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(as of Oct 22, 2024 10:50:42 UTC – Details)
From the author of the best-selling Jane Yellowrock and Soulwood series comes a tough new heroine who is far more than she seems.
After the Final War, after the appearance of the Bug aliens and their enforced peace, Shining Smith is still alive, still doing business from the old scrapyard bequeathed to her by her father. But Shining is now something more than human. And the scrapyard is no longer just a scrapyard, but a place full of secrets that she has guarded for years.
This life she has built, while empty, is predictable and safe. Until the only friend left from her previous life shows up, dead, in the back of a scrapped Tesla warplane. Clutched in her cold fingers is a note to Shining – warning her of a coming attack.
With dread, Shining realizes: Someone knows who she is. Someone knows what she is guarding. Will she be able to protect the scrapyard? Will she even survive? Or will Shining have to destroy everything she loves to keep her secrets out of the wrong hands?
4.5
Reviewer: Stephanie B
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Wonderful series start
Review: Shining Smith lives and works in the Junkyard in a desolate, desert West Virginia forever changed by war, aliens and climate change. Her only companions a scarred war veteran and numerous cats. But all is not as it seems; the junkyard hides a multitude of secrets, the veteran is also a warbot, Shining is a bit more than just human and the cats, well the cats are intelligent and use ESP to communicate with Shining. Trouble comes into their calm, if difficult, world first in the form of a dead body hidden in scrap she has purchased, then in the form of a dangerous made-man on a motorcycle and then finally in the form of mercenaries looking for something they believe is hidden in the junkyard. Shiningâs quiet life is over as she and the cats defend their home.Faith Hunter is the author of several highly acclaimed series and this one is yet another winner. The action rocks along quickly, the main character, Shining and Mateo, are well rounded and the world building is superb. And we cannot forget the cats, the major ones with distinctive personalities, their own motives and the ability to communicate with Shining. I have the second book already on my tablet and will be diving into it directly so I will be ready for book 3 on June 20. Like all of Ms Hunterâs work, this book is highly recommended.
Reviewer: Costuming junkie
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: I liked this novella very much but…
Review: I enjoyed reading Junkyard Cats. I recognize that no novella is going to be able to match a full length novel in characterization or descriptive power, but Junkyard Cats is an impressive attempt to do so. I liked the characters. I liked the milieu of the story and the economy with which a world was created. The only think I did not fully enjoy was the technical jargon. When a writer wants to tell a story in which a battle and its combatants move and act to draw the reader into the world of battle and peril and politics and war and survival, a certain degree of description of the time, place and armaments of the battle must bring the reader into an understanding of what is going on and why. The what was a bit overdone – especially the acronyms for weapons and the why was left a bit too hazy. I do look forward to meeting these characters again and I hope their world will become more vivid and more clear.
Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Very good read.
Review: A lot of action and military tech done well. The military tech can be a little difficult to follow at times, but it does run together well and you can follow without too much difficulty. Enjoyed the original story line.
Reviewer: Bookseeker
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Faith Hunter, master plotter, friend of cats
Review: Ok, this is great. And man, must Faith Hunter love cats. Consider; Jane Yellowrock shares her existence with a big cat, her next heroine loves a man who turns into a cat, and her newest heroine is a queen of cats.And now for the book. We find our protagonist living in a junkyard, making a living in the junk trade, highly isolated since the death of her father, a former biker and military asset. The junkyard is unusually well equipped, and our heroine keeps herself in a kind of quarantine for a reason. A perfect story distraction for anyone needing to self isolate in the time of Covid.As usual for Faith Hunter the heroine is smart and driven and starts out isolated from most of humanity. Also usual for Ms. Hunter, her protagonist is resourceful, self reliant and has many admirable characteristics. And as usual for Faith Hunter the book is absorbing, well written and creative. This looks like the beginning of a series, and I for one am all in. More please.
Reviewer: Michael Lynn McGuire
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Book number one of a four book novella science fiction series
Review: Book number one of a four book novella science fiction series. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback published by Lore Seekers Press in 2023 that I bought on Amazon. I have ordered the other three books in the series.The book is set in the not so distant future, probably 2060 or so. In 2043, thousands of Chinese Mama bots advanced into Seattle in 2043, creating and deploying Warbots to kill the population. The Mama bots self replicate and spread across the USA, killing off most of the population with their warbots, starting “The Final War”.Shining Smith has just bought an old scrapped Tesla warplane for her West Virgina junkyard but she finds an old friend dead in the cockpit when she broke the military seals. And, the plane is infected with bicolor ants, a nanobot enhanced ant that a crazy person introduced to the USA to eat all of the dead bodies. Shining is one of the few known survivors of a bicolor ant swarm, who infected her with their nanobots. And she is a survivor of The Final War that started when she was 12. But her old friend is a warning that danger is coming.
Reviewer: DC
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: goood story.
Review: Good story but not long enough. Never understood these short stories. Especially if there is a series of them. Maybe money
Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good start on the series
Review: Somehow I’d picked this book up quite a bit ago, started it but then got distracted. It came up on my reading list again so I thought I should check it out. Better than anticipated, and an good foundation for the next two books, I suspect. I’m very curious to see where this goes from here.
Reviewer: Cheryl Day
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: great story i love this series.
Review: I am a paper book girl even though I have to wait for the paper edition I don’t love kindle or reading my phone. Worth the wait. I love paper books!!!
Reviewer: Colfy
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Intriguing story, makes me wish the story was longer. Love the concept of the cats. The author definitely has car body language down. As I have cats and can see them doing and acting as described in the story. Love the main character and her friends. This story have a history in shining past. Crossing fingers for a full novel. Wonderful, imaginative, sci fi, post apocalyptic, friendship and species working together this author did it all and yet made you wanting more without compromising the story. Love it and so happy I found a new author to follow.
Reviewer: MLE A L Wallis
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Really good book to read, it’s a new twist on what the future could look like, a must read for people who like Sci-Fi.Can’t wait for the next book ð
Reviewer: Aurian
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I was sucked into the story from the first page to the last. Fast paced, lots of action and technology. Intriguing.
Reviewer: MR D PENNOCK
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Mainly all likes, the post apocalypse structure of the society and rules of engagement are clearly set out, the society is NOT a rip off imitation of other authors, it is sufficiently unique to create its own problems. The cats are there in abundance and as a unique evolutionary move they cooperate with the heroine (in as far as any cat can.) Many years ago C’Mell introduced cat people as evolution, this novel takes felines off in a brand new evolutionary direction. I am looking forward to an extended series (and hoping soon)
Reviewer: Traumrealistin
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I have to admit I am a fan of Faith Hunter’s writing and I have read and love every book she published. So you hardly can say I am impartial.The book is a novella and introduce Shinning Smith, a woman with strange ability living at a jungyard with cats which have strange abilities as well. The worldbuilding is intriguing, her abilities facinating and her attitude amusing. I really looking forward to the next installment which will unfortunately as audible book first (they commissioned the book) and months later as an ebook. But knowing Faith Hunter it is worth the waiting.
