Book Review- First Born by James Goss

Title: First Born

 Author: James Goss

Series:  Torchwood, Miracle Day batch #1, Torchwood #16

Published:  2011 by BBC Books

Length: 253 pages

Warnings: Mild profanity, fantasy violence 14+

Source: Library

Other info: This is to tie in with the BBC series Torchwood, starring John Barrowman, Eve Myles and Kai Owen. This book is meant to be a prequel to the 2011 series 4, Torchwood: Miracle Day,

Summary : Gwen and Rhys are on the run. Rhys was hoping this meant a windswept cottage on a cliff top, but he's had to settle for a miserable caravan in the isolated village of Rawbone. With the locals taking an unhealthy interest in their daughter, Gwen and Rhys start to realize that something is very wrong - something with echoes of a life they thought they'd left behind. As they uncover the village's terrible past, Gwen discovers that Torchwood will never leave them behind, and now she and Rhys stand alone in defense of the Earth. And the children of Rawbone can only bring her closer to the secret forces that want her out of the way.

Review: You don’t really need to know Torchwood to read this, but ir dows help. It is part of the most recent batch of books, along with The Men who Sold the Earth and Long Time Dead, to follow on from the Children of Earth series and to be set before Miracle. Ex-Torchwood girl Gwen Williams nee Cooper and her husband Rhys are in hiding due to the many many people who wnat them dead. At the beginning they are chased out of their home, and they flee to Rawbone, a village in North Wales that has been cut off from the rest of the world. And the children there are a little too perfect. Then mysterious events happen, and Gwen realises she hasn’t left Torchwood behind at all.

I like reading TV tie ins. I’m not sure why, and we can discuss that some other time. I’ve also read the other Torchwood books and enjoyed them, so I had high hopes for this.

James Goss kept the main characters, Gwen and Rhys, true to their original selves, which was very nice but also not really surprising considering he’s written other Torchwood books. The characters he invented, such as Tom, Josh, Eloise, Sebastian and the rest of the Skions weren’t particularly well developed, but were still interesting to read about, if not the easiest to connect to.

The plot at times was hard to follow, particularly the ending where I was reading and thinking “what is the point of this?” The main bit up to it, particularly the middle bit and the whole subplot involving Anwen were interesting and kept me going.

I really enjoyed the switching perspectives. Most of it came from  the perspectives of Gwen and Rhys, but occasionally the natives of Rawbone had something to say too, providing a wider outlook on the whole situation of things. each character had a strong voice that really shone through in the writing.

Overall:  Strength 3 tea to a good addition to a well established, and loved (by me anyway) franchise.

Links: | Goodreads | Torchwood website hosted by BBC |