A review by katkinney
Dust & Lightning by Rebecca Crunden

5.0

In DUST AND LIGHTNING, it’s the year 4054 and mankind has not heeded the warning signs of pollution and climate disaster. Earth is in bad shape, anyone on the planet has to wear masks to survive the smoke and smog, and the rich take spaceships off planet, where conveniently, humankind has colonized ten or so nearby planets. Ames Emerys is a blue-collar worker whose brother Callum was recently arrested and sentenced to hard labor. Ames received a letter that he was killed while being transported to the prison planet Kilnin, except a cousin claims that he saw Callum departing the transport ship alive. Now Ames, with the help of the plucky Violet, who he meets and helps save from unfortunate circumstances on the transport ship, is determined to find out what really happened. I enjoyed all the layers in this sci-fi novella, with detailed world building, nifty details on other planets like slightly altered non-Earth rats, “dust worms”, prison breaks and awesome sci fi battles, and of course, all the seedy things those in power will do when they have powerless people to exploit. A neat read!