Genre: Sci-Fi
LGBTQ+ Category: Bisexual
Reviewer: H.L.
Publisher | Amazon | B&N
About The Book
The year is 2124. Earth’s first faster-than-light starship makes its maiden voyage into the unknown and disappears, only to be declared missing for the better part of two centuries. The ship’s historic first mission was supposed to be simple, just a test of the experimental displacement drive. The crew was supposed to spend seven days in the depths of space, then snap back to Earth to prove a concept, and nothing more.
Instead, they find something impossible. They find something that draws them into a struggle against a horror of meat and metal fifty thousand years in the making.
AS THE HAWK CUTS THE HEAVENS is a two-part novel, newly revised, that was originally published as two separate works titled MINERVA (2011) and DARK SALVAGE (2013) respectively.
The Review
On the TEV Minerva, an experimental state of the art exploration vessel, something has gone horribly wrong on its maiden voyage. What was supposed to be a quick trip to space and back to earth has turned into a horror show. The Captain, a revered war hero, blew the engines and spaced herself with no explanation. The crew is stranded, and something is tearing through them. Everything that could go wrong, immediately went horrifyingly wrong.
In Part 1, we follow the personal logs of Acting Captain Kim Ferox as we learn about the horrors that have gone down on the Minerva’s maiden voyage. I loved Kim’s voice. There was a relatable quality to her, yet also a hardened edge of her personality. She is young, but made from something tough.
Part 2 picks up almost 200 years later with a fresh cast. We learn some interesting snatches of the larger universe that this book belongs to, the Cygnus War, but knowledge of the series isn’t necessary to follow and enjoy this book. The book follows Tessa, who is a human/technical construct and a former war hero, but over the years has stepped back into obscurity due to the nature of her genetic and physical modifications that would have put her daughter in danger.
She has just joined a new scavenger ship, the Junkyard Queen, with a handful of fellow undesirables and illegals. The ship has found the salvage of the century… the remains of the TEV Minerva. It took me a little longer to warm up to Tessa and the crew than I did with Kim Ferox in Part 1, but as soon as the crew begins their salvage, the delightful, suspenseful space horror kicks off once.
As The Hawk Cuts the Heavens by E. S. Wynn was originally published as two books – Minerva in 2011 and Dark Salvage in 2013, but it was an excellent choice to combine the editions into one book. Wynn’s prose is fantastic; short, sharp sentences and just the right combination of dialogue and description to keep the pace frantic and the reader grounded. It is a master class in building tension, peak survival horror writing with a frantic pace leading up to a thrilling climax.
I did feel that the ending was too rushed, as I would have either liked it to be left ambiguous OR elaborated on with more attention. But this is a very small quibble. As The Hawk Cuts the Heavens is a short, suspenseful space horror recommended to all fans of the genre.
The Reviewer
H. L. is a Jewish Australian writer of LGBT+ fiction. She holds a Master of Arts in International Relations (2015) and a Bachelor of Media in Communications and Journalism (2012), both from the University of New South Wales.
She has been writing stories since she was old enough to hold a pen. She is the author of M/M fantasy romance novels Heart Of Dust and Soul Of Ash, Books 1 & 2 of the Death’s Embrace series.
She has had two speculative short stories published: “The Collector” in the 2014 Future Times Award Collection A Tick Tock Heart, and “Entente” in the 2020 Twisted Stories Award Collection Just Alice.