The City Builders, by Sean Monaghan
Review by Grant Stone
Desra’s in trouble. Her ship, the Leuwenhok was orbiting Mackelle, an uninhabited planet sixty light years from home when it was shot out of the sky. When she makes it to the surface it turns out the planet might not be as uninhabited as she’d expected. Now she’s trapped in the middle of a deserted and almost endless city that is being built, torn down and rebuilt by a fleet of robots. Help is on the way but it may not come soon enough. New models of robots are appearing, more humanoid in form and designed more for combat than construction. Meanwhile, the rescue ship faces challenges of its own.
The City Builders is a fast-paced book. The writing style matches, with sentences and paragraphs shrinking as the action heats up. If you’re a fan of action-packed sci-fi, it might be just your cup of adrenaline.