(star rating to come once SPSFC scores are posted)

On the surface, this book doesn't look like one that would hold my interest nearly as well as it actually did. Looking at the list of things that I listed for recommending this book, the only thing that stands out as "my kind of book" at the moment is the science fiction mystery part. The YA book with a university setting and—especially—the sports sub-plot are not the kinds of thing that I've been looking for in my books lately, so I was pleasantly surprised when the SF mystery part caught me up enough that the rest of it didn't matter.

The part of the book that annoyed me the most—and this is 100% personal preference—was all the sports. There's a game in this future world called blaze, which as I recall evolved from American football, and it's a big part of MC Jet's life. He's a blaze player, and so there are several scenes where the game is described in detail. And I... well. I don't much care for sports, in real life or in my fiction. And so I glazed over a bit during those scenes. I didn't enjoy the book as a whole as much as I could have as a result, but that's completely a case of the topic not being my thing. And it didn't annoy me to the point where I ever considered quitting reading! It just got old for me after a while. Sports fans might have a different opinion.

By contrast, the thing that I was most interested in was the mysterious illness, ephebus mortem. I was curious to know more about it, to know what caused it, etc. I can't explain any of what the book revealed about it, since that was all in the last quarter or so of the book, but it fascinated me enough to keep reading. For anyone worried about medical content being described in their fiction, I will say that there's really no medical aspect discussed here. The illness comes with a mysterious countdown: the victims will all die before their 24th birthday. But aside from that—and the glowing eyes—there are no other symptoms really shown. Everything else is more or less gossip.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

I read this book as part of the judging process for the 3rd Self Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC3), and while I was provided a review copy for judging purposes I read the book using the version available on Kindle Unlimited. My opinions are my own and do not reflect the thoughts of my SPSFC3 team or the competition as a whole.

Set a couple of hundred years from now, this novel is about a young man named Jet Stroud. He is an orphan, and is afflicted with ephebus mortem. It is a rare condition, characterized by glowing eyes. Legend says that death before your twenty-fourth birthday is inevitable.

Jet is accepted into the prestigious Skylight University, orbiting in Earth's atmosphere. He bands together with other students with the same condition, and they start to investigate. Jet starts hearing voices in his head, shadows follow them and there are holographic prophecies that only they can see. A couple of previous students died from the same condition. It's more like they just disappeared; their bodies were never found. Are they really dead? Is this an actual conspiracy involving some members of the faculty? Can Jet find the answer before he becomes another "victim" of ephebus mortem?

This novel is surprisingly good. It is very well written, and has elements of horror, dystopian science fiction and conspiracy/suspense. It may be marketed as a Young Adult novel, but adults will also like it. ( )