a new kind of metal called onmimetal which can be used as an energy source or be weaponized. Almost overnight the small, sleepy town became a hub for mining companies, new millionaires abound, and all the corruption and treachery that comes with new riches.

This book has a lot going for it, police drama, corporate intrigue, murder, action, a new kind of tortured super-hero, as well as the effects of a new type of gold-rush on a small community. The Ninth Metal by Benjamin Percy, a science-fiction drama, has roots in Samurai stories and its extrapolations of westerns and super-heroes.
And it works!

The book starts a bit slowly, there are several characters which the story follows and have an impact on the narrative. One would expect that will all it encompasses in themes and characters, the story-line would be a complete mass. It is not, however, the narrative flows smoothly and flawlessly.

Characters driven to extreme, doing things they know are wrong is a most important theme. Something which, generally, many people can identify with. Stacey is a rookie cop, a wholesome lady who changes as the story goes along. Victoria taken a job torturing a kid “for science”. Sworn to secrecy under penalty which, at best, will end in a very long jail sentence.

Mr. Percy is a fan of the genres mentioned before, as well as comics (the book is dedicated to such giants as Jack Kirby and Stan Lee). One of the characters is a comics fan, and was chiefly influenced by Batman – but who hasn’t?

Omnimetal is a major part of the story, nevertheless we don’t hear much about it. We know it appeared trailing a comet, and furthermore has special properties. This omission, is fine, by all means, it’s better than some pseudo-science mambo jumbo.

All in all, the novel was an unexpected, very pleasant read. Although this was the first book of a planned series, it’s a complete story and does not end with a cliffhanger. The bar, however, has been set high for the next books.

Once I saw this was set in northern Minnesota, I knew I had to read it. The Earth went through a comet’s debris field, which sent all sorts of meteors falling from the sky. Northfall, MN was hit especially hard. But this ended up being a boon, as the meteors were made of “omnimetal” a new metal that creates a gold-rush-esque era for the area. This story follows one family, the Frontiers, that are hoping to cash in on the opportunity. But the meteors left more than just omnimetal behind, and the government has a super secret lab set up in the area to study what might become of this opportunity. This is another book that I didn’t really like the main characters. but the secondary characters carried it for me. There is a lot going on with this one too, with topics like the economy, familial ties, super powers and company wars, it can be a lot to take in. I still enjoyed it, but it also wasn’t my favorite book ever either.

Fantastic start to a new science fiction trilogy! Shades of Dallas crossed with Stranger Things, but also entirely unique and original. Can't wait to read #2!

I initially requested this book as the title, premise and cover of the book interested me. The Ninth Metal was an enjoyable read. Not my favorite book, nor my least. This one is perfect if you have a day at the seaside or poolside and are looking for something to keep your interest.

While this is true, I think I came away from it a bit disappointed? I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but the blurb on the back made me think the book had a ton of potential to be thrilling and intriguing all the way through. Did I see the plot unfolding as it did? Definitely not, which made it so enjoyable. But all the same, I just didn't feel quite satisfied with the way the plot unfolded.

Thank you to NetGalley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Mariner Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. 2.5 stars (rounded up to 3 here) for The Ninth Metal. Despite how little I enjoyed it, I could see this being a great beach read for others. It just was not my 'cup of tea'.

There was a lot going on in this book--it's sci-fi, a thriller, and a whodunnit, with a bit of historical fiction thrown in. I almost felt like the book was trying so hard to be and do so many different things that it lacked cohesion as a whole. While I enjoyed the book overall, its various components were a bit hit or miss for me in their effectiveness.

I was initially intrigued because this book is Sci-Fi, but doesn't particularly FEEL like Sci-Fi. The world presented in this story is very much like our own, save for the people who have been hit by the Ninth Metal meteors who have became something greater than human, (an idea which we explore a lot) and the people who've come to worship the Ninth Metal and its properties (who we explore far less) Tangentially, we also learn a bit how The Ninth Metal has affected the country at large (I would have loved more info on this.)

I wish the book would have leaned more into these various Sci-Fi elements. Many of the Sci-Fi ideas--The Metalheads, the Herm, Mother, the dreams, the wizard blade and the baddie who wielded it--felt underdeveloped or seemed unexplored entirely.

The thriller part of the book, namely the ongoing fight between Black Dog Energy and the Frontier family, was much more fleshed out, and consequently made for a stronger read. In some ways, the Ninth Metal itself could have remained simply a concept--an idea people discuss but know little about--and this book still would have had a fully realized storyline to explore. The bad guys (and lady!) are indeed very bad, and their race to the bottom to gain/maintain power makes for a compelling story in and of itself.

Which leaves us with Stacie's story about a cop trying to solve murders, track corporate espionage, find dead bodies, bond with her Dad, and eat her Starbursts. While I loved the character, Stacie's plot line almost felt like one perspective too many in a book already crowded with ideas and characters. I suspect she might actually be the glue that's supposed to hold this whole book together, but--for me-- her sections felt a little disjointed.

But, overall this book was a good read, and the whole idea of the Ninth Metal, fascinating. Not sure I'd read more books in a series about this topic, but perhaps. (There clearly is no shortage of stories about this idea to tell.)

Also, as a Minnesotan, I think this author did a spot-on job in describing this the area and its people. Particularly this quote: "Nobody is better at hiding things than Minnesotans. They'll happily give you directions anywhere, except to their own houses."

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I always approach any book labeled as “book one“ with a bit of trepidation. I tend to shy away from series and prefer to be able to enjoy the whole story at one time. I’m glad I took the leap with this one.

Quality writing, interesting possibilities, and thoughtful connection to economics, history and the way government likes to insert itself into everything. Well formed characters with intersecting back stories the tie things together in believable ways. And a different take on how a comet’s impact just might change the world.

The author has created such a strange new world than it would not have been possible to cover everything in a single book. That being said, the main issues created and explored in this book were mostly tied up by the end. There is still some good storylines attached to this arc, but there were so many teases and hints about other ways in which the world changed by the comment that I am eagerly awaiting to see what happens in the next one.

First in the new series THE COMET CYCLE by acclaimed author Benjamin Percy, THE NINTH METAL (release June 1, 2021) is an expansive work of very near-future SciFi, Speculative Fiction of high order. I applaud the Science, the Speculation, the character evolution and devolution. Additionally Mr. Percy performs some seriously Lovecraftian rifts hinting at potential Cosmic Horror, through Portals [question: do you REALLY want to walk through that doorway?] and even a Stonehenge similarity (and oh, the outcome of that one!) Family Dysfunction maximized; greed and cupidity; wealth vs. abject poverty; all the replay of the 20th century's growth of Corporations, squeezing out the workers, the farmers, the small landowners of inherited property, destruction of environment, ramped up to a new extreme by the discovery of the new element "deposited" by meteors: omnimetal. And we must not forget the governmental/military complex's rush to weaponize: Super Soldiers indeed. The nightmare of the 20th century, altering humans into unstoppable weapons of warfare, is now on the horizon.

THE NINTH METAL is simply outstanding, as is its sequel (release January 2022), THE UNFAMILIAR GARDEN.

☄️”It began with a comet”☄️

With Stephen King calling it “totally engrossing” & Marlon James claiming that Ben Percy “blow[s] open the core of humanity’s dark heart”, I simply had to request this one on #netgalley & though I was a little late in getting to it, I turned those pages with the speed of a blazing comet heading to Earth.

Hyperbole aside, Percy’s genre-bending plotting made this a propulsive read. ‘Succession’ by way of ‘The Godfather’ via ‘Stranger Things’ & tentacular Lovecraft, all tossed together with a Fargo-esque Deadwood-ish setting, Percy’s sci-fi thriller opens as a corporate-family drama with gold-rush criminality thrown in, before heading decidedly into supernatural territory- its ambitious assemblage of styles & influences never quite coalescing as convincingly as you’d hope.

The magical MacGuffin in question- the eponymous 9th metal- is Omnimetal, a sort of quasi-Vibranium that radically (some might say, meteorically) transforms the lives of Northfall’s inhabitants. This small mining town in Minnesota becomes the epicentre of mystical cults, warring business ventures & secret government laboratories after Omnimetal lands, the metal having an array of physics-defying properties that promise to transform life on Earth. Quite literally.

In the book’s acknowledgements, Percy credits Stan Lee & Jack Kirby as inspirations & is revealed too to have written for both Marvel & DC. None of this comes as a surprise, for despite its layers of intertextually, Percy’s novel soon becomes, essentially, a superhero origin story, one in a locale more Sin City than Wakanda.

As he builds towards his cinematic climax, Percy develops & dispatches characters in equal measure but by the time a laser-sword yielding antagonist arrives, much of the book’s early lures seem to have been forgotten in favour of epic action. There are the occasional enticing tidbits of world-building that hint at wider supernatural disruptions, presumably ones that will be picked up in sequels, but major plot points seem to happen rather abruptly without much impact.

I’m not sure if this was just an issue with my eARC copy but there are also some extremely confusing jumps in time & perspective, not appropriately signalled in the text. I hope these will have been ironed out for proper release because, for the most part, this is a well-written & pacy thriller that’s a fun read.

As soon as I realized this was set in the Iron Range of Minnesota AND was going to nail the details, I knew I was going to like this book. This starts with a sci-fi premise (a meteor shower strikes Earth, creating a new metal with special properties that's quickly used for batteries, high-speed rail, and other functions, turning northern MN into a new hotspot) and turns it into a Fargo-esque plot involving warring families (and inter-family head-butting besides), superhero origin stories, a metal dust-snorting cult, and so much more. This nailed the details and was a riveting first entry in a series I already can't wait to get my hands on the rest of.

THE NINTH METAL checks a lot of boxes as it plays out. The first book in Benjamin Percy's Comet Cycle trilogy has the potential to be one of those cross-genre novels that attracts a broader audience, appealing to many who don't normally seek out this type of fare.
There are elements of thrillers, science fiction, crime and politics, horror, action adventure, and sweeping family saga all held together by Percy's skill at mixing them all together in an easy-reading and fast-paced epic.
Taking all of that into consideration, it's the family saga that kept me reading this and turning the pages. There is some great character development to be enjoyed in this novel, and more than enough characters for readers to empathize or root for one or more of them.
At the heart of THE NINTH METAL is a highly detailed saga of a powerful but dysfunctional family exerting its influence on a small Minnesota town. Generations of the Frontier family (ironic last name) built their company into a massive mining operation, invested and helped build up the surrounding community, and even helped support it through depression, recession and a drop-off in demand for their wares. Now, with the discovery of the vast potential hiding within the ninth metal (omni metal, residue deposited on Earth as it passes through a comet's trail), a new Gold Rush is about to begin. The Frontier family wants to lead the charge, but they have competition from unscrupulous sources (including the government).
The first novel details the changes in the once quiet community as a result: increased population, migration of workers, increased crime, corrupt police and politicians, organized crime - - but even more threatening internal squabbles, tension and back-stabbing within the family. It gets brutal.
Omni-metal provides a new source of power for mass transportation and other applications, including weapon development by the Department of Defense, as well as a spiritual aspect. A religious cult arises around the ninth metal, as disciples smoke and/or snort it for a mystical trip.
My favorite character is John Frontier, the prodigal son who returns to the fold and gets quickly enmeshed in family business. He's done some regrettable things in his past, but desperately wants to make amends as many of his actions in the story reveal. His heart is in the right place.
I'm interested in both his further development in the next book of the trilogy, as well as the changes in management for the Frontier family business as their involvement in omni-metal progresses.
I received an advance review copy of this book through NetGalley and wrote this review voluntarily.

Synopsis: Earth crossed a comet's debris field and down came wondrous omnimetal which is a perfect energy source but can also be consumed as a drug.

The story follows John Frontier, heir to a iron-mining dynasty in Minnesota. He returns for his sister's wedding and finds his family in a cutthroat war for mining rights. 

The other protagonist is physicist Victoria Lennon who works for the Department of Defense to research omnimetal. In this case, a living one, as a boy has been covered with the metal and developed super hero abilities. 

Lastly, a newbie cop investigates a murder in her off-time and comes across corruption in her department. 

Review: This novel is a cross-over of super hero prequel and Wild West story. I expected something more SF, something technical. But it wasn't about those aspects at all. 

The whole omnimetal trope is just a layer over the Wild West content, featuring gang wars, exploiting mining corporations, corrupt cops, all set in a backwater city. While enjoyable as such, I'd say the crossover idea didn't catch roots and I'd rather have read a plain Western, featuring moral choices, family loyalty, and strong characters.