(And assorted small arms fire, anti vehicle weaponry and an array of sharp and blunt objects)

God’s War is the first in a Science Fiction trilogy by Kameron Hurley. First published in 2010 by Nightshade books, the book drew immediate positive attention and a  four star rating on goodreads.com. She followed with two sequels over the next two years. The local release will be rather quicker than that, with book two ‘Infidel’ set for May. While I’ve not seen a date for the final book ‘Rapture’, i’m expecting a July /August date for it.

Nyx is a ‘Bel Dame’, a trained assassin on a world ravaged by a Holy war no one can remember the start of. Or at least she was. Now she’s a bounty hunter and on the run from the Sisterhood after breaking one rule too many. Her next job may damn the world or save it and Nyx doesn’t much care which.

Future war wastelands, engines powered by insects, weaponized cockroaches, action, intrigue, betrayal and a seriously bad-ass protagonist. What’s not to like?

This book also has a killer first paragraph:

“Nyx sold her womb somewhere between Punjai and Faleen, on the edge of the desert. Drunk, but no longer bleeding, she pushed into a smoky cantina just after dark and ordered a pinch of morphine and a whiskey chaser. She bet all of her money on a boxer named Jaks, and lost it two rounds later when Jaks hit the floor like an antique harem girl.”

* Serving Suggestion. Half a bottle of cheap booze, a packet of unfiltered cigarettes and some large speakers playing Bikini Kill very very loud.