Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.
There’s no doubt that Hugh Howey can really write. Anyone who breaks through from the clamour of the self-publication sector, as Howey famously did with the novellas that eventually made up his dystopic Woo l, arguably has to be a better storyteller than those boasting the might of a publisher behind them.
Certainly, his new standalone volume Sand , which true to form has already been published digitally in five instalments, is a fantastic yarn. As the title suggests, it’s set in arid environs, on a world where skyscrapers have been lost beneath vast dunes.
In this gritty wilderness, sand-divers retrieve artifacts from deep below the desert floor. It’s a precarious and dangerous way to make a living, but divers such as Palmer, the nominal male head of the fractured family whose fortunes Sand follows, dream of making a big score by finding a lost city, Danvar.
So as not to give away spoilers, let’s just say that the rest of the plot is a case of “be careful what you wish for” – and viewed purely as a plot-driven adventure-thriller, Sand works brilliantly. The diving scenes, which are horribly claustrophobic, also impress.
Nevertheless, you’re left with the nagging sensation that Howey hasn’t done enough to explain the backstory here – Danvar, Denver, yes, no? – while Palmer’s family, with the exception of deep-diving big sister Vic, the book’s calm centre, are rather sketchily drawn.
Jonathan Wright twitter.com/Jonathanw101
Read more of our book reviews .
