“Drop in five, four, three, two, one…DROP, DROP, DROP!”

Gabriel’s head was slammed back against the padded wall of the drop capsule, known to drop-troopers as coffins, as the Marcinko spat the team from the drop bay like bullets. Nine capsules shot towards the surface of Poliahu at over seven G’s.

After the initial shock, Gabriel relaxed his breathing and had his neuretics bring up the drop data in Mindseye. Nine green dots, falling towards the surface at over 18,000 miles per hour, all secure telemetry in order. He checked for an update of the LZ, and confirmed the team was on target and all probes showed the same quiet colony.

All but one probe, he thought. I only hope that was a glitch.

Gabriel’s Redemption gives the reader a glimpse at an all too possible future, where global tragedy has altered the physical and political landscape of the world, leaving the stars as a refuge for hope and a better life…as long as you can survive.

I loved this book and when I set it down I wanted more.  Now when I say I wanted more it is not because I was left unsatisfied with the story or the way it ended, I say it because I loved the characters, the story and the writing so much that I hated to see it end.  Steve Umstead has crafted a piece of science fiction that is reminiscent of the works of Ben Bova, Larry Niven and Isaac
Asimov, rich with description that feels natural, characters who seem real and technology that feels plausible and acceptable.

If you love a good story but the techno-babble of some science fiction steers you away from the genre, this is the book for you.  Umsteads sells you his vision of the future with well crafted writing as opposed to drowning you with scientific terms.  The end result is a believable future that is easy to relate to.

Gabriel’s Redemption is the story of Evan Gabriel, a disgraced member of the North American Federation Navy, who is given an opportunity to recover his former rank and to have the blame for the disaster he was blamed for removed from his records.  When the offer is made by a man he cannot stand and does not trust he has to wonder whether or not the risk is worth it, and when things start to go bad on the mission he has to figure out who he can trust and how he and his team will survive so that he can take advantage of the redemption he has been promised.

LINKS:

Steve Umstead’s Blog Page

Steve Umstead’s Twitter Page

• Book Review: One Right Tricky Bastard
• Book Review: Excelsior
• Book Review: Gabriel’s Redemption
• Book Review: Sebastian and the Afterlife
• Book Review: My Frankenstein