Roth’s “Into the Lightning Gate” was a fast-paced, addictive science fiction thriller. There were times I honestly did not wish to the put the book down for trivial things like sleeping.

Cam Maddock is a well-developed, likable character thrown into a world outside his understanding. The questions are can he stretch himself to learn what is happening to him and how does he fit into the mystery surrounding him? Cam must be willing to question everything he believes he knows about himself to discover why he has become a trans-dimensional person of interest to unsavory characters.

This was an extremely enjoyable read I rate 4.5 stars out of 5. The ending leaves me desperately wanting to know where Roth will take his readers in his sequel.

Note: This ARC was provided by NetGalley and publisher Jetspace Studio in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5. I really enjoyed this one! This was my first proper Sci Fi read in years and what a great way to swing back into it.

The protagonist was really likable and had a solid mix of charm, intelligence, and adventure about him to easily imagine him reacting as he did to the series of fairly incredible world-building details this first novel in the saga delivers. Roth also does a good job of building in the science aspect in subject-specific terminology, but with mundane enough explanations that as a reader I walked away feeling I’d not only understood the story, but possibly joined an elite science club as well.

The supporting characters are developed quite well for a first in a series and I particularly enjoyed the mix of personalities and diverse representation from Tony (loyal, witty and deeply sarcastic Chinese-American best friend), and Tasha (young Russian spy vibes with deadpan humour and matter-of-fact delivery of essentially every line).

The settings are rich and the world-building was excellent, though I was slightly frustrated by the lack of any real information and a deep sense of secrecy that blanketed the first 37%. The revelations and quick pace afterward certainly made up for this, but it seemed we could have reached that point maybe 10% sooner, as that’s when the enjoyment really kicked in and deepened.

As an own-voices author for lgbtqia category, it was very evident that the author chose to fit in non-binary pronouns wherever possible, never informing the reader of people’s gender unless they were and acquaintance of the protagonists, and then often providing pronouns once we did get introduced - for example when describing bar bouncers, market stall vendors, multiple assassins and mercy etc, it was always they/them/their, and the readers were left to imagine the genders, or more importantly, realise that it didn’t matter and had no real impact on the story. It really grew on me. I’d never encountered this in a book before, and while I found it initially jarring and had to do some line rereading at first to make sure i was understanding, I eventually became accustomed. There was also a specifically non-binary supporting character eventually, which is thankfully finally becoming more commonplace in novels now - and I am keen to continue learning about them in the sequels - but this other method of only providing pronouns when absolutely necessary was novel and welcomed. I hope I see more of it.

There was very little romance in this story, though the possibility thrummed throughout and became far more present nearer the end, so I am keen to see how it affects the plot dynamics in the future sequels, especially because i like the pairing and think it will be fun to explore.

Overall a great read and one I would recommend to anyone who enjoys fast-paced adventure and Sci-Fi.

* This ARC was provided by NetGalley and publisher Jetspace Studio in exchange for an honest review.

Into the Lightning Gate advertised as an action packed cat and mouse chase, and it definitely was: there an introduction to the main character, Cam, then the story evolves into a chase and it is non stop action from there. For me, I found there was a lot of action but very little explaining. Each chapter switches to a different character, mostly Cam, but also Tony, the Agent, Finn, Omni, but despite the POV switching to so many different characters who each had more or less understanding of the situation the knowledge relayed to the audience remained extremely limited. For an author with such a wonderful writing style, including so many characters POV while wanting to keep the reader in the dark was a strange choice. This made for what should have been a mystery to both myself and the main character a little frustrating for me because I was in other characters POV yet still didn't know.

I received a free eARC of this book via NetGalley, and am leaving a review voluntarily.

Into the Lightning Gate is a good setup for a sci-fi series, with solid world-building and character development. It is written from the point of view of several different characters, but the plot mainly unfolds around the main character, Cam, who self-identifies as "a brown guy in a white world" in his mid-twenties with a knack for coding.

The plot was easy to follow and the pacing was good, with enough action scenes to keep my interest. I also found the friendships between Cam and the other characters to be fun and relatable, and Cam's struggle with feelings of not fitting in and trying to find himself were well-written. There were a couple of inconsistencies in the world-building that I found a bit jarring, but it didn't take away from the overall effect of the story.

While I wholeheartedly support the effort to be inclusive in representing a diversity of characters in terms of race, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, etc., especially in a genre that often falls short in this regard, it felt a little artificial at times and wished it was better incorporated. In contrast, the I found the bar fight scene to be particularly memorable and well-done in this regard, and wish there were more like it to demonstrate these themes.

Overall, I found the book enjoyable, and the series would be good for readers who enjoy fast-paced science fiction adventures with a diverse cast of characters.

Did somebody mention Stargate???

I just picked up Into the Lightning Gate today and now I'm somehow done with it. Oops.

What happens when you find out everything you know is a lie? Into the Lightning Gate is a fast-paced SciFi thriller that will have on the edge of your seat. This story never went exactly where I thought it would. Everytime I thought I had something figured out, I was wrong. It was frustrating. It was intriguing. Stargate meets Fast and Furious is literally the best way I can explain it. And I may have sort of figured out the 'twist' at the end but I'm excited to see where the storyline goes.


***Thank you to Netgalley, Jetspace Studio, and Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) for providing me with a review copy.***