The surface trials by H.M. Waugh

The Surface Trials is the best adventure story that I have read in a long time! I devoured it in one sitting desperate to see who would survive The Surface Trials – where 100 participants are given the chance to join the elite Starquest Academy by enduring danger on an alien planet. The entire universe is watching them and they are under constant surveillance. Who will be a celebrity and finish the trials? Teamwork, problem solving, physical endurance and ethics will all be taken into consideration. Amethyst Antares dreams of leaving the prison of her home planet, and Rian has no other option than gain entrance to the Academy. Deneb is an outlier determined to win. Others will push through and many will fail. Can Ammy and Rian bond to make a viable team and win through when things go terribly wrong?

Waugh really ramps up the excitement with clever twists and a back-up system that fails. No longer is there a spaceship to rescue the contestants who are injured or eliminated and there is no way to contact the trials’ organisers. Ammy’s group will have to face carnivorous animals, difficult terrain and hide secrets while trying to find a way to get home.

Readers who enjoyed The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner will be thrilled to have another novel that has participants facing danger as they race to complete the trials, while readers who enjoy novels set on alien planets like Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner’s Starbound trilogy are in for a treat. Unanswered questions at the conclusion leave room for a sequel which I hope will be here soon!

Themes: Science fiction, Survival, Competition, Life on other planets, Secrecy, Reality TV.

Pat Pledger