Twinkle: A Book Review & Giveaway!

I recently received this book for review from Premier Virtual Author Book Tours.  As I read the synopsis, I was immediately intrigued as to the outcome of the novel and knew I had to check it out!  Plus this book was a great way for me to expand my reading, as I don’t often pick up science fiction novels!  And be sure to check out the giveaway down below where you could win 5 books (open internationally too)!!

Title: Twinkle

Author: SJ Parkinson

Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Publication Date: July 29, 2014

Pages: 572

Out in Paperback?: Yes

Goodreads

Amazon

My Rating: 4/5

Review:

Goodreads Summary:

The richest man in the world wants to celebrate the July 4th holiday as never before. In a bid to get into the record books, a global fireworks show is staged from orbit. Satellites drop pyrotechnics into the atmosphere, thrilling everyone from the Arctic to the Antarctic with their rich colors and massive explosions in every time zone.

The next day, people around the globe begin to lose their sight. Governments crumble, society degenerates, and infrastructure falls into chaos. Humanity finds itself stumbling in the dark and losing all hope.

A few fortunate individuals retain their vision. Attempting to deal with the growing despair around them, they come together to discover the true purpose and origin of the affliction. They race to find a cure before the world is subjugated under an invading power.

Twinkle Book Trailer!

Characters:

I thought that the characters in this book were really interesting to read about, and I love the fact that we got multiple perspectives!  As mentioned in the Goodreads summary, the world slowly, time zone by time zone, goes blind the day after watching the largest fireworks show.  With the multiple perspectives, we are really able to get a sense of the worldwide pandemic as we watched different characters in various parts of the world go blind.  I will say that it took me a little bit to get into this novel; the first 100 pages were a little overwhelming because of the introduction of so many characters, but that eventually leveled out.  The majority of the story is told from 4 perspectives: a colonel, a Chinese general secretary, a doctor, and a submarine crew.  This provided great diversity of characters and locations without being confusing.

Plot:

The plot was definitely very interesting!  Now, I don’t read much science fiction, so to me this book was very unique and interesting as well as realistic.  This book begins on July 3^rd, the day before the richest man plans the largest firework show to celebrate a new company he is launching.  However after this amazing show on July 4^th, the world begins to go blind, time zone by time zone.  Quickly, the United States government, while waiting for the blindness to strike them, must try to find a cure for the world while discovering how this pandemic started.  The story follows our main characters, a colonel and his captain, a doctor and her patient, and a submarine crew, on their day-to-day struggles and complications as the government falls apart.  

Writing Style:

I thought the writing style was extremely realistic in all the military jargon and government procedures.  Occasionally, some scenes were difficult to follow because of the acronyms relating to the government, air force, and other military branches; however, Parkinson did a really nice job of including footnotes to further explain any confusing terms.

Have you read this book?  What did you think?  Do you have any other science fiction recommendations?  Be sure to check out the next stops on the tour!

WHAT IS THIS??? A GIVEAWAY?!?!  Enter yourself below and you could be the one lucky winner to receive the grand prize of 1 copy of each of Parkinson's 5 published works!  Plus this giveaway is open internationally as well!

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FTC Disclaimer:

This item was sent to me for review from Premier Virtual Author Book Tours.  This is not a sponsored post.  All opinions are my own.  No affiliate links were used.