I love the premise of this book: in a gritty violent prison, an intelligent man must fight in his own style—by using his brains. I like action, but there were too many chase scenes that end due to luck rather than by overcoming any obstacles.

Thank you NetGalley for an advance preview of this novel.

TWs for regular mentions and threats of sexual assault, violence, and major character death (though that one gets partially ... redacted. You'll see why by the end of the book.)

I have been extremely lax in getting to this book, after having received an eARC .... last year. I had some issues with the file, but I was ultimately able to lay my hands on a copy through my library a few weeks ago and dig in.

Then ... I stalled out. After getting through more than half of this 400 page book, I had to skim the second half for reasons to do with the characterization and science. Yes, yes, science *fiction* gets to be rather fictional about its science, but I prefer either A) remote plausibility or B) something whimsical and wild, and this book was neither. It uses a fascinating premise—a prison planet that is tidally locked to its star, creating a thin habitable zone along the terminator line—and populates that world with morally grey characters, genetically tweaked individuals, and actual literal monsters. So far, so good.

My issue is that I'm a fan of Kelly Sue DeConnick's "Bitch Planet," and I've therefore seen what a sociopolitically woke take on prison planets can look like ... and this isn't it. Here there is no room for nuanced explorations of gender identity much less gendered relationships, or for a nuanced exploration of the socioeconomics of subjugated exploitative labor. If I had to summarize Mitchell's messaging, it would be: All people are out for themselves, trust no one except the very muscular (or very intelligent) cis man who's inexplicably fallen in love with you (if you're a sexy cis woman), and especially don't trust big corporations or big government. And I feel that, I really do. But I'm queer, and if there's any reference to queer folk in this book, I can't remember anything, which is either A) me blocking out bad memories or B) Mitchell didn't make room for LGBTQIA+ folk in his world. But maybe that's a good thing? The women here fall into tropish stereotypes, ranging from the damsel in distress with a tortured backstory (Raelyn), the potty-mouthed woman warrior who's handy with a gun (Key), and the scheming, power-grabbing manipulator (Gable). The men are just as bad, to be fair: Zane is a musclebound human weapon, Maddox is the down-on-his-luck but seen-it-all Noir hero, and Flynn is the brilliant engineer. I've read some of Mitchell's blog posts, including one on the Strong Female Character trope and ... I think he gets it, or at least in part. He's looking to craft women characters whose strength isn't a product of the male gaze. I just don't think this specific book gets anywhere close to passing the Bechdel test or demonstrating a woman's agency. I don't particularly want to see queer representation done badly or tropishly, either.

There are also lots of threats of rape. It's a thing.

As for the science bits ... I'm going to need a bit more than a cursory glance at the Wikipedia page on tidally-locked planets. There are some amazing and thoughtful think pieces out there on the habitability, climate, and weather patterns of tidally-locked extrasolar bodies, and what we know goes way beyond the whole "sun-facing side = hot, opposite side = cold, terminator area = habitable" idea that is espoused here. Let's just say I'm peevish about the lack of wind. (Permanent tidal locking would lead either to a runaway greenhouse effect, a la Venus, or a precariously balanced set of high-and-low-pressure weather systems, with atmosphere condensing on the dark side of the planet. LOTS of wind.) A lack of wind kept distracting me during every single outdoor sequence in this book, among other things. Others have talked about some of the book's other unbelievabilities (magically healing enough to carry another person in a heavy environmental suit after receiving a near-death beating being just one). Because this book takes itself seriously, I didn't have room to laugh off these details as a product of whimsy or intention.

All that to say ... the style of this book shows a competent writer at work. I just wanted ... more. More nuance. More thought behind the characterizations. More thought put into making room for LGBTQIA+ representation. (Even a throwaway reference to where the Big Bad Corporations send the ~4.5% of the prison population that's LGBTQIA+ would be nice. Because we exist! We do! And historically, we're imprisoned and prosecuted at much higher rates than cis straight folk!) Here's hoping that Mitchell's next book shows a bit more of the intersectional feminism that his blog makes plain he wants to aim for.

This appeared on grimdarkmagazine.com on 11/17/18. Sorry I forgot to update.

The Razor is the new science fiction novel by J. Barton Mitchell, author of the acclaimed YA sci-fi series The Conquered Earth. This one’s not YA, but it won’t cause you any adult discomfort either. It’s the story of four people—three prisoners and one doctor—on the prison mining planet 11-H37. As in most good science fiction, the setting plays an instrumental role in the plot. In this one the setting is the Razor, a thin line on the 11-H37 between the Cindersphere, the burnt hemispheric wasteland that always faces the planet’s star and the Shadowsphere, the frozen hemispheric wasteland that never faces its star. The overlapping area between these two spheres manages to have an atmosphere similar to our own earth. Prisoners on the planet use high-tech machinery to mine xytrillium, the most powerful fuel in the galaxy. When something goes wrong with the planet’s main space station, all the staff and guards evacuate leaving the prisoners there to die. Can the four heroes save themselves? Well, we don’t really find out, but that doesn’t prevent The Razor from being a wicked fast-paced, action-packed read that, although not perfect, is a helluva ride from start to finish.

The Razor has four main characters. Foremost among them is Flynn, a genius engineer and former employee of Maas-Dorian, the company with mining rights to the planet. He has been sent to 11-H37 for murder. The other main male character is Maddox, a former ranger-guard on the planet, also imprisoned for murder. There are also two main female characters. Key is a longtime prisoner and total baddass. And Raelyn is a doctor in the Razor’s medical facility. I mention the characters’ genders because they will inevitably get involved in predictably normative love relationships, which is the one element of The Razor that I found as cheesy as a stuffed–crust pizza. There’s nothing wrong with it overall, I guess, but the coincidence that the main characters are all beautiful and neatly self-divide into obvious couples made me sceptical of the novel’s grim sincerity. Nevertheless, it didn’t ruin the novel for me. It has, as they say, other qualities. Here are some of them:

The Razor reads at warp speed. Despite being a hefty 400 pages, it is written with short sentences, short paragraphs, and short character interactions that race along as fast as your eyes can absorb them. This technique, in this particular book, is very effective. The story moves very quickly, and as it does the writing gets choppier and more frantic in a good way, creating a very tense atmosphere. Mitchell wastes no words in pushing the plot along to its ultimate fiery finish. By the time the characters are desperate to escape, and the heat is out of control, and the creatively imagined monsters are after them, and the thousands of other prisoners want to kill them, and they want to kill the other prisoners, and one crazy lady might kill them all, it’s like a train wreck you can’t peel your eyes from.

Likewise, the setting of The Razor is extremely well executed. Although the characters never make it to the Shadowsphere, the Razor area is nicely described and believable enough, and the Cindersphere is brutally well realized. Readers will feel the love that Mitchell put into this setting. Everything is fucking hot as hell, and Mitchell shows it by having his characters stuck out there at various times (in specially designed suits of course) with complications trying to get in and out of their giant mining rovers and supply carriers. Not to mention a giant firestorm that is rapidly approaching. And because the setting is so fundamental to the characters’ reasons for being there in the first place, for their reasons to get the hell out of there, presumably for the anomaly that creates xytrillium, and for other atmospheric problems that prevent movement to and from 11-H37, it is a major highlight of the novel and no doubt why the novel is named for its setting. I must say here, though, that I am not a scientist, so I cannot say that any of this setting could actually happen. For example, 11-H37 revolves around its star but does not rotate, as such. Is it possible for a planet to always have the same hemisphere face its star? Who knows? And if you do know, don’t tell me and ruin it.

The action scenes in The Razor are brutal, fast-paced, tense, and exciting. Mitchell really knows how to pace the action to make it feel real. Each mini-climax builds from a tense creepiness to all-out mayhem in way that relentlessly pulls the reader into the maelstrom. Whether the conflict is between characters, the characters and the blistering environment, the characters and the other prisoners, or the characters and the original inhabitants of 11-H37, it is extremely well paced and described with stripped down language that has a certain menacing brutality of its own. If anything in The Razor should please grimdark fans, it should be the nearly constant barrage of action and violence, none of it gratuitous, all in support of the conflict that forms the backbone of the story. It’s good stuff.

So is it grimdark? I had my doubts at first. In the beginning Flynn really seems like a goody-two-shoes who has been victimized, but by the end, he begins to question what is right and what is wrong. He must balance a couple of enticing, selfish interests with the interests of his friends and the world at large. Key also factors in the grimdarkness of the story since she has lived a life of irredeemable badness, and even Flynn’s love for her can’t change that. Even though the four main characters, and at least one other secondary character, seem to be trying to do the right thing, the ending of the book is inconclusive, and its openness definitely leaves room for an ultimately full-fledged grimdark ending of the series that I expect to follow.

Whether it spawns a series or not, though, I think readers of grim sci-fi will definitely enjoy The Razor despite its slightly corny romance subplots. I recommend picking it up if grimdark sci-fi is your thing.

The Razor by J. Barton Mitchell is scheduled for publication on 27 November 2018 by Tor Books.

Okay, let's be fair here. Interesting characters, despite what I felt to be a misplaced romance, so that's a plus. A fun beginning, with some great action sequences, but far too many leaps of illogic and moments of implausibility. That I might have been okay with, despite the eye-rolling, but when the pacing crawls to a halt about halfway through, the plot holes and narrative flaws start to dominate.

Here are my initial thoughts: Great story and concept. I interesting cast. The author did a fantastic job building the world of this story, but in some ways, I was disappointed with that world. More details coming soon (full review will be on https://saracodair.com/category/reviews/ by Friday Dec. 21)

Here's a science fiction thriller with elements of both "The Shawshank Rebellion" and the "Prison Break" series - J. Barton Mitchell's "The Razor".

A genius engineer, Marcus Flynn, made the mistake of telling his bosses he was planning to start his own venture. They set him up and he was sentenced to 11-H37, a hostile prison planet (tagged The Razor) where the galaxy's worst criminals are housed and set to hard - and dangerous - labor. Life expectancy is short there.

Then comes disaster, leading to the evacuation of most prison staff and guards. Prisoners are left to die, but some in particular work hard to survive - each other, as well as the planet. Mitchell throws everything at his leads, who keep on skimming though by the skin of their teeth, though not all will make it.

This is a hard edged, incredibly fast paced, and engrossing read.

I really wanted to like this book. The promise of the Razor itself sounded promising. Unfortunately the author just simply fails with the story. There are several major issues with the story: a man beaten nearly to death, unable to stand unassisted, is ejected onto a hostile plant only tolerable with an environment suit is suddenly able to drag a compatriot miles through horrid dessert and continue to to battle and, well, enough of that. A very basic lack of understanding of economics especially with regards to space transportation (even in his own fictitious world) and human life: life is so cheap that lawbreakers are shipped to this slave mine world by the thousands, killed with impunity, yet are so valuable that women are smuggled off as sex slaves a few at a time? No. And then the mythical humans 'created' by humanity. Well. Too bad no editor pointed out any of this.

In the book The Razor, author J. Barton Mitchell writes about Marcus Flynn, a brilliant engineer that is sentenced to The Razor, a prison planet where the worst criminals in the galaxy are sent. This hard labor camp has a short life expectancy for its residences and becomes even shorter when the Lost Prophet goes active.
Can Flynn and his friends stop the planet from melting down? This is an edge of your seat sci-fi book. I loved the story line and action but the language was really bad. I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If I had to use one word to describe The Razor it would be unexpected. Why? I have read several maximum prison stories and they seem to follow the same pattern. This one does not. The plot is complicated, the characters different, and the goal is not escape but to live. The action is nonstop and the danger always around. There are flash backs to explain the actions of some of the main characters. The one reason for four stars and not five - several of the characters are just dropped in and it takes a while to find out how they fit into the story line. This looks like the first in a series as the ending leaves some things up in the air.

I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.

The Razor by J. Barton Mitchell

Pros: lots of action, fast paced, compelling characters, interesting setting

Cons: romance felt somewhat out of place

Flynn is an engineer framed for murder, being sent to the most dangerous prison planet that exists: the Razor. Half of the planet is frozen, the other half boiling, and in the middle, there is a small strip of liveable ground. The planet is home to the purest form of Xytrilium in the galaxy, and whoever controls that power source, controls the galaxy. So when a strange beam lights up the sky and all the guards evacuate, Flynn knows something bad is happening. He’ll have to team up with a group of dangerous misfits if he wants to survive, and get off the planet before it’s too late.

The book opens with Flynn’s arrival on the planet and while it take several chapters before things start to go wrong, the characters and setting are quite fascinating and carry the book easily. Short chapters and a lot of action makes this a quick read.

The characters are an interesting mix. Flynn is book smart but that won’t save him in with the general population of inmates. Key is street smart but feels the weight of the people she’s let down, and tends to cover her fear with bravado. Maddox is an ex guard, turned prisoner, who faces a rough welcome from his previous squad members. He’s also got a guilt complex for the people he couldn’t save. Raelyn is a doctor who made some bad decisions and is living with the consequences. Zane was probably my favourite character, a man who was experimented on and is now super strong, with the ability to absorb metal.

The romance between Maddox and Raelyn made a kind of sense, with him using saving her as motivation for living. It still seemed somewhat out of place considering the severity of what was happening. The romance between Key and Flynn felt like something that might burn hot and die out quickly as they have nothing in common to keep them interested in each other after the adrenaline rush of staying alive is over. It also seemed a bit odd that all the main characters paired up. I did like that neither pairing felt rushed. They both developed fairly slowly and organically.

The Razor is a fun read with good set-up for the sequel.

Hello, hello!  It's the last Wednesday of November (can you believe it?), which means it's time for another book review.  This month, I requested something a little different from my usual genres: sci-fi.  I watch a lot of sci-fi, but I don't read much of it, so I decided to give it a shot.  Today, I'll be talking about The Razor by J. Barton Mitchell.  It was published on the 27th by Tor Books, which is an imprint of Macmillan.  I must thank them and NetGalley for allowing me access to an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC).  Without further ado, let's get to the review!

The Razor follows a group of prison inmates as they team up and learn to count on each other to survive after their jailers randomly up and leave the planet.  The main focus is on Flynn, a brilliant scientist who was framed for murder and subsequently sent to serve out the rest of his life on the Razor.  Along the way, he teams up with Key (a gang member who attempts to kill him), Maddox (a disgraced Ranger with nothing left to live for), Raelyn (a doctor who made a grave mistake), Zane (a government experiment gone rogue), and Gable (a mad scientist).  Sounds pretty routine for a sci-fi adventure, right?  It is.

The book is comprised of 3 parts totaling 78 relatively short chapters and clocks in at just under 400 pages.  I bring this up because the way the book is laid out makes it feel like a super fast read. Getting through 4 or 5 chapters a day may seem like a lot, but by the time I was done, it was 2 and a half weeks later.  I actually prefer a lot of shorter chapters when I'm reading because it makes that "just one more" urge more acceptable.  But don't be fooled.  This isn't a quick read.

As far as the story goes, it's fast paced and has a lot going on.  The plot is interesting, but if you don't pay attention it's easy to get lost.  I had to reread some stuff a couple of times.  I'm no scientist, but some of the stuff going on seemed shaky at best.  If you're willing to trust in the science as explained, it's a fun story.  From a writing perspective, it's well paced and engaging.  However, the POV shifts... a lot.  In earlier chapters, the POV shifts are pretty isolated with one character per chapter, but after everyone meets up, things shift back and forth within chapters and it gets a bit muddled.  Sometimes it took me a minute to realize "that thought was Key's, not Flynn's," or whatever.

My main problem with this book is the characters.  I feel nothing for them.  The plot moves so fast that there really isn't time for character development, but if you watch any sci-fi, you get the gist of who they're supposed to be.  It's all pretty generic.  The only one I actually kind of liked is Zane, but even he feels like a cookie cutter character.  He just happens to be the type I gravitate toward.  Then, there is Gable.  I don't particularly feel like she is necessary.  Everything she did could have been done by one of the others.  It mostly feels like she's there to even out the number of females vs. males.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the story enough that I'll check out book 2 when/if it comes out.  But if some major character development doesn't take place, it's the kind of story I'll eventually get bored with.

Overall, I'd rate it 3 out of 5 stars.  I like it, but it doesn't impress me.  If you're into sci-fi and enjoy a fast plot, pick it up.  If you like a better balance of characters and plot, this probably isn't for you.

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this sci-fi eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

the razor (J. Barton Mitchell)

Title: the razor

Author: J. Barton Mitchell

Publisher: Macmillian-Tor/Forge

Publication Date: TODAY!! (hardcover/e-book)

ISBN: 978-0765387929

Source: NetGalley

This book takes place on the planet prison 11-H37, otherwise known as the razor.  Those who are sentenced there stay there for the rest of their short lives.  The prisoners are disposable tools used to mine the galaxy's primary energy source.  The more useful ye are, the longer ye might live.  Gang affiliations are recommended and corruption is the norm.
This was just an okay read for me.  I loved the weird prison culture that was set up.  Unfortunately, the story doesn't take place within that culture because a problem breaks out fairly quickly that leads to the evacuation of the prison planet and the breakdown of the social structure.  The planet itself has an odd habitat in that there is a hot side and cold side of the planet with a small livable region in the middle of the two.  However that region is becoming unstable and a small group of prisoners must try to get off the planet before the balance tips towards total annihilation.

The highlight of this book for me was in the characterization.  I liked the six main characters that ye end up following.  In particular, Key and Zane were favourites.  The characters are what kept me reading.  The book was engaging up until the half-way point and then slowed down significantly.  Part of it was the gaps in plot structure and the other part was the unbelievably of the action sequences.  I also didn't like the ready-made romance elements.  There is an evil monster that is conveniently added in so the main characters have a lot of chase scenes with last minute close calls.

What I wanted was for the characters to cleverly use their set of talents to escape.  Instead there was a continual series of close calls and escapes by chance. The main characters should have died over and over again and yet none did.  The plot was sloppy and the tech, while interesting, didn't make sense. 

And yet I did want the characters to succeed.  And I did want Zane to get answers.  So I kept readin' to find out why.  I didn't get answers to Zane's questions.  But I did get an ending that I wasn't expecting.  The set-up for the next book does seem promising but I am hesitant to pick up the rest of the series because I didn't like the plot elements.  I think this book has potential but it just wasn't completely to me taste.  Arrr!

So lastly . . .

Thank you Macmillian-Tor/Forge!

Goodreads has this to say about the novel:

Brilliant engineer Marcus Flynn has been sentenced to 11-H37 alongside the galaxy's most dangerous criminals. A hard labor prison planet better known as the Razor, where life expectancy is short and all roads are dead ends.

At least until the Lost Prophet goes active...

In a few hours, prison guards and staff are evacuated, the prisoners are left to die, and dark mysteries begin to surface.

Only Flynn has the skills and knowledge to unravel them, but he will have to rely on the most unlikely of allies--killers, assassins, pirates and smugglers. If they can survive each other they just might survive the Razor...and claim it for their own.

To visit the author’s website go to:

J. Barton Mitchell - Author

To buy the novel go to:

the razor - Book

To add to Goodreads go to:

Yer Ports for Plunder List

The Razor is a genre-bending action adventure turned thriller turned horror that keeps you glued to your seat with its use of multiple narratives, a harsh setting, and a story that never gets dull. If you’re looking for an action-packed thriller with unexpected plot twists and strong writing, this is it.

Surprises abound as you weave through The Razor’s intricate plot, discovering the dark and terrifying secrets the planet holds. I was confident I knew what the book was, only to be thrown for a loop about halfway through. Much like the planet that dominates the story, there is so much buried beneath the surface. I reveled in the masterful use of multiple points of view and the story that barrels like a freight train full speed ahead.

Full review will be published at: https://reviewsandrobots.com/2018/11/27/the-razor-book-review/

The Razor
J. Barton Mitchell

Mitchell’s latest is a sensational scare your socks off, fast paced adult sci-fi apocalyptic thriller set roughly 150 years in the future on an unwelcoming penal colony planet and staring the most unlikely rag tag group of criminals heroes ever to grace the pages of fiction. The backdrops are beautifully brutal and the author’s narrative brings the amazing alien landscapes to life for his readers complete with strange lifeforms, altered humans from both successful and failed bio-experiments plus your requisite sci-fi nerdy engineer/scientist. The first-rate tale is tightly plotted, inventive with believably unbelievable futuristic people places and things that will keep the audience on their toes, hearts pounding while constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. The real standouts of the story are his main players, Flynn, Key, Maddox, Raelyn, Zane and Gable. And the ending leads one to believe that fans will hopefully be making a return trip to The Razor in the future. Well-done Mr. Mitchell, well done!

SUMMARY:
When you’re sent to planet 11-H37 there’s one thing for sure, you will die there. It's a hard labor penal planet an unforgiving inhospitable place where half the planet is boiling in constant heat and the other half is dark and colder than a freezer and dividing the two uninhabitable parts where the prison is located is a tiny green space called The Razor. A place that Dr. Marcus Flynn helped build and design and now a place that will become his ultimate final resting place because someone needed him gone– framed him for a crime and made sure he got sent there. Then without warning all hell breaks loose and while the alarms are screaming all prison personnel evacuated the planet leaving the inmates to perish. Flynn and a few other inmates make their escape. But where are they escaping to and who can be trusted?

The Razor is the newest work by J. Barton Mitchell. It’s a science fiction novel focusing primarily on just a few characters. It also reads a bit like a post apocalyptic novel, thanks to the setting the characters are forced into. I fell in love with it because of the way a couple of the characters in particular either started with or had to find a drive to live and survive. It was a fascinating study in the human experience…all while the events unfolding around them seem painfully inhumane.
The Razor is a location in the book. More accurately, it’s a planet. A very valuable planet thanks to the minerals buried deep within. Unfortunately it’s also very dangerous. So naturally the best people to get sent down there to mine it all out would be convicts and prisoners. It isn’t an ethical solution, but it’s one we’ve seen pictured before in this sort of society. This is the world our characters must survive on.
Warnings first: Razor is a prison planet. As such it’s full of corruption and people who did something worthy of getting them a life sentence. That doesn’t mean they should be getting treated like slaves, but that’s the way this planet works. Some of the characters are put into situations that make the whole forced slavery thing more clear and hard to avoid. There are threats of rape and torture. Nothing graphic is ever shown while it happens. The worst of it would be describing bodies after the fact.
The Razor was a fantastic read. I didn’t get through it as quickly as I would like – it was intense at times so I didn’t always want to read it late into the night. But it was really well written. I just couldn’t wait to learn more about each of the characters introduced. I also loved reading their various interactions, conflicts, and attempts to solve problems.
During the course of the book we pick up five main characters whom we’re meant to care about. The first one we meet is Maddox. He’s tough, knows how the planet works, and has lost so much, including his will to live. Then there’s Flynn. Fylnn is a genius, but he’s also as naïve as they come. If circumstances hadn’t change so quickly, I have no doubt that this prison planet would have killed him within two weeks. As most. Then there’s Key. She’s a true survivor. She’s also fierce and sassy. Raelyn is the other female we get to know. She’s a doctor and a scientist. Like everyone else, she has a dark past. Unlike everyone else, she seems to do a better job of hiding it. And finally there’s Zane. I don’t want to describe Zane too much, because his introduction is special. I will say that he became one of my favorites. There is a sixth character that’s introduced to the group as well…but her being integral to the group or even liked by the readers is more up for debate than the others.
The planet itself is what really caught my attention, obviously. I love the way it was described. It sounds both brutal and beautiful. The impossible nature of it was intriguing as well. I hope that’s explored more in later novels.
The Razor is a fascinating blend of genres. Its science fiction, of course, but post apocalyptical, political, survival, and it even has a touch of romance. In short, it’s so much more than I could have hoped for. It’s not every day you get to find a book that blends multiple genres you love together.
I’m really hoping that this becomes a series. It was left open enough where it’s clearly a possibility. I desperately want to learn more about Razor, how it’ll recover, more about its origin. Everything. I also want to see more about a certain characters’ quest. I’ll have to be patient, but I’m hoping for a confirmation of the sequel sometime in the next few months.

The Razor by J. Barton Mitchell, an interesting book. Well written and worth putting on your TBR list. Incarcerated for murder Flynn barters his skills to keep him alive on the prison ship and things start to go bad...

I absolutely loved this book! I immediately empathized with the main character, and really enjoyed the first-person narrative. There's plenty of tension, and the plot progressed at a good clip... enough so that I spent most of my spare time with my nose buried in my Kindle. This is the first Mitchell book I've read, but it definitely won't be my last. Recommended!

The perfect business model: use criminals as labor to mine the galaxy's most powerful source of energy. Mammoth "crawlers" filled with prisoners set out over the surface of a split planet, half arctic-cold and half fire-scorched with only a sliver of habitable land in between. A place called The Razor.

Populated by gangs, corrupt officials, and the few who haven't slid yet, there is much more to this planet than a mining facility. Dark sites. Experiments. Black markets. Corporate greed. A frankenstein trying to piece together his past. A killer looking for redemption. A failed, yet remorseful trial doctor. An innocent man framed for his ambitions.

"Complications were ensuing, as they inevitable would."

From arrival to intake to escape to evacuation of the entire planet, the characters are quickly in a race against time for their lives. With every orbit, The Razor is breaking up. Lawless takes over and time keeps making escape a slim possibility.

Mitchell's characters don't fall into the prison-story stereotypes. Their backstories are decently fleshed out and realistic relationships built.  The pacing of the book can be described as a chase-catch rhythm in the middle of the book, yet some of the tech explanations may be a little vague.

Overall, it falls in between the run-and-gun scifi prison story, and the in-depth techno-thriller. Just too many things forced into this one. The reveals were more head-scratchers than aha moments.

Couldn't believe the setting. Even evil deeds needs to be justified, I feel it is not the case here.

I received a free copy of THE RAZOR by J. Barton Mitchell in exchange for an honest review. This is a science fiction prison escape novel. The Razor is a prison planet where only the worst criminals in the galaxy are sentenced to spend their remaining years. There, the inmates toil away at hard, dangerous labor under the supervision of guards who are even worse than the inmates. Marcus Flynn has been sentenced to the Razor. Almost as soon as Flynn arrives, a planetary self-destruct triggers, the guards evacuate, and all prisoners are left to meet their doom. Flynn is then given a single chance for survival; if he can gather the required data and make it to the spaceport, he will be saved. One small problem: there’s a planet full of homicidal maniacs between him and his goal.

This was action-packed, but the author still managed to develop the main characters. Fits neatly into the science fiction prison break genre. Well worth the time spent reading.

#TheRazor #NetGalley