THE LOST SHIP

In Hopkins’ SF sequel to The Golden Ellipse (2021), Owen and Rachel Haig must save humanity again in an action-packed treasure hunt.

The story begins 90 million years ago, when a massive spaceship is abandoned in the jungles of the future Brazil. Within it are priceless gems, Cretaceous-era dinosaurs, and a pathogen bomb. Fast-forward to 1928, when explorer Charles Pike rediscovers the ship near the Brazilian city of Fordlândia and maps out its location in a notebook; it’s then kept in a London lockbox until 2044, when the world is reeling from a horrific alien invasion. The villainous CEO of SATStar Industries, Griffin Pike (descendant of Charles), makes sure that the incident is blamed on the secretive organization the Powers That Be (PTB), which he regards as an obstacle to his quest for power. In the aftermath, Owen and Rachel Haig are reunited; they later join the PTB, which immediately sends them to uncover the lost spaceship. Meanwhile, PTB administrator Nina Madsen and special agent Terrence O. Flynn Gilliam, who were previously Owen and Rachel’s companions, are held hostage and tortured on a different spaceship. Luckily, they receive unexpected assistance and eventually rejoin Owen and Rachel’s travel party; to combat the jungle’s many threats (including aliens, dinos, and cannibalistic humans), they join forces with Griffin’s team. Later, this alliance frays, and a free-for-all determines the fate of humanity. During the story, a character quips, “We just went from Star Wars to Indiana Jones in a heartbeat,” and this description aptly summarizes what readers can expect as they make their way through this adventure tale, which includes plenty of snappy dialogue. Newcomers are likely to find themselves lost without the additional context of the first installment of the series, however. The first half of the story struggles with overly slow pacing, and the jumps between different time periods are sometimes jarring. The coverage of LGBTQ+ material is mixed; some queer characters are likable and heroic, while others are problematic.

A futuristic quest with an offbeat prehistoric twist but uneven execution.