Luka Kane is dead, executed in front of a crowd of Alts who cheered despite the fact that the truth of their oppressive leaders had been revealed to them.
But one Alt, Chester “Chilly” Beckett, did not celebrate; his eyes have been opened to the truth. Luka’s corpse is dragged away, but Chester remains determined to find out what is going on in the Laboratory on the 65th floor.
There, he finds three subjects tortured in an attempt to extract a regeneration formula… and one of the subjects is, impossibly, a face he never thought he'd seen again. A bold escape sets in motion a race against time as Happy’s plans to release planet-eating nano-bots into the world draw nearer. The Loop team must reassemble, survive Happy’s final attempts to rid the world of the rebels, and figure out how to halt the apocalypse before humanity is destroyed.
The Arc follows on from The Loop and The Block and picks up straight from the end of The Block. As with the second book, and indeed most book series, there's no recap, so it took me a while to remember who everyone was and what was going on. Once I remembered, though, I thoroughly enjoyed what was happening. There is a lot of action and adventure here, and the pace rarely slows down.
Techno adventure fans will really enjoy this. There's some very clever use of technology, and - not wanting to give too much away - the way the final problem is solved is really clever! It wasn't what I was expecting, and I loved that Ben went a more unexpected route.
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE SCENE TO WRITE (WITHOUT TOO MANY SPOILERS!)?
This is a tough question to answer without giving away any twists or plot points… There’s a
scene involving a returning character and an unexpected death. I can’t say much more than that, but
it comes out of nowhere and (hopefully) it’s heart-breaking! It’s was a sad scene to write, but when
the idea came to me, I knew it was going to be really impactful. The feedback I’ve had from people
who have read the book so far have all said that moment hit them really hard. So, although it was an
unhappy moment in the story, it was still fun to write because I knew it was powerful.
In honour of this blog tour we have a lovely mini interview with Ben - enjoy!
DESCRIBE THE ARC IN 3 WORDS:
In my opinion, The Arc is brutal, emotional, and thrilling.
In my opinion, The Arc is brutal, emotional, and thrilling.
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE SCENE TO WRITE (WITHOUT TOO MANY SPOILERS!)?
This is a tough question to answer without giving away any twists or plot points… There’s a
scene involving a returning character and an unexpected death. I can’t say much more than that, but
it comes out of nowhere and (hopefully) it’s heart-breaking! It’s was a sad scene to write, but when
the idea came to me, I knew it was going to be really impactful. The feedback I’ve had from people
who have read the book so far have all said that moment hit them really hard. So, although it was an
unhappy moment in the story, it was still fun to write because I knew it was powerful.
WHAT IS ONE PIECE OF ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE TO ANY PASSIONATE SCI-FI WRITERS OUT
THERE?
Keep writing! That’s the main thing. I always wish I had some magical piece of advice to give
to aspiring writers, but I don’t. There are only three things that you need to get published: hard
work; the ability to learn and grow as a writer; and a ridiculous amount of luck. The right people
need to read your manuscript at the right time in order to be traditionally published, and the odds
against that are high, but if you don’t write and learn and improve and submit your work to agents
and publishers the odds become infinitely higher, so keep writing and keep trying.
THERE?
Keep writing! That’s the main thing. I always wish I had some magical piece of advice to give
to aspiring writers, but I don’t. There are only three things that you need to get published: hard
work; the ability to learn and grow as a writer; and a ridiculous amount of luck. The right people
need to read your manuscript at the right time in order to be traditionally published, and the odds
against that are high, but if you don’t write and learn and improve and submit your work to agents
and publishers the odds become infinitely higher, so keep writing and keep trying.
Ben, thank you so much for your advice and insight! All three books in the series are out now. I advise buying them all at once - you won't want to wait inbetween titles!
The Arc is available now in the UK and will publish on the 19th of July, 2022 in the US, using the same cover.
No comments:
Post a Comment