The Children Of The Eye Book 2, a novel that follows on from When The Children Come. I was quite excited to get my hands on this book, as I loved the first book. Well, Barry Kirwan again did not disappoint me! Before I tell you what I thought, let’s have a look at the synopsis.
Ten years have passed since the Axleth invaded Earth and a few hundred humans escaped aboard the ship Athena, piloted by the Artificial Intelligence who calls himself Ares. Now, the refugees approach Earth, determined to take back their home. But something has followed them from deep in space, and as war breaks out on Earth, humanity must decide who is the real enemy.
Ten years after the end of the first book, this one starts the way it means to go on! We are brought up to speed with the characters’ present lives and situations. I was back with them again. I was immersed as I was with the first book.
I remembered exactly why I enjoyed this author’s writing as soon as I began to read. The tension and suspense build throughout, with plenty of vividly written action that keeps you there, in that moment with the characters. There is no watching T.V and reading this book. It demands your full attention and I gave it…from beginning to end. I expected this as I found the first book the same, so I wasn’t that surprised.
Barry Kirwans characters from the first book are now older and well developed. We see the children who were rescued ten years ago and have been in training since, start to fall into their places. Again, Barry has made them so relatable and brings the human issues that are so important to everyone, love, loss, and their connections with each other. He brings so much depth to the book, with the characters and the amazing sci-fi action side by side.
I loved the fact that I had no idea who I could trust, with the intrigue that was built along with the twists and turns as the story unfolded. The finale arrived too soon for me, though, as we are given a hint of what we can expect in the future when Barry releases the next book. I, for one, am looking forward to it.
All in all, an immersive, action-packed book that again blurs the edges of what is sci-fi and what is real. This is a thrilling book that also makes you think. You couldn’t ask for more from a sci-fi book if you wanted to.
Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources and Barry Kirwan for the copy of the book.
Purchase Links
Amazon US
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B099GSNK9H
Amazon UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B099GSNK9H
Author Bio
I grew up in Farnborough, England, home to the fast-jet Red Arrows, and started writing when still at school, a weekly satirical thriller called the Adventures of Blackie the Cat for my classmates. I then got hooked on academic writing for my day job (preventing disasters in nuclear power plants, oil rigs and aircraft) and published four text books on human error. It wasn’t until I moved to Paris that I started writing fiction again, with the Eden Paradox released in 2011. It was intended to be a one-off, but I got a lot of fans demanding more, and so it went ‘epic’, a space opera of four books.
After an accident with my back and two subsequent operations, I was laid up for a long while and couldn’t scuba dive – my other passion – so I wrote a thriller about a spy who was also a scuba diver, and the Nadia Laksheva series was (to my amazement at the time) snapped up by HarperCollins. They asked me to use a pseudonym, which is where the initials J F came from, borrowed from my late father, who loved thrillers.
Although I keep my work and fiction separate (some of my colleagues aren’t convinced) the fiction is always influenced by my psychological training, and an unending fascination with how the mind works, and how it can go off the rails. This most clearly comes out in my two new series, Greg Adams (The Dead Tell Lies) and Children of the Eye (When the Children Come).
My favourite scifi authors range from Asimov and Clarke, to Brin, McDevitt, Hamilton, Asher and Reynolds. My favourite thriller writers are Baldacci, Child and Nesbo. My favourite moment as an author is when I’m sitting with my laptop with an espresso macchiato, wondering what comes next in a story, when suddenly it arrives, and I can’t type fast enough.
Social Media Links
Website
Twitter
@Eden_Paradox
sharonbeyondthebooks.uk 
Hi Sharon, simply fab review, spot on! A key comment you made is that the book makes you think! That was my hope! About AIs, about morals with respect to aliens, about revenge and what it costs… I did so much thinking myself when writing it, lol. Glad that came through. Many thanks if you can post it on Goodreads/Amazon, I think you really ‘get’ me as an author! Now I just have to make the third book as good as this one…
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I will cross post later today Barry or tomorrow no problem x
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Thanks Sharon x
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