The back cover synopsis reads: In the far-distant future, a flooded and shattered Earth is governed by the iron hand of the Martian Matriarchy. Martian warrior Dreams-of-War is despatched to Earth to guard a young girl called Lunae from an unknown threat. The clone of an extraordinary heritage, Lunae ages with unnatural speed, and has the special talent of being able to alter time. At the half-ruined city of Fragrant Harbour where Lunae resides with her malignant grandmothers, and a member of the genetically modified race known as the kappa, Dreams-of-War encounters a host of intrigues centering on the sinister presence of an alien mission station nearby. When her protégé is nearly assassinated, the Martian warrior is forced to flee with Lunae to the flooded northern islands of what was once Japan. But then the child and the kappa go missing en route, leaving Dreams-of-War determined to return to the plains of Mars in order to discover the truth about Martian rule over Earth, and the nature of all the secrets behind it...

This is the worst science fiction novel I have ever had the misfortune to read. The novel flows with all the grace of tectonic plate movement, the character portrayals are as realistic as cardboard cut outs, the narrative is disjointed, flat and just plain boring. The only saving grace this novel has is the wonderful and surreal haunt tech. This novel has many good ideas but is so badly edited that trying to read all 426 pages became a battle of wills. What complete and utter dross!





India in the 2030's has worsened. For a young girl named Jaya Nihalani, life, a life of abject poverty and misery is about to change forever. As a young girl, one whom under the tutelage of her very bitter father, she learns to grift - she begins to hear voices. This is not the apparent schizophrenic breakdown of a young woman, no, it is the first step of her journey from being a poor conjurer's daughter to the possible salvation of the human race. Jaya is a "Receiver", a woman with the ability to communicate with an alien ship. This alien ship and the alien on board validate Jaya's incredulous statement by providing her with information that no one being, let alone a girl from one of the lowest castes of Indian society, should possess. With deft comedic timing Williams informs the reader that this leaves the superpower of the USA nonplussed - aliens shall not be landing on the White House green. However, amidst a backdrop where the lower castes of Indian society are horrendously infected with a new age bubonic plague (Selange), Jaya's new found station in life as a living guru, then living goddess, and finally, one as a renegade renegade leader breathes a very twisted ironic recounting of her young life. The alien which visits Jaya in this novel bears all the hallmarks of one not to be trusted. The author's retelling of the initial interactions between the alien Ir Yth and Jaya is one of the cornerstones of the novel. On earth, all are aware of the alien, it is with a suffused sense of the dramatic that on a distant planet, the race that seeded the genetic profile for our homosapien template are themselves of a low caste. Known as the desquai, they learn of the emergence of a "Receiver" and immediately send one of their own, Sirru, to oversee Jaya's development. The characters and narrative voice of this novel is excellent. Although Liz Williams has a tendency to ramble somewhat, she creates a very believable atmosphere. The plot takes some time to develop but it is never a cloak and dagger affair. Everything is known to the reader; motives, rationales, beliefs, reasons, hierarchical status, sense of duty, all is transparent. Surprisingly, this gives the novel a very unusual hook, as everything proceeds at quite a pace. Though sparse with her recounting of what India truly is, Empire Of Bones is a science fiction future history, admirably told.

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