Although it's sn alternate history novel, don't let the dread about digging up old graves keep you away. Fata Morgana is filled with adventure, a great plot, and scenes you'd most probably want to reread just for the fun of it.

I received this book free from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Even though the first 20% or so reads like a WWII war story set in the air battle and bombing of Germany, this book is a science fiction novel. “Fata Morgana” is the name of a brand-new B-17 bomber that the crew of a bomber named “Voice of America” receives after that plane is shot down on a mission, and crash lands on a beach in northern England. The novel was written by Steven R. Boyett and Ken Mitchroney, and it was published by Blackstone Publishing in 2016. The first part of the story reads like a straight WWII war story, but then the sci-fi begins.

Fata Morgana is defined (at the beginning of the book, just before the Prologue) as “noun: an unusual form of mirage involving almost any kind of distant object, often distorted unrecognizably, and visible from land or sea, polar regions or deserts, at any altitude, including from airplanes.” Such mirages were believed to be “fairy castles in the air or false land created by witchcraft to lure sailors to their death.” The name is taken from the legends of King Arthur and the sorceress Morgan le Fay. And so, the name of the plane gives us a sort of premonition as to what is about to happen to the bomber and its crew.

The book starts out (almost literally) with a bang as the “Voice of America” is struck by anti-aircraft fire over Brunswick, Germany while on a bombing mission. One crew-member is killed, and the plane is subsequently destroyed, setting the stage for the story of the “Fata Morgana.” A new crew member arrives to replace the one who was lost, and the new nose art, with the plane’s new name, is painted on the plane. The new crew member is a Lakota Sioux Indian who has, incredibly, survived the shootdown of his previous bomber, the “Ill Wind.” Most of his Indian lore was learned by watching Western movies, but he carries a medicine bag that was made for him by his grandfather. He had given the medicine bag to the co-pilot of “Ill Wind” shortly before it crashed, and it was found in the dead pilot’s hand and returned to him. The medics tell him that the pilot had been dead for several hours before that could possibly have happened. The stage for the unexplained is now set.

After being struck by anti-aircraft shrapnel on its very first mission over Germany, “Fata Morgana” flies into a strange vortex and emerges in a different place. Far different, in fact. Despite severe damage to the plane, Captain Farley and his crew are able to make an emergency landing with only one engine running. They have no idea where they are, but it certainly isn’t Germany. They will, however, soon learn just where, and when, they really are. Even though it is 1943, the men soon learn about the advanced technologies we take for granted today: cell phones, infrared and night vision googles, computers, and much, much more. This is the “meat” of the story. Will Farley and his men ever get back home? Can they defeat the forces arrayed against them?
Farley meets Wennda, a woman who looks exactly like the one painted on the nose of his B-17. Romance sparks, but Wennda’s father is the military commander of a small group of people who have taken the crew in and provided a safe haven for them, and he has little use for the crew and the burden they have placed on his already-stretched resources. No surprise, then, that conflict ensues.

A few aviation inconsistencies were noted, such as the assertion that, the first time the “Fata Morgana” took off, the pilot applied “rear elevator” to lift the tail. Pilots would tell you that it would be “down” elevator that would be applied to lift the tail, and that the only two directions an elevator could possibly be moved to were “up” and “down.” Also, the aircraft supposedly suffered a complete electrical failure after entering the vortex. Yet, one of the engines, an engine that is totally reliant on electrically-fired spark plugs, continues to run. Then, at 26% into the book, and even though there is no electricity in the aircraft, “Farley switched off the interior lights.” How does that work? At 30%, we are told that the plane has “deadsticked down into some Moon Man version of the Grand Canyon . . .”, but a deadstick landing would imply that all four engines had died, even though one of them is apparently still running.

There is also a reference to Edmund Hillary at one point, even though it is unlikely that some American bomber crewmen in 1943 would know who Edmund Hillary was. Hillary was a young man from New Zealand in 1943, and had not, yet, become famous for climbing Mount Everest.

You are, of course, thinking that the Fata Morgana and her crew certainly got back, but did they? Did they really? If you think you will be able to predict what happens next, you are probably wrong. There are some plot twists coming that I certainly did not foresee, and you probably won’t, either. Prepare for some surprises.

All in all, this is an easy, entertaining read. The WWII scenes are vivid and gripping. The dialogue is realistic for the time-period. Loose ends are tied up at the conclusion. I enjoyed reading it, and would not hesitate to recommend it to sci-fi fans who appreciate a little twist in their fiction, now and then.

Unfortunately I felt the plot lost its way once it moved into the future.
This just was not for me.

I don't know why.... but this drew me in. At first I couldn't get a handle on it, and it wasn't at all how I imagined this was going to be with the language of it and things, but once it settled into the characters it did draw me in. I was torn between 3 and 4 stars, because I was lost in some stages, but overall I ended up giving it 4 because it was so different, unique, and I enjoyed that element of it.

I couldn't get into the book, the narrative was too dry for me to care about the characters.

Loved this book! What starts out as a well written WWII story with compelling believable characters turns into an adventure sci-fi story. What keeps it going is the authors ability to make the characters so likable, and the plot interesting and believable without straying over into fantasy as so much sci-fi does. Read Fata Morgana, you won't be disappointed!

This book made me a little sad in spots because my grandfather was a gunner on a B-17. He didn’t serve in Europe, though, he served in the South Pacific. It wasn’t until my son, then 5, started expressing an interest in airplanes, that he started talking about the war. Of course, he didn’t tell my son everything, just the names of the planes he flew on and he had pictures of “the ladies” as he called the planes. My son was fascinated that planes had people painted on them and was fascinated that Papa shot guns out of the back at the bad guys. He didn’t understand why Papa got weepy eyed when talking about people he served with who were KIA.

When he passed in 2015, we found his medals as we were cleaning his apartment. Among them was a Purple Heart….that was buried in the bottom of a draw. My mother wasn’t surprised and said he was injured during the war. We also found the pictures he had hidden away of his squadron with the dates of death and names written on the back. Everything was saved, I believe my mother has the pictures and the Purple Heart in a bank deposit box.

What I liked about Fata Morgana is that it was on point with everything that my grandfather had told my son and myself. From what the crews wore, to how the gunners were strapped in to the shortwave radio operator to the people who handled the bombs, 100% accurate.

The science fiction aspect of the book was well written too. I liked that the Fata Morgana was taken 200 years into the future. A very bleak future, might I add, where the remnants of human society is forced to live in two domes in a crater. They are also fighting each other in a war that is as old as the domes themselves. Very surreal.

The B17 crew had to be my favorite characters to read. The personalities of each one comes across the pages and makes you smile. What I also liked is that the authors stayed true to how men from that era acted and their views on women and people of nationalities/color. I also like that they all smoked like chimneys.

I did like the romance between Captain Farley and Wennda. It was innocent, with only a kiss but it was real and I liked it.

There are a couple of twists that are thrown into the book that took me by surprise as I read it. One of the twists was big and it changed how I viewed the world that Wennda lived in. There was so much action and at one point, I was on the edge of my seat chanting “You are going to make. You are going to make it”. Want to know why I was chanting that? Read the book!!

The end was very bittersweet. I have a theory about what happened at the end of the book but I refuse to ruin the book for people. It is best that you read the book for yourself. Because I feel that people will have the same theory as I do.

How many stars will I give Fata Morgana: 4

Why: This is a book that will go on my keep shelf. It was action packed with memorable characters who quickly got under your skin. The storyline was pretty good too. It did lag in a couple of spots but the authors did a great job of getting the book back on track.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Older teen (16+)

Why: Violence and some language

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

This this is a slowly unfurling war story that turns into a futuristic, slightly old fashioned, alternate history story - a group of soldiers with all the cliches of their ribbing each other, accepting a new man, painting the picture of a girl on the nose of their new fighter plane ... brave loyalties to each other and then an unlikely love story with a woman from a future that they are saving the world from. The group are attacked by bugs they are surrounded and outgunned but always manage to survivie 0 the woman painted on their aircraft seems to be protective - and that's 'Fata Morgana' - at one point that image disassociates from its place and spares them from their plummeting flight path. I've read these characters before - the kind of future perfect conditional time frame that the crew manage to hide from the rest of the world is recounted in this novel as a final revelation by Farley who'd loved the other worldly girl - but which is the 'real' world - they are not sure while meanwhile any other human being in the story is not sure. More an enjoyable idea than in its execution for me - those who like the aerodynamics of airplanes and discussion of strategy will enjoy this ...

The title of this book piqued my interest as I knew that a Fata Morgana was a very unusual form of a mirage and could not see how this definition went with the description of the book. AS I read I realised that it was so aptly titled. Not being a war buff I was concerned that this would take away my interest but I can only say what a magnificent book this turned out to be. Describing the story as surprising hardly does it justice..
.The book is essentially a love story that flows so well over the years, beginning in WWII going to Sci-Fi and culminating with a major twist that the reader does not expect. It is a very accurate portrayal of the period and the Sci-Fi section is certainly believable. I would certainly recommend this book to other readers for its stylistic approach and wide interest base.

Wonderful book. As a long time military aviation professional and sci-fi addict, this was the perfect book for me and would fit anyone with similar interests. The first part of the book grabbed ones interest as a detailed description of the story of a B-17 crew based in England during WWII. As my father flew fighters for the RAF and USAAF I have a personal connection to these events. Then, in the middle of a raid over Germany we are thrown into the future to a world where WWII created a dreadful future for mankind. The way this Segway developed was, in my mind, an excellent transition that maintained the level of detail of both worlds combining the subtle romance between the two main characters. The conclusion on the crews' return was particularly poignant and the ending brought the story to a fitting finale.

A very enjoyable read - thank you.