The characters are well developed with some nice twists in the story.

Unfortunately the story was contradictory in places with the ending seeming very contrived and rushed.

Excellent beginning of a new sci-fi series: “Fall of Gods.” This venture has introduced to the industry a creative new talent, Trevor B. Williams. .This novel is an exciting and well-written sci-fi story dealing with saving the planet from the unique perspective of various characters. These characters add a flavor to the story that is rarely used; yet powerful for the direction of the plot. Each scene is easily visualized and believable, each character has been fleshed out and relates smoothly with the material. This is one enjoyable ride! Cannot wait until book 2 is completed.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Trevor B. Williams and the publisher for an eARC of Eternal Shadow.

This is an apocalyptic sci fi adventure, following two strong female doctors/researchers at SETI who are desperately trying to save the world from total annihilation, with the help of an unexpected ally in Africa.

Eternal Shadow is HEAVILY loaded with science and advanced tech theories and also peppered with politics, to the point where I found it really hard going at times. It was really well written and everything sounded believable, but I prefer a healthier dose of fantasy with my sci fi (just my personal taste).

This was a 2.5-3 ✨✨✨read for me.

Eternal Shadows: aliens had already destroyed Pluto, Neptune and Uranus and earth could face a similar threat in 10 years!

Half a synopsis was enough to draw me in. The story starts immediately and the characters were immediately likeable. Unfortunately the plot moved a little too slowly for me and about half way through I started to lose interest.

My initial positive opinion of the book kept me going and so I skimmed about half the book until the end. Glad I did since I enjoyed the ending but for the most part I was slightly disappointed.

I admit I do prefer my Sci-Fi with a bigger dose of fantasy thrown in and so that skews my opinion a lot.

I do believe this is a fantastic read for sci-fi lovers and so I’ve rated it 3 stars.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with a copy for review.

Initially I was so excited for this book! It had a great premise, interesting characters, and a healthy dose of science. In spite of the promising plot, the writing did not live up to my expectations. The entire mid section was extremely slow - it literally seemed like I was dragging myself through - and the science, which started on target, became way too nerdy for me. And I’m a strong self-professed nerd! The conclusion brought some much needed action. Although the ending was bittersweet, it seemed appropriate and was a tidy wrap up. These final factors moved my rating up to 3 ⭐️.

I enjoyed the overall story and the building relationship between our strong main female characters. That’s always a plus for me - that they were both world renowned doctors in the primarily male dominated field, was especially positive.

I would recommend this book to science fiction readers who prefer an extra large helping of scientific jargon in their extra long novels!

*Many thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I thought this was a great book. I enjoyed the scientific aspects and the storyline. If you like space sci-fi, you’d like this book.

I’m 36% of the way through the book and lagging. I love the story and the characters and want to know what happens but I somehow keep setting it aside and getting distracted with other things. I wanted to finish the book before reviewing but I’ve had it out for over three months and figured I should review where I’m at instead of dragging it out for longer. Hope befall it’s written well and I do recommend.

I'm so late with this review! I read this back in November and here we are in February! I think sometimes it's good to give some time between when you read a book and when you review it, but 3 months is a little excessive. Oops!

Anyway, this was a solid science fiction read for me. I don't typically read this kind of sci-fi--I go more for space opera or far-future dystopia--but I'm glad I picked this up. The characters were well-drawn and interesting. The science seemed believable and didn't get too jargon-y. And the plot was fast-paced and suspenseful.

Overall, a great read, and I'll definitely look into the next books in the series.

Rating: 3.5, rounding up to 4

I really enjoyed this book, and I hope I get to see more from this author. He has a captivating writing style and knows how to keep a long suspenseful novel full of constant chaos.

This was an amazing Sci Fi which seemed so real. A storyline born of a fascinating imagination. Very believable characters and a story which brought both terror and hope. Definitely a "What If" Sci Fi. I couldn't put it down.

FWIW: I've read more fantasy than sci-fi, but this being different & diverse, I had to check it out.

>>I was never bored while reading. Not edge of my seat thriller exactly, given the long time frame, but it was exciting and suspenseful, with heart-pounding and heartbreaking moments. Honestly, did not know or even knew where to begin guessing on what would happen next.

>>Yay wlw romance!! Looooooove Sam & Jenn. They really made this book for me. They're cute and nerdy and just made the perfect pair. Quietly loving and lovely.

>>The sciences seems legit. Or at least, sounds like it. Enough to fool this ignorant pleb. In fact, there was so much of it and it all flew over my head so I just started skimming those sections. But I appreciate the inclusion for authenticity's sake. Maybe diagrams would be better for us to get a good picture of the rockets and such? /shrug.

>>Love the line drawings at chapter headings. The Rover is my fav. Just mentioning Curiosity made me tear up.

>>I do like how the political aspect was handled. It's fitting, except uh, where's the Russian interference & climate change?? It showed glimpses of where The Appearance would change society's political landscape, but not of pop culture. The Area 51 Raid idea is even more hilarious in light of this.

>>Muzie...had potential. He was okay, little bland and stereotypical, but not bad. Appreciate his patriotism and his humanitarian charity. His secretary Ami was better & used to show his human side. Little uneasy with their last scene, but I don't handle confrontation or explosive anger well, so it's probably a personal thing. There's nothing wrong with flinching, okay?!

>>This would make a good movie.

Samantha Monroe, a scientist at SETI, identifies a signal that can only be first contact. She immediately contacts her boss, the unflappable Jennifer Epstein, and colleagues at other facilities, who confirm her readings. But, as they are hopefully watching, what they assume is an alien entity consumes Pluto, and it doesn’t stop at the former planet. Earth is in the crosshairs, and the scientists estimate they have only ten years before the alien ship reaches—and destroys—the planet.

Epstein marshals a hand-picked team to save the world, but changing political priorities and a fringe cult, the Seven Trumpets, encumber her progress. Only South African Muzikayise Khulu, CEO of Khulu Global, has the resources necessary to research and implement a solution, but his motives are less than altruistic. And as Epstein and Monroe work more closely together, their personal feelings intrude on their professional relationship.

Eternal Shadow is Trevor Williams’s debut novel, and the story is interesting, plus I appreciate that the main characters are women and people of color. However, the execution of the narrative has several problems that prevented me from fully enjoying the book. The pacing and proportion of scientific exposition to narrative felt off to me, and the dialogue was awkward, partly because it didn’t ring true and partly because it lacked contractions. Additionally, a number of stylistic and grammatical errors were in the copy of the book I read, which, granted, was an advanced readers edition and may have been corrected before publication. Finally, I wish my two favorite characters (whose names I don’t want to mention due to spoilers) didn’t have nearly as much time in the book as I would have liked, but the ending hints at a sequel.

The author has great stories to tell, and with experience, I hope his style becomes more polished!

ETERNAL SHADOW states that this is the first book by author Trevor B. Williams. While I am naturally attracted to "first contact" sci-fi novels, this one began with a lot of promise, and then fizzled out by the end. The book begins in pretty exciting fashion, as SETI scientists discover a huge structure has suddenly appeared near Uranus and almost immediately destroys it through some kind of molecular breakdown and absorption. You see, this object is more than 70,000 kilometres long, and had been traveling near the speed of light before it showed up in our solar system. Then, the object slows down, destroys Neptune in a similar fashion, and then further slows down and heads on a course to Earth that will take about 4 years to reach us. And now the scientists have to try to communicate with the object if they can, and try to figure out its intentions and how to protect Earth.

As I said, this was a pretty intriguing beginning, but the author then chooses to spend most of the rest of the book focusing on the two female SETI scientists who first discovered the object, and became tasked with heading up the efforts to learn more about the entity, and how to keep Earth from being destroyed like the other planets. However, this focus on these two scientists devolves into a rather soap-operish description of the growing same-sex attraction between these two characters. After the first 100 pages or so, most of the action and mystery is left behind, as the author chooses to focus on the relational and sexual aspects of these two characters.

The book ends on a positive note where the Earth is saved from disaster by using solar mirrors to camouflage the Earth from this alien object. But no satisfying explanation on the nature and origins of this giant alien craft are forthcoming; so, this may be a hint of a sequel to come. My hope is if there is a sequel, that the author will decide to focus on the much-more interesting aspects of actually communicating with and understanding the thinking of an alien species, rather than rather mundane and sophomoric relationship intrigues.

Not well written

Mr. Williams has written this novel and self-published. He would have done well to have hired a hard-nosed editor to work with him. The text is very awkward with dialogue and descriptive text presented in unwieldy sentences that are painful to read.

I can't possibly recommend this to anyone who cares about syntax and readability.

the author did a great job envisioning the world altering event of first contact with an unknown, incomprehensibly large and powerful ship/creature. i felt that the responses from people and governments rang true for such an awe inspiring event. the only niggling critique I would have is the way interpersonal relationships are portrayed felt a little wooden and stiff. Particularly the way Muzi was described as always gazing/leering over his assistant's body and his interactions with her. rather 2 dimensional and simple.

This is an entertaining first contact sci=fi tale with an engrossing story. However, there is a lot of scientific stuff, some of which is very flawed. If you can read the book and ignore the inaccuracies in the science you will enjoy this story very much.

3.5 stars

'Eternal Shadow' is about a spaceship that suddenly appears in our solar system, destroys three planets, and begins traveling straight toward Earth after scientists across the globe make contact with it. Nobody can be totally sure what exactly will happen should it get to Earth, but they can only assume based on what it has already done that it can't be good.

I loved this! For such a science heavy book, it still felt accessible; all the science was described in a way that gave people who maybe weren't the best at science (like me) at the very least a vague understanding of what it was and how it worked. All of the characters, both individual and organizations, and their motivations felt really and fleshed out. And I loved the romance! I love that there was an appropriate age difference without any of the predatory behavior that can sometimes come along with that. It was so nice to see two adult women falling in love where their relationship was important to them, without becoming all-consuming. There was the perfect amount of tension and build-up, but not so much that it overshadowed the plot (which I appreciate).

Overall, a great read! I would highly recommend if you love science fiction!

Eternal Shadow (Fall of Gods Book 1) by Trevor B. Williams 11/9/19 (Trevor Writes)

When a massive object enters the solar system and starts consuming the outer planets, it’s time to worry. Jennifer Epstein is the SETI researcher that first notices the world eating big intruder as it plots its course towards the water-bearing planets, which means Earth is on the menu. Jennifer and the other scientists studying the “Leviathan” find evidence that we wouldn’t be the first civilization it’s gobbled up, and far more advanced races have failed to stop it. With a ten-year clock ticking down and a menace whose sheer size makes nuclear deterrence laughable, our only hope is to science the hell out of it.

It’s unusual for a self-published book to get much attention, but Trevor is already getting well deserved praise from established authors and reviewers. Eternal Shadow is one of the best hard sf offerings to come out recently, and I’m looking forward to whatever he does to continue the series.

Shortly into the story, the reader knows that Earth is due to be destroyed in 10 years. Way to build the long, drawn-out tension. 10 Years. In some ways, people of Earth pulled together, but the 10-year warning meant that people had too much time to change their minds. In that time, so many things can happen on Earth in reaction to impending doom. And they do. From extremist religious groups, to inward thinking political regimes (who prefer to ignore the problem), it becomes obvious that, as a whole, humans are flawed, selfish, and without vision. The struggle to find the answer to this doomsday scenario will be vast and unrelenting.

When the book centers on the right people working in concert, hope and optimism become main topics. These themes are enhanced by the side stories of romance – people with common causes connecting even when the future of earth is so very bleak. Such relationships also offer the reader a way to further connect with the characters.

The story is told from shifting perspectives of people who are working to solve the problem. I appreciated the different scientific and corporate viewpoints. The collaboration between science and industry becomes critical to the story. The take away – collaboration is how we can solve problems.

Many of the political and corporate people and entities are real and presented with their real names. Their actions are totally fictionalized to fit the story. What this does is add a bit of a political slant to the story. Because it takes place in our own timeline (and a bit into the future), we can make connections between the book and real life. Good or bad.

Not long into this book, I could not help but draw comparisons between Eternal Shadow and the Star Trek (TOS) episode The Doomsday Machine. If you know the story, you can appreciate that in Eternal Shadow, the problem cannot be addressed in 1-hour TV episode.

The science is well-depicted as real and complete, but I am not a scientist. I suspect much of it was highly theoretical, though possibly based on current research theories. The fiction of it doesn’t matter, it is science fiction. I appreciated the author’s attempt to present it as if it were real, though it was a bit too detailed at times, causing the story to drag. Which is really my only criticism. Still, points for such meticulous research!

Since the avoidance of total Earth destruction was the focus of the story, first contact seemed to be almost an afterthought in Eternal Shadow. The questions of who created the doomsday entity were never really answered despite access to some of the history of it. I don’t want to say too much about this part of the plot (read the book), but I will offer my opinion. Yes, there is a first contact, though not everyone will agree.

Eternal Shadow is standalone story. The book is billed as book 1 of the Fall of Gods series. For those of you that care about these things (like I do), there is no cliffhanger ending. Only the possibilities of something more…

Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The story of Eternal Shadow is an interesting concept to think about. What would we do if this type of event really happened. Would we react like those in the story did? Or would we do something else? Would it work? While i think the overall storyline could have been better, it was still a book worth reading.